Cycling through the heart of Burgundy | 10 days

After exploring the streets of the old town, you leave Auxerre by bike and soon find yourself on quiet country roads. 20 km further on, the Abbey of Pontigny, the largest and one of the most beautiful Cistercian churches in France, comes into view. After visiting the abbey, you end your day in Ligny-le-Châtel at a charming hotel with an excellent traditional restaurant. Quite a program for this first day!

Leaving Ligny, you'll immediately see the vineyards of the Chablis appellation, the largest single-appellation white wine region in France. After visiting Chablis and tasting its wines, the tour continues through the Serein Valley, passing through charming villages in the southern Chablis wine region and the medieval town of Noyers-sur-Serein with its Museum of Naïve Art. Noyers has preserved its fortifications and half-timbered houses. The tour then continues to Nitry.

After visiting Noyers-sur-Serein, the tour continues to Tonnerre: a small town with its 12th-century Hôtel-Dieu and the Fosse Dionne, a 33-meter-deep spring in the heart of the town. After lunch, you leave Tonnerre, passing through fields and a small forest to Tanlay. There's a short time for a visit to the Renaissance Château de Tanlay before you depart for Ancyle-Franc, where you'll spend the night.

Don't leave Ancy-le-Franc without visiting the famous Renaissance Château, designed by the architect Serlio. (The visit takes about an hour.) Afterwards, you'll drive along the beautiful Burgundy Canal. It's so pleasant to travel along this little road and pass barges and boats. Continue along the towpath to reach Montbard.

First, you follow the towpath, passing through 37 locks in 12.7 kilometers! Along the Burgundy Canal, you pass Alesia, where Caesar built two parallel lines of defense around the hill to hold back Vercingetorix. You then leave the Burgundy Canal and cross the peaceful landscape of Semur-en-Auxois.

Today, your route takes you through extraordinary landscapes and picturesque little villages. You'll pass through the medieval hamlet of Montréal and arrive in Avallon, a pretty old town with 12th-century walls, perched on a rocky spur. It's a pleasure to stroll through the historic quarter.

Passing through small villages and along secondary roads, you reach Vézelay. One of the most beautiful panoramas in Burgundy awaits you there, near the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, a masterpiece of Romanesque art and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After a short climb through the Bois de la Madeleine forest, you reach the Yonne Valley and follow the river, as well as the Canal du Nivernais. You pass through charming villages such as Châtel-Censoir, Le Saussois with its climbing rocks, and Mailly-le-Château. Your day's journey ends in Escolives-Sainte-Camille, near an archaeological site, where you are welcomed to a vineyard and your bed and breakfast.

Burgundy is nicknamed the "water table of France." Its rivers are interconnected by an extraordinary system of canals. You'll cycle alongside the water and then leave this landscape to cross the wine-growing villages of the Auxerrois region: Irancy, Saint-Bris-le-Vineux, and Bailly. In Bailly, you'll enter the "Center of the Earth," a vast cellar where the famous Crémant de Bourgogne is made, which you'll have the pleasure of tasting. Then you'll reach Auxerre by following the Canal du Nivernais.