Burgundy with children

Which châteaux near Beaune work best with children?

The Château de Châteauneuf and the Château de Commarin, 4 km apart in the Auxois and about 45 minutes from Beaune, make the best pair: one is a fortress on a ridge with round towers and a drawbridge, the other a family château, still lived in, with wide moats and a park.

At Châteauneuf, children under 12 go in free, 12 to 17s pay €4.50 and adults €6. Children from 7 can follow an investigation booklet in French, and a shorter trail suits the youngest; guided tours run in French and English, and the visit leaflet exists in 14 languages, including English, German, Chinese and Arabic. Commarin, open since 28 March 2026 every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays, also sells a cheaper ticket for the park alone.

Ten minutes from Beaune, the Château de Savigny-lès-Beaune surrounds its medieval castle with collections of fighter jets, Abarth racing cars, motorbikes and fire engines. Allow 1 to 2 hours, and keep the picnic for the tables of the car park, as picnics are not allowed inside the grounds.

Is Guédelon worth the drive with children?

Yes, for children old enough to enjoy a long day: at the Chantier médiéval de Guédelon, about forty craftspeople are building a 13th-century fortified castle with the tools and materials of the Middle Ages, and you walk among the quarrymen, stonemasons, carpenters, blacksmiths and rope makers as they work.

In 2026 the site opens from 2 April to 1 November, 10.00 to 17.30, except on some Tuesdays and Wednesdays: check its calendar before choosing a date, and allow at least 4 hours there. Two workshops cost €8.50 each on top of the entry and are best booked online: stone carving, open to all and suggested from age 6, and an archaeology dig for children of 8 to 14, each lasting 1 hour to 1 h 15.

Entry costs €19 for adults and €13 for children of 5 to 17 when booked online more than 72 hours ahead, €21 and €15 otherwise, and children under 5 go in free; a family pass for two adults and two children costs €61 online. The site has places to eat, picnic areas and a free car park, and dogs on a lead are welcome. Guédelon is about 2 h 30 from Beaune, so with the visit it makes a day of about 10 hours: €750 per car for up to four guests.

What do children like in Dijon?

Dijon, 47 km and about 40 minutes from Beaune, works well with children because its sights are close together and several are free.

Les Halles de Dijon, the covered market, open on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7.00 to 13.00.

• The Parcours de la Chouette: children hunt for the owl arrows set in the pavement along 22 stops while parents read the history in the booklet, sold at the tourist office. The good-luck owl itself is carved on the wall of the Église Notre-Dame de Dijon.
• The Tour Philippe le Bon: 316 steps up to a terrace 46 metres high with a 360-degree view, on guided climbs of about 45 minutes for up to 18 people, from €6, booked at the tourist office on rue des Forges.
• The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, inside the Palais des Ducs et des États de Bourgogne: the permanent collections are free, including the tombs of the dukes with their alabaster mourners. It is closed on Tuesdays.
• The Jardin de l'Arquebuse, near the station: a botanical garden with the natural history museum and a planetarium; the museum is closed on Tuesdays and on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
• La Fabrique de pain d'épices Mulot & Petitjean, the oldest gingerbread maker in Dijon: large windows look down on the bakers, audioguides speak English and German, and tickets cost €9 for adults and €7 for 10 to 17s, Tuesday to Saturday.
• Time to run about: an old-style carousel on place François Rude, summer fountains on the Place de la Libération, playgrounds in the Jardin Darcy and, further out, the Parc de la Colombière with animal enclosures and pedal cars, or the Lac Kir for a swim in hot weather.

Which food stops are fun for children, and which serve alcohol?

Burgundy's sweet and mustard makers welcome families, and most visits end with a tasting that children can share; of the stops below, only the Cassissium in Nuits-Saint-Georges also pours liqueurs, for the adults.

Les Anis de Flavigny is the highlight. Inside a former Benedictine abbey in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, a 40-minute guided tour of the workshop runs on weekdays only, from 9.20 to 11.20 and from 14.00 to 16.40 between 6 April and 30 October 2026; the crypt, the small museum, a game of guessing the 13 flavours, wooden games and the café are open every day in season, and visits and tastings are free.

At the Moutarderie Edmond Fallot in Beaune, children make their own mustard on the Découvertes tour, at fixed times, so book ahead. In Dijon, the Boutique Maille serves mustard from the pump, and La Boutique Atelier Fallot sometimes makes a mustard with Meursault wine in front of visitors, so ask which jars contain wine if your family avoids alcohol. In Beaune, L'Atelier des Bonbons lets children watch sweets being cooked and shaped by hand on Thursday and Saturday afternoons.

How do child seats, pushchairs and halal or vegetarian lunches work?

Child seats are available on request: give the children's ages when you book. Children count as guests, so one car takes four people at most, and every price on this page is per car.

Mention a pushchair with your luggage when you book. Some visits are easier without one: Châteauneuf does not allow pushchairs inside the château, the lanes of Flavigny-sur-Ozerain are steep and cobbled in places, Guédelon is only partly accessible and much of the visit follows forest paths, and the workshop at Les Anis de Flavigny is up a flight of stairs.

Many Burgundian classics are cooked with wine or contain pork: bœuf bourguignon, for instance, is beef braised in red wine with lardons. If you eat halal or vegetarian food, tell us when you book: we help you choose restaurants and can ask them in advance. Markets make simple lunches: the Marché de Beaune on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, or Les Halles de Dijon. On the road, the driver stops whenever you ask, for prayer or a break.

What does a family day with a driver cost?

A driver by the hour costs €75 per hour per car for up to four guests, from 3 to 12 hours, so a family of four pays the same as a couple. Tolls, parking and waiting are included; entrance tickets and meals are paid on the spot.

For a family of four, the 8-hour castle day comes to €150 per person before tickets, and the prices page lists every rate. If one of you would like a wine tasting on the way, say so when you book: tastings are paid directly to the domaine, and if wine becomes the point of the day, the fixed-price wine tours cost less than the same hours by the hour, €290 for 4 hours and €560 for 8.

What does the castle day look like, hour by hour?

Plan it for a Thursday or a Friday: Châteauneuf closes on Mondays, Commarin on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and the workshop tours at Les Anis de Flavigny run on weekdays only.

At the weekend, keep the two châteaux and swap the workshop tour for a walk through Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France; the crypt, museum and shop of Les Anis de Flavigny stay open.

• 9.00Pickup at your hotel in Beaune, with the child seats fitted.
• 9.45Château de Châteauneuf as it opens: the ramparts, the restored rooms and the chapel, with the booklet or the 45-minute guided tour, then a walk through the village.
• 11.30Château de Commarin, 4 km away: the furnished rooms, the 14th-century chapel, the kitchens and the park.
• 12.45Lunch in the Auxois, or a picnic bought at the market the day before.
• 14.30Les Anis de Flavigny: the workshop tour, the crypt, the museum and the tasting.
• 15.45Back to Beaune, about 1 h 15, arriving around 17.00.

When is the best time for a family trip to Burgundy?

From April to October almost everything is open: Guédelon from 2 April to 1 November 2026, the Cassissium every day from April to October, the Château de Savigny-lès-Beaune every day until 24 October, and the Hôtel-Dieu des Hospices Civils de Beaune every day of the year. In Beaune itself, the Visiotrain tours the town in 35 to 40 minutes from in front of the Hôtel-Dieu, at €10 for adults and €6 for children of 3 to 12.

In winter, plan around closures. Châteauneuf stays open all year, and in 2026 it is free for everyone on the first Sunday of each month from January to May and from October to December, but the workshop tours at Les Anis de Flavigny stop from 11 November to February, and Savigny closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from late October, except during the autumn and Christmas school holidays.

For the rest of Beaune on foot, see Beaune in one day, and for the seasons and events, when to visit Burgundy.