Bourgogne-Franche-Comté is France's great dual-heritage region — the grand cru vineyards and Romanesque abbeys of Burgundy in the west, and the forested Jura mountains, Comté dairies, and UNESCO-listed Vauban citadel of Franche-Comté in the east. From the medieval ramparts of Beaune and the ducal palace of Dijon to the cascading waterfalls and ski resorts of the Jura plateau, the region delivers extraordinary depth for travellers willing to look beyond the Eiffel Tower.
Top day trips
Handpicked excursions within easy reach.
Route des Grands Crus — Burgundy Wine Villages
A roughly 60km wine road linking Dijon and Santenay through Burgundy's most prestigious vineyard villages — Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Beaune, Pommard, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet. This is Grand Cru and Premier Cru territory on the Côte d'Or's narrow limestone escarpment, where a few hundred metres of slope can separate wildly different price points. The day works best as slow driving or cycling, stopping at village churches and vineyard markers, with tastings at a few small producers rather than an attempt to cover the whole route.
Highlights: Château du Clos de Vougeot: medieval fortress encircled by Grand Cru Pinot Noir vines, entry ~€6 · Beaune's Hôtel-Dieu: 15th-century hospice with iconic polychrome glazed tile rooftop · Voie des Vignes cycling path: traffic-free route from Beaune through Pommard, Volnay, and Meursault · Domaine cellar tastings in Gevrey-Chambertin and Nuits-Saint-Georges — book ahead in harvest season · Marché aux Vins in Beaune: self-guided cave tasting of Burgundy appellations on Rue Nicolas Rolin
Abbaye de Cluny
Cluny led the largest monastic order in medieval Europe, and its abbey church, consecrated in 1130, was the biggest building in Christendom until St Peter's Basilica replaced it. The Revolution left only a fraction standing — one transept arm, the octagonal bell tower, and the footprint of a nave that once ran nearly 190 metres — so the visit is as much about scale and absence as about what physically remains. The adjoining town keeps a medieval street plan and Romanesque houses that predate the abbey's demolition.
Highlights: Ruins of Cluny III nave: once the world's largest church, now an awe-inspiring Romanesque skeleton · Digital reconstruction museum: scale models and interactive displays restore the full medieval abbey · Tour des Fromages (Flour Tower): panoramic view over Cluny's rooftops and abbey outline · Rue de la Mercière: well-preserved Romanesque townhouses with 11th-century carved capitals · Route des Vins du Mâconnais: afternoon wine detour through Pouilly-Fuissé and Saint-Véran estates
Vézelay Basilica and Village
Vézelay's Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine sits on a hilltop above the Cure valley and was one of the four medieval starting points for pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela, a status reflected in its UNESCO World Heritage listing. The Romanesque nave, and especially the carved tympanum over the main door, are considered among the finest surviving works of 12th-century sculpture in France. The hill village below is a single steep main street of stone houses, small shops and viewpoints over the Morvan.
Highlights: Basilica tympanum: 12th-century Romanesque Pentecost carved in golden limestone above the central portal · Basilica terrace panorama: sweeping views over the Morvan hills and the valley of the river Cure · Grande Rue: steep medieval street of art galleries, wine caves, and artisan shops climbing to the basilica · Pilgrimage atmosphere on 22 July, the Feast of Mary Magdalene, drawing pilgrims from across Europe · Château de Bazoches (8km): Vauban's personal country residence, open for guided tours
Abbaye de Fontenay and Montbard
Abbaye de Fontenay, founded by Bernard of Clairvaux in 1118, is the most completely preserved Cistercian abbey in Europe — church, cloister, dormitory, chapter house and forge all survive because the site became a paper mill after the Revolution rather than being torn down for stone. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and reads as a working demonstration of Cistercian austerity: no stained glass, no decoration, just proportion and light. Montbard, a short drive away, is a working Burgundian town best known as the birthplace of the naturalist Buffon.
Highlights: UNESCO-listed 12th-century Cistercian complex with church, cloister, dormitory, and forge all intact · Medieval fish pond and forge: rare survival of Cistercian agricultural and industrial self-sufficiency · Lavender meadow in the formal gardens, peak bloom in mid-July alongside Romanesque stonework · Guided tours in English available — one of few Burgundy monastic sites offering this service · Montbard park and Buffon museum: 18th-century naturalist's garden and foundry, 6km from the abbey
Cascades du Hérisson and Jura Lakes
The Hérisson river drops through a wooded gorge in a chain of waterfalls, reached by a marked trail from the Ménétrux-en-Joux car park. The Grand Saut and the Cascade de l'Eventail are the best-known falls, but the appeal is the walk itself — a shaded path along the river with viewpoints cut into the rock. It's a hiking day rather than a sightseeing day, and pairs well with the nearby Jura lakes if time and energy allow.
Highlights: Cascade de l'Eventail: 65-metre fan-shaped waterfall at the head of the Hérisson gorge · Grand Saut: 60-metre free-falling drop in a narrow limestone canyon — the gorge's most photogenic fall · Gour Bleu: turquoise limestone pool below the Grand Saut, vibrant after spring rain · Ridge return path with views over the Jura glacial lakes · Clairvaux-les-Lacs beach (10km): lakeside swimming and cafés for the post-hike afternoon
Besançon — Vauban Citadel and Old City
Besançon sits inside a near-complete loop of the Doubs river, with Vauban's Citadelle occupying the hill that closes the loop — a UNESCO-listed fortification with views over the old town's rooftops. The city was France's clockmaking capital for two centuries, a history traceable through the Citadelle's museums and the old town's clock shops, and it's also Victor Hugo's birthplace. The old town below the Citadelle is compact enough to cover on foot in an afternoon.
Highlights: Citadelle de Besançon: UNESCO-listed Vauban fortress with sweeping views over the Doubs river meander · Victor Hugo birthplace: 140 Grande Rue, where the novelist was born in 1802, open to visitors · Cathedral of Saint-Jean astronomical clock: 19th-century timepiece with 30,000 mechanical parts · Marché Beaux-Arts covered market: local Comté, Morteau sausage, and Jura wines (Tues, Thurs, Sat mornings) · Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie: one of France's oldest provincial museums, free first Sunday of month
Arc-et-Senans (Saline Royale UNESCO) and Dole
The Saline Royale at Arc-et-Senans was built by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux in the 1770s as an idealized industrial town arranged in a semicircle around the director's house — designed for salt production but really an Enlightenment statement about architecture and social order. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and though it was never finished as Ledoux envisioned it, the surviving buildings still make his intent clear. Dole, the old capital of Franche-Comté before Besançon, adds a compact canal-threaded old town and Louis Pasteur's birthplace.
Highlights: Saline Royale: UNESCO-listed 18th-century saltworks by Ledoux — a proto-utopian architectural masterpiece · Centre d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme: scale models and drawings of Ledoux's unbuilt ideal city projects · Dole old town: Renaissance canal-side quarter with Gothic Collégiale Notre-Dame · Musée Pasteur: Louis Pasteur's birthplace at 43 Rue Pasteur, now a museum to the father of microbiology · Combined half-day itinerary: saltworks in the morning, Dole for lunch and afternoon exploration
Baume-les-Messieurs and Arbois (Jura Villages)
Baume-les-Messieurs sits inside a natural amphitheater carved into the Jura plateau, with a former Benedictine abbey and show caves at the base of the cliffs; it's classified among France's most beautiful villages. Arbois, twelve kilometres on, is Jura wine country and Louis Pasteur's adopted hometown, where his house and laboratory on the river are preserved much as he left them, and where vin jaune is the local specialty to taste.
Highlights: Baume-les-Messieurs reculée: vertiginous limestone amphitheater with the medieval abbey at its foot · Abbaye de Baume-les-Messieurs: 9th-century Benedictine abbey with Flemish altarpieces — free entry · Belvedere viewpoint on the D471 cliff road: panoramic view over the entire Baume reculée · Arbois wine town: walk-in tastings of Vin Jaune, Trousseau, and Savagnin at Jura domaines · Maison Pasteur in Arbois: Louis Pasteur's family home and working laboratory, guided visits in season
Trips by distance
How far you can go in a day.
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Getting there
Transport options for day trips.
Multi-day tours from Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
If you have longer than a day, these are organised multi-day trips that start here.
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Day trip tips
Make the most of your excursions.
Rent a car from Dijon-Ville station (Europcar, Avis, Hertz, and Sixt all have counters in or near the station) to access wine villages, abbeys, and Jura waterfalls that are not served by public transport
The Dijon–Beaune TER train (20min, approximately €4.50 each way) makes Beaune accessible without a car — buy bicycle hire in Beaune to cycle the Route des Grands Crus
Besançon is the most efficient day trip by train — the TER from Dijon-Ville takes 57 minutes and deposits visitors a 15-minute walk from the old city and citadel
Most abbey museums (Cluny, Fontenay, Vézelay) close 12:00–14:00 for lunch — plan to eat first or arrive early
Jura day trips are most rewarding in spring (April–June) when waterfalls run at full power and temperatures are comfortable — avoid August school holiday weekends when Jura roads and trailheads become congested
Download the SNCF Connect app for real-time TER train bookings and the Mobigo app for regional bus timetables