A long weekend in Beaune, France

I love a road trip, and recently at the end of May, had one with 3 friends. We drove from Zurich where they live, to Beaune in France, a three and a half hour journey on the auto route.

Beaune is situated in the heart of the Burgundy wine region and there is so much to see and do you would be hard pressed to get it all done in a few days, but try we did. The town itself is relatively small with an abundance of restaurants, bars and wine shops. We went on a holiday weekend so it was particularly busy with tourists from all over the world. We stayed in a gîte right in the centre of the town with easy access to everything. It is surprisingly quiet at night.

We had planned in advance to hire electric bicycles to cycle through the vineyards. The cycle route is off the main roads but occasionally we would have to navigate through villages with fortunately very little traffic to contend with. We stopped en route in Meursault for a coffee before continuing our journey to the Hotel Le Montrachet where we had a gorgeous lunch with accompanying wine from the region. 

The ride back was slightly more arduous, again stopping in Meursault for a drink, but we managed to get the bikes back by the agreed time of 6pm. It was a fabulous experience and one I would highly recommend. All that fresh air and open country was an utter joy.

We spent most of our time in Beaune itself. It has a great array of restaurants and bars to choose from. On the Saturday morning, there is a lovely French market with local produce, crafts, clothing and antiques. Its a bustling place full of atmosphere and definitely worth trying all the lovely fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as cheeses, meats even fresh pasta from an Italian trader.

Our favourite wine bar was Le Bristrot de Coin, a small bar on
the edge of a small square with a fab choice of local wines. The owner is very knowledgeable and recommended some great wines for us to try. 

We also ate lunch twice at a lovely restaurant La Superb, Bar à Manger, a Michelin guide recommendation. An unpretentious family run business, the food and wine paring was perfect.

We hopped on the train for the 20 minute journey to Dijon, the capital of the Burgundy region where we spent the afternoon. It's a picturesque town full of gothic and renaissance  architecture. Known primarily for producing mustard there is also the Musée des Beaux-Arts, housed in the Palace of the Dukes. 

We strolled around the town, stopping for a glass of wine right in front of the gothic church of Notre Dame where a wedding had just taken place. The bride and groom drove off in a Mini - how romantic!

A beautiful four days in France spent in predominantly late spring sunshine, we couldn't have asked for more.