--- title: "Best Day Trips from Beaune: Drive Times and Prices" description: "Eight day trips from Beaune: the Côte de Nuits, Dijon, Cluny, Fontenay, Vézelay, Chablis and Guédelon, with drive times, trains and prices per car." url: https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/day-trips-from-beaune lang: en updated: 2026-10-29 generated: 2026-10-30 image: https://www.cote-privee.com/og/guides/day-trips-from-beaune.png --- # Day trips from Beaune: eight days out, from the Côte de Nuits to Vézelay, Cluny and Guédelon > The best day trips from Beaune depend on what you came for: for wine, the grand cru villages of the Côte de Nuits are 25 to 35 minutes away, and for a city, Dijon is about 20 minutes by train. A whole day takes you further, 1 to 2 h 30 each way: Tournus and Cluny, Fontenay Abbey with Flavigny, Vézelay with Noyers-sur-Serein, Chablis, or the castle being built at Guédelon. Dijon, Tournus and the Côte de Nuits are easy by train; for the others, a driver costs €75 per hour per car, or a wine day from €290. Written and checked by Côte Privée, updated 29 October 2026 ## In short - Closest and easiest: the Côte de Nuits, 25 to 35 minutes away, for the Clos de Vougeot and the grand cru villages, and Dijon, about 20 minutes by train. - A whole day, 1 to 1 h 30 each way: Tournus and Cluny for Romanesque abbeys, Fontenay Abbey with Flavigny and Alésia, Vézelay with Noyers-sur-Serein, or Chablis for white wine. - Without a car, Dijon, Tournus and the Côte de Nuits are easy by TER; Vézelay, Chablis and Guédelon take 3 hours or more each way by public transport. - With a driver, per car for up to four guests: a wine day from €290, or €75 per hour for abbeys, castles and towns; you book tastings and tickets yourself. - For half a day of castles: Châteauneuf and Commarin, about 35 minutes away in the Auxois, from Thursday to Sunday. - The longest: Guédelon, a castle being built by hand, about 2 h 25 each way and open from early April to early November. ## Which day trip from Beaune suits you? Choose by what you want to see, then by the time you have: the Côte de Nuits, the castles of Châteauneuf and Commarin, and Dijon fit half a day, the others a whole one. Drive times are from the centre of Beaune, as our booking page counts them, and prices are per car for one to four guests. | Day trip | Drive from Beaune | Best for | Without a car | With a driver, per car | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Côte de Nuits grands crus | 25 to 35 minutes | Red wine and the great vineyard names | TER trains and the Mobigo 113 coach, one village at a time | €290 for 4 hours, €560 for 8 | | Château de Châteauneuf and Château de Commarin | About 35 minutes | Castles, a stone village, families | No station | €375 for about 5 hours | | Dijon | About 40 minutes | A city day: the dukes’ palace, museums, the market | TER, 18 to 30 minutes, about 44 trains a day | €220 there and back, the driver waiting up to 3 hours | | Tournus and Cluny | 40 minutes to 1 h 10 | Romanesque abbeys, with the Mâconnais wines | TER to Tournus; Cluny by TER to Mâcon and the 701 coach | €600 for about 8 hours | | Fontenay, Flavigny and Alésia | 1 hour to 1 h 15 | A Cistercian abbey, a hilltop village, Caesar’s siege | Train to Montbard, then a taxi for the last 6 km | €675 for about 9 hours | | Vézelay and Noyers-sur-Serein | About 1 h 30 | A Romanesque basilica and a medieval village | 3 h 30 or more each way | €675 for about 9 hours | | Chablis | About 1 h 30 | White wine and seven grands crus | About 3 hours each way, with changes | €880 for the 12-hour wine day | | Guédelon | About 2 h 25 | Children and building crafts | More than 4 hours each way | €750 for about 10 hours | ## Is the Côte de Nuits worth a day from Beaune? Yes, if you love red wine: 24 of Burgundy’s 33 grands crus lie along this narrow slope north of Beaune, in small villages a few minutes apart on the Route des Grands Crus. Gevrey-Chambertin alone has nine, and at Vosne-Romanée you can walk up to [the Romanée-Conti vineyard](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/romanee-conti-vineyard). Start at the Château du Clos de Vougeot, about 25 minutes away, built by the monks of Cîteaux in the middle of their vineyard: it opens every day without booking, makes sense of the slope and suits those who do not taste. A half day reaches Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée and Chambolle-Musigny: [our half-day wine tour](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/half-day), 4 hours for €290 per car, or €360 with Gevrey-Chambertin, which adds an hour. [The full day](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/full-day), 8 hours for €560, takes the whole slope with a lunch stop in Nuits-Saint-Georges, or ends in Dijon. Most estates receive visitors by appointment: book your tastings before the day, and the driver plans the route around them. Without a car, TER trains stop at Gevrey-Chambertin, Vougeot and Nuits-Saint-Georges, 5 to 21 minutes from Beaune, about once an hour, but some stations lie 2 km from their village; the Mobigo 113 coach stops below the villages between Dijon and Beaune. Both suit one village, not three. To choose between the two slopes, see [the Côte de Nuits or the Côte de Beaune](https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/cote-de-nuits-vs-cote-de-beaune). ## Are Châteauneuf and Commarin a good half day? Yes, for castles and old stone. The Château de Châteauneuf, about 35 minutes from Beaune, is a fortress with round towers and a drawbridge above the Auxois, in a village listed among the Plus Beaux Villages de France. The Château de Commarin, about 10 minutes away, is a moated house still lived in by its family, with furnished rooms and a park. Allow an hour or more for each, and a walk through the lanes of Châteauneuf. Go from Thursday to Sunday: Châteauneuf closes on Mondays, Commarin on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and Commarin opens only from late March to the autumn school holidays, while Châteauneuf stays open all year. Children under 12 visit Châteauneuf free. There is no station; with [a driver by the hour](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver), the two castles take about 5 hours, €375 per car. Families will find a whole castle day, with the aniseed workshop of Flavigny, in our guide to [Burgundy with children](https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/burgundy-with-children). ## Is Dijon worth a day trip from Beaune? Yes, and it is the easiest: TER trains take 18 to 30 minutes, about 44 a day. In the centre stand the Palais des Ducs et des États de Bourgogne and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, whose permanent collections are free (closed on Tuesdays). Follow the owl arrows set in the pavement to the Église Notre-Dame de Dijon, and come on a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday morning for the market of Les Halles de Dijon. The Cité internationale de la gastronomie et du vin, with free permanent exhibitions, is a 10-minute walk from the station. The train is the simple choice. A driver makes sense with luggage, for a late dinner or with the Côte de Nuits on the way: [the Dijon ride](https://www.cote-privee.com/transfers/dijon-beaune) costs €120 per car each way, or €220 there and back with the driver waiting up to 3 hours; [the full-day wine tour](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/full-day), €560, can end in Dijon after the grand cru villages. ## How do Tournus and Cluny fit one day? Drive south for two great Romanesque abbeys: the Abbaye Saint-Philibert de Tournus, about 40 minutes from Beaune, then Cluny Abbey, about 30 minutes further on. At Tournus, round pillars carry a nave full of light, with a crypt, an upper chapel and a cloister, open every day. Cluny, founded in 910, built the largest church in Christendom, which it remained for nearly 400 years; one tall arm of its transept survives, and films and screens rebuild the rest. It suits anyone who enjoys reading a ruin. With the driver by the hour, the abbey day below takes about 8 hours: €600 per car. Swap Tournus for a tasting in Pouilly-Fuissé and the climb of the Roche de Solutré, about 25 minutes south of Cluny, and it becomes a wine day in the Mâconnais: the full day with 2 extra hours, 10 hours for €700 per car, back in Beaune before 19.00. Without a car, a direct TER reaches Tournus in about 35 minutes, 19 times a day. Cluny has no station: take a train to Mâcon, from 47 minutes, then the Mobigo 701 coach, about 30 minutes, which runs several times a day. - 9.00 Leave Beaune on the A6. - 10.00 Abbaye Saint-Philibert de Tournus: the nave, the crypt and the cloister. - 11.30 Drive to Cluny, about 30 minutes, for lunch in town. - 13.30 Cluny Abbey and its museum, 2 to 3 hours. - 16.00 Back to Beaune, about 1 h 10. ## Is Fontenay Abbey worth the drive from Beaune? Yes: Fontenay, founded in 1118 by Bernard of Clairvaux and on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1981, is a complete Cistercian monastery alone in a wooded valley, about 1 h 15 from Beaune and open every day. Pair it with Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, a walled village on a spur, one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France, where