--- title: "Day Trips from Dijon: Wine Villages, Châteaux and Abbeys" description: "Gevrey-Chambertin is 20 minutes from Dijon, Beaune 35, Fontenay Abbey about an hour: day trips by train, coach or private driver, and who each suits." url: https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/day-trips-from-dijon lang: en updated: 2026-10-29 generated: 2026-10-30 image: https://www.cote-privee.com/og/guides/day-trips-from-dijon.png --- # Day trips from Dijon: the Côte de Nuits, Beaune, châteaux and Fontenay Abbey > For wine, follow the Route des Grands Crus south from Dijon: Gevrey-Chambertin is 13 km away, the Château du Clos de Vougeot and the vineyards of Vosne-Romanée about 25 minutes, and half a day covers them. Beaune, with its Hôtel-Dieu and cellars that open every day, is 18 to 30 minutes away by TER. For history, choose the fortress of Châteauneuf, 40 minutes west, or drive about an hour north-west to Fontenay Abbey, the painted rooms of Bussy-Rabutin and the hilltop village of Flavigny-sur-Ozerain. Written and checked by Côte Privée, updated 29 October 2026 ## In short - Wine: the Côte de Nuits, from Gevrey-Chambertin, 13 km south, past the Clos de Vougeot to Vosne-Romanée, fills half a day or a whole one; book your tastings with the domaines ahead. - A town: Beaune is 18 to 30 minutes away by TER, with about 45 trains a day; start at the Hôtel-Dieu, open every day from 9.00. - Châteaux: the Clos de Vougeot and Bussy-Rabutin open every day, Châteauneuf every day but Monday; many others, such as Arcelot, only in July and August. - An abbey: Fontenay, founded in 1118 and listed by UNESCO, is about an hour away and pairs with Flavigny-sur-Ozerain; by train, go to Montbard and cover the last 6 km by taxi. - Without a car: the Mobigo 113 coach links Dijon-Ville station with the Côte de Nuits villages seven times a day from Monday to Saturday, for €2; Châteauneuf, Commarin and Flavigny have no train. - With a private driver from Dijon: the full wine day of 8 hours starts at your hotel or Dijon-Ville station and brings you back, €560 per car for up to four guests, and the long day of 12 hours costs €880; for châteaux and abbeys, the driver by the hour costs €75 an hour. ## Which day trip from Dijon suits you? Choose by what you want from the day: wine villages, a town, a château or an abbey. Drive times are by road from Dijon-Ville station, where the TER regional trains leave too. Opening times and prices were checked on 28 October 2026 on each place's own website; confirm them before you go. | Day trip | What you see | Who it suits | By road | Without a car | Time to allow | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Côte de Nuits and the Route des Grands Crus | Gevrey-Chambertin, the Château du Clos de Vougeot, the vineyards of Vosne-Romanée | Red-wine lovers, a first visit to Burgundy | 15 to 25 minutes | TER to Gevrey-Chambertin, Mobigo coach 113 | Half a day to a full day | | Beaune | The Hôtel-Dieu, the old town, cellars open every day | Everyone, and a rainy day | 35 to 40 minutes | TER, 18 to 30 minutes | A full day | | Fontenay Abbey and Flavigny-sur-Ozerain | A complete 12th-century Cistercian abbey, a walled hilltop village | History lovers, walkers, photographers | An hour to an hour and a quarter | TER to Montbard, then 6 km by taxi; no train to Flavigny | A full day | | Château de Bussy-Rabutin | Rooms an exiled courtier filled with portraits and mottoes | History and literature lovers, a rainy day | About an hour | TER to Les Laumes-Alésia, 8 km from the château | Half a day, or a day with Flavigny | | Châteauneuf and Commarin | A walled fortress above the Auxois, a family château still lived in | Families, history lovers | 35 to 40 minutes | No train: a car or a driver | Half a day | ## How do you spend a day in the Côte de Nuits from Dijon? Follow the Route des Grands Crus, which starts in Dijon and runs south along the foot of the slope: Marsannay-la-Côte comes first, 8 km from the centre, then Gevrey-Chambertin at 13 km, the Château du Clos de Vougeot at about 18 km and Vosne-Romanée at 21 km, 15 to 25 minutes by road. Gevrey-Chambertin holds nine of Burgundy's 33 grands crus: taste with a family domaine there, by appointment, or begin at the Château de Marsannay, a winery built in 1990 in the style of an old estate, whose short tasting of three wines needs no appointment. At the Château du Clos de Vougeot, which the Cistercian monks of Cîteaux built in the middle of their walled vineyard of some 50 hectares, you see the vat house with its four giant presses and the great cellar. It opens every day, from 9.30 to 18.00 from April to October and from 10.00 to 17.00 in winter; the self-guided visit costs €12 without booking, and the guided tours in English, at 