Tour des Fromages
A tower of the abbey wall of Cluny, with 120 steps up to the best view of the abbey town.
- Heritage site
- 1 h 07 from Beaune
- Allow 30 to 45 minutes
- Cluny
€240one way from Beaune with a private driver
At a glance
- Official website
- cluny-tourisme.com
Getting there
Private driver from Beaune: 1 h 07 by road (87 km), €240 one way for the whole car.
Or add it to our full-day wine tour plus two hours, €700.
Coming by train or plane? Transfers from stations and airports →
About the place
The Tour des Fromages is one of the towers that guarded the enclosure of the abbey of Cluny. Visitors enter through the tourist office and climb 120 steps to a terrace above the roofs. From the top, the remains of the great abbey, its bell towers and the medieval town spread out below.
What you will see
The climb starts inside the tourist office on the rue Mercière. On the way up, photographs show the restoration work carried out by the Amis de Cluny. At the top, the view takes in the abbey buildings and the bell towers that survive from the great church, the octagonal Clocher de l'Eau-Bénite and the square Clocher de l'Horloge, the abbot's palace that now houses the town hall, and the tower of the church of Notre-Dame just below. Beyond the roofs, the green hills of the Clunisois close the horizon.
History
Founded in 910, the abbey of Cluny became the head of an order of hundreds of monasteries across Europe, and a wall with towers and gates enclosed its buildings. The Tour des Fromages belongs to this enclosure. The tall square tower was long known as the Tour des Fèves, the Bean Tower.
The abbey was closed at the Revolution and its great church was largely pulled down in the early 19th century, but much of the enclosure survived, and the abbey's buildings, towers and walls were classified as historic monuments in 1862. According to local tradition, the tower's present name, the Cheese Tower, comes from a later use for drying cheeses. Today it is part of the visit of the town, with a photographic exhibition by the Amis de Cluny, the society that works to protect the town's heritage.
Planning your visit
Tips for your visit
The tower opens all year during the tourist office's hours; it closes on Sundays from November to March, on Mondays in January and on a few days around Christmas and the New Year. In 2026 a ticket cost €2.80 for adults and €1.50 for ages 6 to 25, free under 6, and the Odilon Pass combines it with the abbey and the art and archaeology museum. The 120 steps make it unsuitable for visitors with reduced mobility. Allow 30 to 45 minutes, before or after the abbey.
Around here
What to combine with Tour des Fromages on the same day, nearest first.
Questions
Tour des Fromages is about 1 h 07 from Beaune by road (87 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €240 for the whole car, up to 4 guests.
Did you know? In some seasons the tower hosts events at the top, from storytelling with hot chocolate for children to evening aperitifs above the roofs of Cluny.
Sources
Tour des Fromages with a private driver
€240 one way from Beaune · up to 4 guests