Les Anis de Flavigny still makes its aniseed sweets in the old abbey, and the MuséoParc Alésia, where Caesar besieged Vercingetorix. With the driver by the hour, the day below takes about 9 hours: €675 per car. Semur-en-Auxois, a fortified town above a loop of its river, can replace Alésia. Come on a weekday for the workshop tours at Les Anis de Flavigny, and remember that the MuséoParc’s museum closes from the end of November to early February. Without a car, Montbard station, about 6 km from the abbey, is 1 h 10 or more from Beaune by train, about 14 a day, and local taxis cover the last kilometres; Les Laumes-Alésia station is a 10-minute walk from the MuséoParc. - 9.00 Leave Beaune. - 10.15 Fontenay Abbey: the church, the cloister, the dormitory and the forge, 1.5 to 2 hours. - 12.15 Drive to Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, about 25 minutes, for lunch. - 14.15 Les Anis de Flavigny: free visit and tasting, with workshop tours on weekdays. - 15.30 MuséoParc Alésia, about 10 minutes away, or the painted rooms of the Château de Bussy-Rabutin. - 17.00 Back to Beaune, about 1 h 05. ## Why go to Vézelay and Noyers-sur-Serein? For one of the great Romanesque churches of France: the Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay crowns its hill, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, with a carved tympanum, a nave of storied capitals and a Gothic choir full of light; wear good shoes for the climb up the village street. Noyers-sur-Serein, about 40 minutes away, is a walled medieval village in a loop of the Serein, with half-timbered houses and the ruins of its castle above. Both are among the Plus Beaux Villages de France. Leave Beaune at 8.30, about 1 h 30 by road, and see the basilica in the morning: it opens every day from 7.00 (8.00 on Mondays) to 20.00, but visits pause on Sundays from 10.30 to 12.30 for Mass. Lunch on the hill, Noyers in the afternoon, and you are back at about 18.00: about 9 hours with the driver by the hour, €675 per car. Avallon, 20 minutes from Vézelay, can replace Noyers. Without a car this trip is not practical in a day: by train and coach it takes 3 h 30 or more each way. ## Is Chablis worth a long day from Beaune? Yes, if you love white wine: Chablis is Chardonnay only, and its seven grands crus share one hillside facing the town, about 1 h 30 from Beaune by the A6. Taste at La Chablisienne, whose cellar in town opens every day, then at a domaine by appointment, and add one stop, Noyers-sur-Serein or the red wines of Irancy. Many family domaines close on Sundays. It is the one day trip here that needs [our long day](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/long-day): 12 hours for €880 per car. By public transport it takes about 3 hours each way, with changes. Our [Chablis day trip guide](https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/chablis-day-trip-from-beaune) gives the route hour by hour, the tastings and the extra stops. ## Is Guédelon worth the two-and-a-half-hour drive? Yes, for families and anyone curious about how castles were built: at the Chantier médiéval de Guédelon, craftspeople are building a 13th-century fortified castle with the techniques and materials of the Middle Ages, and you walk among the masons, carpenters and blacksmiths as they work. The site asks for a whole day, and its restaurant, La Canopée, is best booked online. It is about 2 h 25 from Beaune, the longest trip on this page, and opens from early April to early November (2 April to 1 November in 2026), closing on some Tuesdays and Wednesdays: check its calendar before you choose a date. Leave at 8.30, spend 5 hours there, and you are back at about 18.30: 10 hours with the driver by the hour, €750 per car. By public transport it takes more than 4 hours each way. ## How do you book a driver for a day trip, and what does it cost? Book the day by what it is for. When tastings are the point, a wine day costs less than the same hours by the hour; for abbeys, castles and towns, book [the driver by the hour](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver), from 3 to 12 hours. Every price is per car for one to four guests, tolls and parking included; entry tickets, tastings and meals are paid on the spot. You book your tastings and entry tickets yourself and give us their times when you book: the driver plans the route around them and waits between the visits. For five to seven guests, a premium van comes on request, for a supplement per day. [Our prices page](https://www.cote-privee.com/prices) also lists a fixed return to each place, with the driver waiting up to 3 hours, for a single visit. | What