11.30 and 15.30, are booked by e-mail. Two kilometres south, above Vosne-Romanée, you see the [Romanée-Conti vineyard](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/romanee-conti-vineyard) from the lane: it is a working vineyard, with no visit. Half a day fits two tastings and the Clos de Vougeot. A full day adds lunch in Nuits-Saint-Georges and a third visit, or the Côte de Beaune further south. Most family domaines close on Sundays, so keep this day for Monday to Saturday. Without a car, about 22 TER trains a day reach Gevrey-Chambertin in about 15 minutes, but the station lies some 2 km below the village. The Mobigo coach 113 leaves Dijon-Ville station seven times a day from Monday to Saturday and twice on Sundays, stops on the main road below Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot and Vosne-Romanée, and costs €2: the 8.40 reaches Vougeot at about 9.15, and the last coach back leaves Vougeot at about 18.50, Monday to Saturday. That makes one or two villages per outing; our guide to [Burgundy's wineries without a car](https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/burgundy-wineries-without-a-car) has every option. ## Is Beaune worth a day trip from Dijon? Yes, and it is the easiest one without a car: about 45 TER trains a day take 18 to 30 minutes, the last ones leaving at about 22.00 in each direction, and Beaune station is about 1 km from the Hôtel-Dieu. Start at the [Hôtel-Dieu](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/hospices-de-beaune-hotel-dieu), the hospital for the poor that Nicolas Rolin founded in 1443 under its roofs of glazed tiles; it opens every day from 9.00, and the visit takes about an hour. Then taste in the old town, where the Marché aux Vins across the street and the cellars of the merchant houses receive visitors every day: our guide to [wine tasting in Beaune](https://www.cote-privee.com/guides/wine-tasting-in-beaune) compares them. With a car or a driver, the Côte de Nuits lies on the way there or back, and Pommard, Volnay and Meursault are 5 to 9 km beyond the town. ## Which châteaux around Dijon are worth the trip? More than 40 of the châteaux on this site lie within 45 km of Dijon by road, but only about 20 let visitors in, for a tour, a tasting or their gardens, and several, such as the Château d’Arcelot east of the city, open only in July and August. Choose by the kind of visit you want. Châteauneuf and Commarin, 5 km apart, make an easy half day: go from Thursday to Sunday in season, when both open, and add the gardens of Barbirey, about 20 minutes away in the Ouche valley. | Kind | Château | What you see | By road | When it opens | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Wine château | Château du Clos de Vougeot | The monks' vat house and great cellar, in the middle of a grand cru | About 25 minutes | Every day, except at Christmas and New Year | | Wine château | Château de Marsannay | A cellar tour and tasting booked ahead, or three wines without an appointment | About 15 minutes | Every day; closed on Sundays from December to March | | Fortress | Château de Châteauneuf | Five round towers, a drawbridge and a 15th-century chapel above the Auxois | About 40 minutes | All year, closed on Mondays | | Renaissance and 17th century | Château de Bussy-Rabutin | Rooms hung with more than 300 paintings, and a park | About an hour | Every day, except five public holidays | | Family château | Château de Commarin | Furnished rooms, a 14th-century chapel and a park | About 35 minutes | Late March to early November, closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays | | Gardens | Château de Barbirey | Eight hectares of terraced kitchen garden, orchard and ponds | About 30 minutes | Every day from 4 April to 11 November, tickets online | ## Is Fontenay Abbey worth the trip from Dijon? Yes, if you want to see how the monks lived: Fontenay Abbey, founded in 1118 by Bernard of Clairvaux and listed by UNESCO in 1981, is a complete Cistercian monastery alone in a wooded valley, about 75 km and an hour to an hour and a quarter from Dijon. You walk on your own through the church, the cloister, the chapter room, the dormitory and the forge with its hydraulic hammer, then the gardens; allow 1.5 to 2 hours. It opens every day, from 10.00 to 18.00 from 3 April to 1 November, and from 10.00 to 12.00 and 14.00 to 17.00 the rest of the year. Make a full day of it with Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, 25 minutes away: a walled village on a rocky spur, one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France, where [Les Anis de Flavigny](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/anis-de-flavigny) are still made inside the old abbey and the film Chocolat was shot. The MuséoParc Alésia, on the site of the battle between Caesar and Vercingetorix, is 10 minutes from Flavigny, and the Château de Bussy-Rabutin 15. Without a car, take the train to Montbard, 35 to 40 minutes from Dijon with about 16 trains a day, then cover the last 6 km by taxi, €18 to €24 according to the abbey, or on a bike hired from the Montbard tourist office. No train reaches Flavigny. ## Why visit the Château de Bussy-Rabutin? For rooms that read like a diary on the walls. Roger de Bussy-Rabutin, a soldier and writer at the court of Louis XIV, was sent to the Bastille and then exiled to this estate over a satirical book about the court, and spent some seventeen years filling it with more than 300 paintings: portraits of the people of his world, painted emblems and mottoes in the Salle des Devises, and the Tour Dorée, lined with portraits. Allow about an hour and a half with the park. It opens every day except five public holidays, with a break at lunchtime, until 18.00 from mid-May to mid-September and 17.00 the rest of the year, last entry an hour before; the ticket costs €9, free for under-18s, and the guided tours are in French. The painted rooms make it a good choice for a rainy day, and it pairs with Flavigny-sur-Ozerain and Fontenay Abbey. By train, the nearest station is Les Laumes-Alésia, about half an hour from Dijon on a direct train and 8 km from the château. ## Why go to Châteauneuf-en-Auxois? To walk into a medieval fortress that still looks the part. The Château de Châteauneuf stands on a limestone ridge above the valley of the Canal de Bourgogne, with five round towers joined by curtain walls, a drawbridge and the chapel of Philippe Pot, the counsellor to whom Duke Philip the Good gave the castle in 1457. The Region, which owns it, has completed a restoration that opened parts once closed to visitors, and the village of stone houses around it is one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France. Allow about an hour for the château, more for the lanes of the village and the view. It opens all year except on Mondays, from 9.45 to 12.30 and 14.00 to 17.30, until 18.00 in July and August, for €6. Its access page gives the roads and the cycle path along the canal but no train or bus, so come by car or with a driver: about 40 minutes from Dijon on the A38. Add the Château de Commarin, 5 km away, or the gardens of Barbirey on the way back. ## How does a private driver work from Dijon? Your driver meets you at Dijon-Ville station, off the TGV from Paris, or at your hotel in Dijon, waits at each stop and brings you back. Prices are per car for up to four guests, with tolls, parking and waiting included. For a day in the vineyards, [the full wine day](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/full-day) starts at your hotel in Dijon or at Dijon-Ville station and brings you back there: 8 hours for €560 per car, the same price as from Beaune, with time for the grand cru villages of the Côte de Nuits and, after lunch, the Côte de Beaune. [The long day](https://www.cote-privee.com/wine-tours/long-day), 12 hours for €880, starts in Dijon too and reaches Chablis. The [Côte de Nuits day from Dijon station](https://www.cote-privee.com/packages/cote-de-nuits-day-from-dijon) plans the drive through the grand cru villages around your trains. For other days, the driver by the hour is the flexible choice, €75 an hour with a 3-hour minimum: about 5 hours for Châteauneuf and Commarin (€375), 7 to 8 for Fontenay Abbey with Flavigny-sur-Ozerain or Bussy-Rabutin (€525 to €600), and about 4 for a short visit to the Côte de Nuits (€300), as the half-day wine tour starts around Beaune. If you would rather sleep in Beaune, [the transfer from Dijon station](https://www.cote-privee.com/transfers/dijon-beaune) costs €120. You book your tastings and tickets yourself, directly with each domaine or château; we suggest domaines that receive visitors and plan the day around your appointments. Every price for the city is on [our page for a private driver in Dijon](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver/dijon). ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the best day trip from Dijon? It depends on what you came for. For wine, the Côte de Nuits, 15 to 25 minutes south, with Gevrey-Chambertin and the Clos de Vougeot. For a town, Beaune and its Hôtel-Dieu, 18 to 30 minutes by TER. For history, Fontenay Abbey with Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, about an hour north-west, or the fortress of Châteauneuf, 40 minutes west. ### Can you take day trips from Dijon without a car? To some places. TER trains reach Beaune, Gevrey-Chambertin, Montbard for Fontenay Abbey and Les Laumes-Alésia for Bussy-Rabutin, and the Mobigo 113 coach runs through the Côte de Nuits villages for €2. Châteauneuf, Commarin and Flavigny-sur-Ozerain have no train, and the last 6 to 8 km to Fontenay and Bussy-Rabutin take a taxi or a bike. ### Which châteaux near Dijon are open all year? The Château du Clos de Vougeot and the Château de Bussy-Rabutin open every day except a few public holidays, and the Château de Châteauneuf every day but Monday. The Château de Commarin opens from late March to early November, the gardens of Barbirey from April to 11 November, and the Château d’Arcelot only in July and August. ### Where does the Route des Grands Crus start? In Dijon. Opened in 1937, the wine road runs south through Marsannay-la-Côte, 8 km from the centre, Gevrey-Chambertin at 13 km and Vougeot at 18 km, then through Nuits-Saint-Georges and Beaune to Santenay, about 60 km in all. ### Can you see Beaune and the Côte de Nuits in one day from Dijon? Yes, with a car or a driver: the Côte de Nuits lies on the way, so taste in Gevrey-Chambertin and see the Clos de Vougeot in the morning, then have lunch in Beaune and visit the Hôtel-Dieu in the afternoon. Without a car it works but it is tight: the Mobigo 113 coach links Dijon, the villages and Beaune station seven times a day from Monday to Saturday, so plan each leg around its times. ### How much is a private driver from Dijon for a day? For a day in the vineyards, the full wine day costs €560 per car for up to four guests: 8 hours from your hotel or Dijon-Ville station and back, the same price as from Beaune; the long day of 12 hours costs €880. For other days, the driver by the hour costs €75 an hour, so €525 for 7 hours at Fontenay Abbey and Flavigny-sur-Ozerain. Tolls, parking and waiting are included, and you pay your tastings and tickets directly. ### Is Fontenay Abbey open in winter? Yes, every day: from November to early April it opens from 10.00 to 12.00 and 14.00 to 17.00 for self-guided visits, and from 3 April to 1 November from 10.00 to 18.00. ## Places in this guide - [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. - [Marsannay-la-Côte](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/marsannay-la-cote): Red, white and rosé under one village name, where the Côte de Nuits begins at the edge of Dijon. - [Château de Marsannay](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-marsannay): A 1990 winery at the edge of Dijon: cellars of 500 barrels and plots from Chambertin to Échezeaux. - [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. - [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. - [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. - [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. - [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. - [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. - [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. - [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. - [Hospices de Beaune (Hôtel-Dieu)](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/hospices-de-beaune-hotel-dieu): The 1443 hospital under the glazed tile roofs, with its 50-metre ward of the poor: where a Beaune visit begins. - [Marché aux Vins](https://www.cote-privee.com/things-to-do/marche-aux-vins-beaune): Taste as you walk through the cellars and chapels of a medieval Franciscan church, facing the Hôtel-Dieu. - [Pommard](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/pommard): Deep, firm Pinot Noir only, from Rugiens and Épenots, with the Château de Pommard at the village gate. - [Volnay](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/volnay): Perfumed, delicate reds from a village set high on the slope between Pommard and Meursault. - [Meursault](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/meursault): The great white-wine village: Perrières, Charmes, Genevrières, and a town hall under glazed tiles. - [Château d’Arcelot](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-d-arcelot): Burgundy's first neoclassical château: a salon of stucco made to look like marble, and a lake with two islands. - [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 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. - [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. - [Château de Barbirey](https://www.cote-privee.com/chateaux/chateau-de-barbirey): Eight hectares of terraced kitchen garden, orchard and ponds: a Jardin remarquable in the Ouche valley. - [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. - [Santenay](https://www.cote-privee.com/villages/santenay): Red wine tasted in castle cellars, below the Mont de Sène and the only windmill on the Côte de Beaune. → [Private driver in Dijon](https://www.cote-privee.com/private-driver/dijon) ## Sources - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- Canonical page: