Beaune to Champagne, Alsace, the Alps and Provence

Which cities can a private driver take you to from Beaune, and at what price?

Ten cities beyond Burgundy have a fixed price from Beaune, worked out from the road distance: €45 plus €2.30 per kilometre, which also covers the driver's drive back to Beaune. It is the price of the whole car, for one to four guests, tolls included, and the same for the ride the other way, from the city to Beaune.

The train times below come from Trainline's timetables for a weekday in early November 2026 and from SNCF's open data, checked on 29 October 2026. Check your own date on SNCF Connect before you decide.

Train or private driver: which suits your trip?

For one or two people travelling light to Colmar, Strasbourg or Avignon, the direct TGV is quick and costs less. Everywhere else the train means one to three changes with your bags, and the car is quicker too: Annecy is 2 h 45 by road and about 4 hours by rail, Chamonix 3 h 10 against 5 h 45 at best.

The driver suits the end of a Burgundy stay, when the next stop is Champagne, Alsace, the Jura, the Alps or Provence, and the start of one, when you come down from Reims or up from Avignon. The price is per car, not per seat, so it falls quickly with a group: Colmar comes to €168.75 each for four, from one hotel door to the next, with your cases of wine in the boot.

Reims, Épernay or Troyes: how do you get to Champagne from Beaune?

Reims and Épernay are both about 3 h 25 from Beaune by road, €825 and €795 per car; by train neither has a direct service, and the quickest trips take 3 h 45 to Reims and 4 h 25 to Épernay, with changes.

Reims is the city of the cathedral where the kings of France were crowned, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991, and of the Champagne houses whose cellars run for kilometres under Saint-Nicaise hill. Épernay, half an hour south, lines its Avenue de Champagne with the houses' headquarters; both, with the hillside vineyards of Hautvillers, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, were listed by UNESCO in 2015. Troyes, 2 h 25 from Beaune (€565), is the capital of the Aube, Champagne's southern vineyard district, with an old town of half-timbered houses rebuilt after the fire of 1524.

On the way to Reims or Épernay, Troyes makes a natural stop: lunch and a walk through the old town add only about 25 minutes of driving. You book your cellar visits with the Champagne houses yourself; leave Beaune in the morning and an afternoon visit fits the same day.

Colmar or Strasbourg: how do you get to Alsace from Beaune?

Colmar is 2 h 50 from Beaune by road, €675 per car, and Strasbourg 3 h 35, €840. Alsace is also the easiest region by rail: in the autumn 2026 timetable, one direct TGV a day leaves Beaune in the early afternoon and reaches Colmar in 2 h 18 and Strasbourg in 2 h 48, and the same train runs back from Strasbourg and Colmar in the early afternoon. The other trips take one or two changes.

Colmar is the town of Little Venice and of the Unterlinden Museum, home of Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece, and the usual base for the Alsace wine route. Strasbourg keeps its cathedral on the Grande Île, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988.

Besançon lies on the motorway to Alsace: an hour or two at Vauban's citadel, a UNESCO-listed fortress with three museums above the loop of the Doubs, adds only about 25 minutes of driving. As a destination of its own, Besançon is 1 h 20 from Beaune, €300 per car.

Arbois, Annecy or Chamonix: how do you get to the Jura and the Alps?

Arbois is 1 h 15 from Beaune, €295 per car, against 2 h 15 to 3 hours and two changes by train. It is the Jura's wine town, home of the region's first appellation, in 1936, where the cellars pour vin jaune, made from Savagnin and aged under a veil of yeast; Louis Pasteur's family house, where he set up his laboratory, stands by the Cuisance.

Annecy, 2 h 45 from Beaune (€585), sets its old town at the head of Lake Annecy, 35 km south of Geneva. Chamonix, 3 h 10 away (€750), lies below Mont Blanc, where a cable car rises to the Aiguille du Midi at 3,842 metres. Neither has a direct train from Beaune: Annecy takes 3 h 50 to 4 h 15 with one or two changes, Chamonix 5 h 45 at best with three changes or more.

Arbois is the stop on the way to the Alps: a tasting in town, or lunch at La Table du Grapiot, a MICHELIN-starred table in Pupillin just to the south, adds about 50 minutes on the road. Book your table and your tastings yourself and tell the driver their times.

How do you get from Beaune to Avignon and Provence?

Avignon is 4 h 15 from Beaune by road, €915 per car. By train, one direct TGV a day reaches Avignon TGV station in 2 h 28, leaving Beaune in the late afternoon; the other trips take about 3 to 4 hours, usually with one change. Coming north, a direct TGV leaves Avignon TGV in the morning and reaches Beaune at lunchtime.

Avignon is the city of the Palais des Papes, where the popes lived in the 14th century, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995, and of the Pont Saint-Bénézet, the Pont d'Avignon, of which four arches survive; the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape lies 12 km to the north.

The Mâconnais is the last of Burgundy on the road south: a tasting in Pouilly-Fuissé or the walk up the Rock of Solutré breaks a long drive and adds about 25 minutes of driving.

How does the ride work: one way, a stop on the way, luggage?

Each ride is one way, as the rides from Paris are: the driver takes you to the city and drives back to Beaune, and there is no same-day return. If you come back to Burgundy, book the way back as a ride of its own, on another day, at the same fare from the city to Beaune. For a day out and back, choose a place in Burgundy: see our day trips from Beaune.

A stop on the way, for a lunch or a tasting you book yourself, is planned when you book the ride: the fixed price covers the ride, and the stop adds the driver's time there, €75 an hour, and the few kilometres it adds to the road.

• One car for your group: the premium car seats one to four guests with their luggage; tell us when you book how many suitcases and cases of wine you carry.
• Five to seven guests, or more luggage than the boot takes: a premium van on request, for a supplement.
• The fare is from Beaune; to or from a hotel in a wine village, the booking page shows the fare from there.
• Paris, Lyon and Geneva have fixed transfers of their own, per car: €750 to Paris, €410 to Lyon and €570 to Geneva airport.
• Any other address beyond Burgundy is priced on request: the driver confirms the fare with your booking, before you pay anything.

How do you book the ride, and what do you book yourself?

Choose a ride on the booking page, with Beaune or your hotel as the start and the city as the end, then the date, the time and the number of guests. Sending the request costs nothing: your driver confirms by e-mail, and the full price is paid only then, as his e-mail says.

You book everything else yourself: hotels, cellar visits in Reims and Épernay, tastings in Alsace and the Jura, tables, and tickets such as the Aiguille du Midi cable car or the Palais des Papes. Give the driver their times when you book, and the ride is planned around them.