Thursday, January 15, 2009

Good site for Alsace, Burgundy, and Champagne

So I found a rather informative website for our trip, called The ABC's of France, and it focuses on Alsace, Burgundy, and Champagne. For each of those regions, they have what to do, where to say, outdoors, food, history, heritage and tours & itineraries, like this one:

Burgundy - Côte-d'Or / Burgundy Suggested Itineraries
3 Days / 2 Nights

Day 1 - 45 km
DIJON
Dijon, capital of the region and former capital of the Duchy of Burgundy
VOUGEOT
"Côte-de-Nuits" and its famous wines. Visit the "Château du Clos de Vougeot", head of the world's largest wine brotherhood, "Les Chevaliers du Tastevin"
Lunch in Nuits-Saint-Georges (or nearby)
BEAUNE
Beaune, capital of Burgundy wines. Visit the "Hôtel-Dieu", most eloquent example of Flemish art.

Day 2 - 85 km
FONTENAY
Fontenay abbey, fascinating example of Cistercian architecture. Listed as a UNESCO world Heritage Site.
Semur-en-Auxois, town perched on a granite outcrop. Stroll through the narrow streets.
FLAVIGNY-SUR-OZERAIN
Lunch at the restaurant or a farm inn in Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, medieval town known for its famous aniseed balls and its wines which are enjoying a recent revival.
MONTBARD
" Town of Buffon, father of anthropology - discovery of his scientific and naturalist work. Study, museum, park, garden and the 18th C. forge located at Buffon, near Montbard.
SAULIEU
Saulieu, centre of gastronomy and gateway to the Morvan regional park. Guided tour of the town and visit of the Museum Pompon with its animal sculptures.

Day 3 - 48 km
CÎTEAUX
Visit of Cîteaux Abbey, birthplace of the Cistercian monastic order. Open for visitors: cloister of the transcribers, the library, the church. Cheese made by the monks can be purchased.

SAINT-JEAN-DE-LOSNE
Valley of the Saône for lunch, boat trip on the Saône river along the boundary of the department Côte-d'Or.
Visit of France's smallest town Saint-Jean-de-Losne. It is located at the crossroad of the Saône and the canal of Burgundy and is rich in maritime history.

AUXONNE
Auxonne, with its fortifications left from the past, is located on the banks of the river Saône. Visit the arsenal and the castle that preserves the memory of Napoleon Bonaparte, once a student at Auxonne's artillery school.

Contact
Côte-d'Or Tourist Board
1 rue de Soissons
BP 1601 - 21035 DIJON
CedexTel: 011 33 3 80 63 69 49
Fax: 011 33 3 80 49 90 97
www.cotedor-tourisme.com

Note that refer you to the board of tourism, which appears it is not-affiliated with any travel agency, which is nice.

For example, for Where to Stay in Burgundy, they have 49 hotels listed, with a description that mostly includes a star rating. Over half have links to their website, so you can not only find out the all important question for us US travelers- do the rooms have their own bathroom- but also get direct rate information. (In Euro's of course) They have links to 140+ events in Burgundy as well as other info on that general part of France. I won't say its the end-all-be-all, but its got a lot of info so I'm pouring over it daily.

For us, probably our biggest decision right now is what class of hotel to stay in. At this moment we're thinking alternating is our best bet. Stay in a lower star hotel for a couple nights then in a nicer one the next leg of the trip. Maybe we'll find some good deals, maybe we'll find that the "nicer" ones are overpriced, maybe we'll find that you get what you pay for. Hopefully, by alternating we'll have a happy medium.

Wish us luck, and of course, any hotel recs for Burgundy or Rhone are welcome!

1 comment:

LucyinStLou said...

What a great list. Thank you for posting!