you book | Hours | Per car, 1 to 4 guests | Day trips it suits | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Half-day wine tour | 4 | €290 | The Côte de Nuits as far as Chambolle-Musigny | | Full-day wine tour | 8 | €560 | The whole Côte de Nuits, with Dijon if you like | | Full day with 2 extra hours | 10 | €700 | Cluny with a Pouilly-Fuissé tasting | | Long wine day | 12 | €880 | Chablis | | Driver by the hour | 3 to 12 | €75 per hour | Châteauneuf, Tournus and Cluny, Fontenay, Vézelay, Guédelon | ## Frequently asked questions ### What are the best day trips from Beaune? For wine, the Côte de Nuits, 25 to 35 minutes away, or Chablis for a long day. For history, Vézelay, Fontenay Abbey, or Cluny with Tournus. For a city, Dijon, about 20 minutes by train. With children, Guédelon or the castles of Châteauneuf and Commarin. ### Can you take day trips from Beaune without a car? To Dijon, Tournus and the Côte de Nuits, yes, by TER train. Fontenay and Cluny need a train, then a taxi or a coach. Vézelay, Chablis and Guédelon take 3 hours or more each way by public transport, so they need a car or a driver. ### How far is Vézelay from Beaune? About 125 km and 1 h 30 by road each way. With the basilica, lunch on the hill and Noyers-sur-Serein, plan a day of about 9 hours: €675 per car with the driver by the hour. ### Which day trips work on a Sunday or a Monday? Fontenay, Cluny, Tournus and Bussy-Rabutin open every day, and so does La Chablisienne’s cellar in Chablis, though many family domaines there close on Sundays. On Sundays, Vézelay pauses visits from 10.30 to 12.30 for Mass. On Mondays, Châteauneuf is closed, and the workshop tours of Les Anis de Flavigny run on weekdays only. ### Can we combine Dijon and the Côte de Nuits in one day? Yes: the full-day wine tour, 8 hours for €560 per car, takes in the grand cru villages in the morning and Dijon in the afternoon. ### Do you book the tastings and tickets yourself? Yes. You book your tastings and entry tickets yourself, then give us their times when you book; the driver can suggest domaines and plans the route and the timing around them. ## Places in this guide - [Beaune](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/beaune): The wine capital: the Hôtel-Dieu's glazed roofs, the ramparts, and merchant cellars under the streets. - [Route des Grands Crus](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/route-des-grands-crus): Burgundy's first wine road: 60 km of vineyards and villages from Dijon to Santenay, by car, bike or on foot. - [Gevrey-Chambertin](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/gevrey-chambertin): Nine grands crus, more than any other village, led by Chambertin, below a castle fortified by Cluny's monks. - [Chambolle-Musigny](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/chambolle-musigny): Silky, perfumed reds from Musigny, Bonnes-Mares and Les Amoureuses, in a small village at a combe's mouth. - [Vougeot](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/vougeot): The monks' walled Clos de Vougeot and its château, whose giant presses and great cellar you tour inside. - [Château du Clos de Vougeot](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-du-clos-de-vougeot): The monks' winery in the middle of a 50-hectare grand cru: four giant presses, the great cellar, the Tastevin's home. - [Vosne-Romanée](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/vosne-romanee): Romanée-Conti, La Tâche and four more grands crus, with the stone cross at the edge of Romanée-Conti. - [Romanée-Conti Vineyard (Vigne de la Romanée-Conti)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/romanee-conti-vineyard): The 1.8-hectare grand cru behind one of the world's most expensive wines: a stone cross and rows of Pinot Noir. - [Nuits-Saint-Georges](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/nuits-saint-georges): The Côte de Nuits' wine town: a belfry, 41 premiers crus led by Les Saint-Georges, and tasting rooms. - [Château de Châteauneuf](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-chateauneuf): A walled medieval fortress on a rocky ridge, watching over the Auxois from its village of stone houses. - [Château de Commarin](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-commarin): A lived-in family château with medieval towers, wide moats and rare Renaissance heraldic tapestries. - [Dijon](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/dijon): The dukes' capital: the ducal palace, the Owl Trail, Les Halles, and the start of the Route des Grands Crus. - [Palace of the Dukes and Estates of Burgundy (Palais des Ducs et des États de