--- title: "Château de Brochon: Visit, Opening Times and History" description: "Built 1895 to 1899 by Stéphen Liégeard, who coined the name Côte d'Azur, now a high school. Summer weekend tours, private driver from Beaune, 40 min." url: https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-brochon lang: en updated: 2026-09-29 generated: 2026-10-08 image: https://www.cote-privee.com/og/chateaux/chateau-de-brochon.png --- # Château de Brochon > Château de Brochon: a Loire-style château built by the poet who gave the Côte d'Azur its name. Château de Brochon is in Brochon (Côte-d'Or), 34 min by road (34 km) from Beaune. Open to visitors · 19th century · Private driver from Beaune: €120 one way for the whole car, up to 4 guests. Brochon's château looks as if it had strayed from the Loire Valley. It was built between 1895 and 1899 by Stéphen Liégeard, a writer, poet and former politician, and is often described as the last great château built in Côte-d'Or. Since the 1950s it has housed a state high school, the Lycée Stéphen-Liégeard. ## Key facts - Type: Renaissance château - Location: 25 km north-east of Beaune · Côte de Nuits - Coordinates: 47.2383, 4.9732 - 34 min from Beaune - Open to visitors - 19th century - Commune: Brochon · Côte-d'Or - Style: Neo-Renaissance - Heritage: Registered historic monument - Official website: [chateaudebrochon.wixsite.com](https://chateaudebrochon.wixsite.com/visite) - From Beaune: ≈ 34 min · 34 km - €360 for a [half-day wine tour](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/half-day) plus one hour, from Beaune, up to 4 guests ## Getting there - [Private driver from Beaune](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver): 34 min by road (34 km), €120 one way for the whole car. Coming by train or plane? [Transfers from stations and airports](https://www.cote-privee.com/transfers) Estimates per vehicle for up to 4 guests, tolls included. Your price is confirmed when you book. ## History In the 14th century Duke Philip the Bold gave an estate at Brochon to the Carthusian order. In 1804 Étienne Liégeard, from an old Dijon family, bought part of the land. His son Jean-Baptiste, later mayor of Dijon, enlarged it, and in 1879 his grandson Stéphen Liégeard (1830 to 1925), a writer and former politician, completed the estate and decided to build a Renaissance-style château there. Work began in 1895, soon after the phylloxera crisis had ruined many small growers, and Liégeard wanted the building site to give them work. The architects were Leprince and Perreau, and the landscape designer Eugène Bühler laid out the park. After Liégeard's son Gaston died unmarried in 1953, the State inherited the château under the terms of his will. It became a school annex in 1954 and an independent lycée in 1964. ## Architecture The château is L-shaped, with two main wings joined by a tall pavilion and dressed with towers and turrets. Its design borrows from the Loire: Azay-le-Rideau for the east front, Chenonceau for the arcades, Blois and Chambord for the chimneys and dormers. Inside, the decoration follows 18th-century styles. The great hall has a coffered ceiling, a life-size sculpted lion and stained glass by Édouard Didron. ## Visiting Because the château is a working school, it can be visited only in summer, on guided tours run by the Association des Amis du Château on weekend afternoons from mid-July to mid-August, and on European Heritage Days. The tour covers the hall, library, billiard room, salon and dining room, and the park is lovely too. Check the official website for opening times. ## Did you know? Stéphen Liégeard coined the name Côte d'Azur for the Riviera. A stained-glass window in the hall carries his motto: it is fine to be great, but better to be good. ## Around Château de Brochon What to combine with Château de Brochon on the same day, nearest first. ### Villages - [Fixin](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/fixin) (1 km away): A quiet wine village with Napoleon in the woods, a Romanesque church in the vines and firm reds. - [Gevrey-Chambertin](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/gevrey-chambertin) (1 km away): Nine grands crus, more than any other Burgundy village, led by Chambertin and Chambertin-Clos de Bèze. - [Marsannay-la-Côte](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/marsannay-la-cote) (4 km away): Gateway to the Côte de Nuits and Burgundy's only village appellation making red, white and rosé. ### Châteaux - [Manoir de la Perrière](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/manoir-de-la-perriere) (1 km away): A Cistercian manor above Fixin, with one of the oldest wine presses in Burgundy. - [Château de Gevrey-Chambertin](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-gevrey-chambertin) (1 km away): A 13th-century fortress built by the abbots of Cluny above the old village of Gevrey. - [Château de Couchey](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-couchey) (2 km away): A medieval fortified house that grew into a château at the western edge of Couchey. ### Things to do - [Domaine Isabelle Lippe](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/domaine-isabelle-lippe-brochon) (1 km away): A small domaine in Brochon run by two women winegrowers, with tastings led by the grower herself. - [Gaugry Cheese Dairy (Fromagerie Gaugry)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/fromagerie-gaugry-brochon), 1 km away: Époisses and Ami du Chambertin from a family cheese dairy on the Route des Grands Crus. - [Noisot Park and Museum (Parc et Musée Noisot)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/parc-noisot-fixin), 1 km away: A pine-covered hillside above Fixin, created by a loyal grenadier as a shrine to Napoleon. ### Restaurants - [La Table d’Hôte, La Rôtisserie du Chambertin](https://www.cote-privee.com/restaurants/la-table-d-hote-rotisserie-du-chambertin-gevrey) (2 km away · 1 MICHELIN star): A starred tasting table in an eighteenth-century house in the heart of Gevrey-Chambertin - [Origine](https://www.cote-privee.com/restaurants/origine-dijon) (10 km away · 1 MICHELIN star): A Lameloise-trained Japanese chef cooking Burgundy's seasons on place Wilson - [William Frachot](https://www.cote-privee.com/restaurants/william-frachot-dijon) (10 km away · 2 MICHELIN stars): Dijon's two-star table, reinventing Burgundy's classics inside the Hostellerie du Chapeau Rouge ### Events - **Usually a Sunday in late March or early April.** · [Trail du Tacot](https://www.cote-privee.com/events/trail-du-tacot-gevrey-chambertin): A village trail race from the vines of Gevrey-Chambertin up to the cliffs above. (Sport · Gevrey-Chambertin) - **Long held over five days in late August and early September; in 2026 it moved to a May weekend and an early-October weekend.** · [Festival Musique au Chambertin](https://www.cote-privee.com/events/festival-musique-au-chambertin): Classical concerts and tastings in the wine villages around Gevrey-Chambertin since 1988. (Music · Gevrey-Chambertin) - **Friday evenings through the summer, from late May.** · [Les Vin’dredis de la Halle](https://www.cote-privee.com/events/vindredis-halle-chambertin): Summer Friday tastings and gourmet evenings at the Halle Chambertin in Gevrey. (Wine festival · Gevrey-Chambertin) ## Questions about Château de Brochon ### How far is Château de Brochon from Beaune? Château de Brochon is about 34 min from Beaune by road (34 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €120 for the whole car, up to 4 guests. ### Can you visit Château de Brochon? Yes, Château de Brochon welcomes visitors. Opening days and times change with the seasons, so check its official website before you go. ### Can a private driver take us to Château de Brochon? Yes. Your driver collects you in Beaune or at your hotel in an electric Polestar 2 (up to 4 guests), waits while you visit and plans the rest of the day with you. The driver speaks English, French, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic. → [Half-day wine tour plus one hour, €360](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/half-day) ## Book - [Book a driver here](https://www.cote-privee.com/book?service=wine-tour&option=half&place=chateau:brochon): Half-day wine tour plus one hour from Beaune: €360 for the car, up to 4 guests ## Sources - - - --- Canonical page: