The largest medieval fortress of southern Burgundy, built to shield Cluny, with terraced gardens and its own wine.
€250one way from Beaune with a private driver
Private driver from Beaune: 1 h 11 by road (93 km), €250 one way for the whole car.
Or add it to our full-day wine tour plus two hours, €700.
Coming by train or plane? Transfers from stations and airports →
Perched on a rocky spur between Cluny and the Rock of Solutré, Berzé guards the vineyards of the Petite Grosne valley. Three rings of walls, thirteen towers and two keeps make it the largest fortress of southern Burgundy. The same family has owned and restored it since 1817.
A castrum at Berzé is recorded in 991 in a charter of Cluny, with a wooden keep and a Carolingian stone chapel. The lords of Berzé formed the oldest barony of the Mâconnais and were direct vassals of the king of France. Hugues de Berzé, a trouvère and crusader, is buried at Tournus. In 1229 a loan from Cluny allowed the lord of Berzé to turn the castle into a great fortress.
Berzé became the main defensive castle of Cluny. Given to the Burgundians in 1417, it was taken by the Armagnacs in 1420 and recaptured by Philip the Good four years later. It resisted Louis XI in 1471, but in 1591 a Catholic League army of 1,100 men took it after a two-month siege. The fortress was then left abandoned for nearly two centuries.
Declared national property at the Revolution, the ruined castle returned to private hands in 1817. Its new owners and their descendants, the Thy de Milly family, repaired the roofs and floors, enlarged the windows in a romantic spirit and turned the terraces into gardens. They opened the fortress to the public, and the family also runs a wine estate on the surrounding slopes.
The fortress climbs in terraces behind three successive walls more than 300 metres long and up to three metres thick at the base. Thirteen towers survive, with two keeps and a powerful gatehouse with a portcullis. Inside are the lord's lodging, medieval rooms, early chapels and a well cut 36 metres into the rock. Gardens fill the spaces between the walls.
Last entry is one hour before closing, and guided tours start at 17:00 in the low season and several times a day in July and August.
Checked on on the official site.
Berzé is open from April to early November, with free and guided visits of about an hour. The full programme runs in July and August, and in the low season the fortress opens in the afternoons, except on Mondays. Tastings of the estate's wines can follow the visit. A medieval festival takes place over the Ascension weekend in May.
What to combine with Château de Berzé-le-Châtel on the same day, nearest first.
Château de Berzé-le-Châtel is about 1 h 11 from Beaune by road (93 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €250 for the whole car, up to 4 guests.
Did you know? According to the owners, Philip the Good recaptured Berzé from the Armagnacs in 1424 thanks to an underground passage linking the castle to a watchtower on a nearby hill.
Sources
€250 one way from Beaune · up to 4 guests