Bourgogne)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/palais-des-ducs-dijon): Dijon's ducal palace behind one classical front: the dukes' kitchens and tombs, a lookout tower, a royal square. - [Dijon Fine Arts Museum (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/musee-des-beaux-arts-dijon): The tombs of the Valois dukes ringed by alabaster mourners, in the ducal palace, then 50 rooms of art. - [Church of Notre-Dame, Dijon (Église Notre-Dame de Dijon)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/notre-dame-dijon): Touch Dijon's lucky stone owl, then watch the Jacquemart family strike the hours above 51 false gargoyles. - [Dijon Covered Market (Les Halles)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/halles-de-dijon): Dijon's 19th-century iron market hall, busy with Burgundy produce four mornings a week. - [International City of Gastronomy and Wine (Cité internationale de la gastronomie et du vin)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/cite-gastronomie-vin-dijon): Free exhibitions on how the French eat and drink, in the courtyards of a Dijon hospital founded in 1204. - [Saint-Philibert Abbey, Tournus (Abbaye Saint-Philibert de Tournus)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/abbaye-saint-philibert-tournus): A Romanesque nave where the barrel vaults run crosswise, with its 11th-century monastery still around it. - [Cluny Abbey (Abbaye de Cluny)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/abbaye-de-cluny): One 30-metre arm of a transept is all that stands of Christendom's largest church; 3D screens rebuild the rest. - [Pouilly-Fuissé](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/pouilly-fuisse): Rich Mâconnais whites below the limestone cliffs of Solutré and Vergisson, with a climb to the top. - [Rock of Solutré (Roche de Solutré)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/roche-de-solutre): The 493-metre limestone prow above Pouilly-Fuissé: an easy summit walk over Ice Age hunting grounds. - [Fontenay Abbey (Abbaye de Fontenay)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/abbaye-de-fontenay): The complete 12th-century Cistercian abbey, from church to forge, alone in a wooded valley (UNESCO). - [Flavigny-sur-Ozerain](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/flavigny-sur-ozerain): A walled hilltop village of stone lanes, medieval gates and aniseed sweets, facing the Alésia battlefield. - [Les Anis de Flavigny](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/anis-de-flavigny): Aniseed sweets made in a Benedictine abbey, with a Carolingian crypt beneath the workshops. - [MuséoParc Alésia](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/museoparc-alesia): Where Caesar defeated Vercingetorix: rebuilt Roman siege lines, a round museum and a Roman town on the hill. - [Château de Bussy-Rabutin](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-bussy-rabutin): The home of a disgraced courtier in exile, painted wall to wall with portraits and mottoes. - [Semur-en-Auxois](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/semur-en-auxois): The classic view from the Pont Joly: a pink granite town, its cracked tower and Gothic spire above the Armançon. - [Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay (Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/basilique-de-vezelay): A Romanesque masterpiece crowning a hill, where Saint Bernard preached the Second Crusade. - [Noyers-sur-Serein](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/noyers-sur-serein): Cobbled squares named for grain, wine and salt, inside the walls of a village in a loop of the Serein. - [Avallon](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/avallon): A walled town on a granite spur, with rampart walks above the wooded Cousin valley on the way to Vézelay. - [Chablis](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/chablis): Chardonnay on fossil-oyster limestone: seven grands crus on one slope facing the town across the Serein. - [La Chablisienne](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/la-chablisienne): Every level of Chablis in one tasting, from Petit Chablis to the cooperative's own grand cru, Château Grenouilles. - [Irancy](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/irancy): The Yonne's red-wine village, in a bowl of vines and cherry trees that blossom in spring. - [Guédelon Castle (Chantier médiéval de Guédelon)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/chateau-de-guedelon): A 13th-century castle being built today, by hand, with the tools and materials of the Middle Ages. ## Sources - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- Canonical page: