My boyfriend and I will be visiting Burgundy in late Septemeber for 5-6 days. We want to visit as many great wineries as we can while we are there. However, we don%26#39;t want to keep moving from village to village each night. We are thinking about splitting our hotel time bw Dijon and Beaune as our base. Any thoughts on that. And having said we are basing ourselves in Dijon and Beaune do we need to rent a car to visit all the wineries or can we just go to Dijon by train and see everything else either on foot/bike?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
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I think you%26#39;d really be far better off with a car to get about. There are so many back roads to explore and so many wonderful villages and vineyards (amd other places) to see. And it is out among the vines that you will need to go to visit the wineries.
I don%26#39;t really see any need to move from Beaune to Dijon or vv. Just pick the one you like and settle in for the duration. They are close enough that you can easily visit one from the other. Or find somewhere that looks wonderful to you outside either and base yourselves there.
If the weather is kind (I have my fingers crossed for you) late September is a wonderful time to visit Burgundy.
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Thanks for the advice. I guess we will pick just one city and make it our home base.
I think we%26#39;ll drive once we get into Paris as well. Do you know what the traffic is like from Paris to Dijon on the weekends?
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OK, now I%26#39;m going to give you the opposite advice. Renting a car while you are in Paris is a REALLY BAD IDEA. The publiic transport system in Paris is one of the world%26#39;s best - fast, convenient, cheap, safe and easy to use. It will for the most part get you anywhere you are likely to want to go quicker than you could do it by car, even if you knew your way around. In addition street parking is a near imposssibility in much of the center and off-street parking is very expensive.
This post will give you an overview of the transport system and your various options in terms of tickets and passes:
http://tinyurl.com/pps2u
Driving to Dijon on a late September Saturday shouldn%26#39;t be a problem. You do have the option of taking the TGV to Dijon and picking up a car there, but there are places along the way to Dijon that are worth seeing once you get out of the Paris suburbs and can get off the Autoroute.
BTW, September is a very busy month for trade shows and the like in Paris so hotel rooms can get booked up quite a bit in advance. Thought you might appreciate the heads-up...
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I do appreciate the heads up. Thanks for the car clarification. We%26#39;ll just get the car when we leave Paris for Beaune not while we stay there. We%26#39;re from NYC so I know how MISERABLE it is to drive and park in large cities.
Do you know what the parking is like in Dijon and the surrounding villages? Isn%26#39;t Dijon more like a city meaning parking may be a pain there too? And does anyone have any idea what it%26#39;s like in all those small towns along the Cote d%26#39;Or?
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Hi banannie,
Personnally I would take the TGV from Paris (1h40 with TGV) and rent a car in Dijon for 1 or 2 days as there is so much to see in Dijon. If you search the Burgundy forum (boblaw%26#39;s postings) I gave him some info about car rental in Dijon and he chose Avis which opens on a sunday afternoon.
As for car parks there are few underground car parks (6 or 7). By the train station,and place Darcy next to the triumph arc are the easiest to find imo.
Dijon is full of one way streets (some of them very narrow)and you can get lost very easily. It is an average size town but the historic center is not that big. (15min walks from the station to the Ducal Palace and St Michel church)
dijon.fr/images/fichier_joint_0170000_539.pdf
On this link on page 13 you can see Dijon map for parking.
welcome to Dijon :-)
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We%26#39;ve been in Burgundy the last couple of years in September/October and it%26#39;s a nice time to visit. We%26#39;ve never had a problem with car parking in any of villages, and most of the traffic seemed to be tractors and trailers! There is good info about Beaune in one of the Tourist Office guides, available online: http://www.ot-beaune.fr/depliants/anglais.pdf
You mentioned walking and cycling. The Tourist Office sells (a modest 3€ ) a folder of walks around the area, including vineyards, and there is a newly way-marked cycle trail from Beaune to Santenay (on back roads, and the list of villages it goes through is a wine-lovers wish-list!) which leads onto the Voie Vertes (Greenways) further south along canal towpaths and an old railway track from Givry. The link is on http://www.southernburgundy.com/
Enjoy your trip - it%26#39;s a lovely area and you%26#39;ll want to return!
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happyindijon%26#39;s post suggests another possibility. Why not take the TGV to Dijon and spend a night or two there without a car, then pick up a car to go to other places including Beaune. Then you could drive back to Paris visiting e.g. Vézelay, Fontainebleau, etc. - along the way.
If you%26#39;ve never experienced it, a trip on the TGV is worth doing. Travelling at close to 200 mph while still on the ground is something few people other than NASCAR drivers experience in the US.
If you book online at www.voyages-sncf.com as soon as the 90 day window opens, you should be able to get discounted advance purchase tickets at a good price.
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