Autun or Vezelay?

The two are very different. Autun is a good-sized town, while Vezelay is almost a village. Autun was founded by the Romans as a garrison town after they defeated the Celts. Therefore, there are intact Roman ruins to see. It isn't as prosperous as Vezelay, but has fewer tourists, meaning you'll be with more local French people. The local museum is filled with Celtic, Roman, and later artifacts. The hills are a little higher, making the surrounding villages a little more remote than around Vezelay. The cathedral is exquisite, delicate carvings. I don't remember a lot of it being a reconstruction. We spent a week there and visiting areas around Autun, including the Celtic settlement of Bibract.
As for Vezelay, the basilica is not to be missed, even if most of it is a reconstruction from the end of the 19th C. If you do a thorough tour, it should take two hours. I've been there many times and never tire of it. The Zervos Museum is fairly small, but interesting. The town is geared to tourism, has been reconstructed and "cleaned up" whereas Autun is more of "old" France. So it depends on if you want to spend two nights in a very small, touristy place, with more restaurants, souvenir shops, a broad road closed for pedestrians walking up to the basilica, a or if you want to be in a French town with plenty to see, but few visitors.
BTW, if you can swing it, don't miss the Saturday market in Autun.
Joel--so is it FL or ME as of this writing?

Perfect, thanks Bets. Autun it is, though two nights or three is still a question.

We're in FL at the moment, heading to Maine next week for the winter break (between semesters). It's a totally different world up there for sure.

We visited Autun and Vezelay last summer and I think Bets has done a great job characterizing the two. I have only visited Vezelay as a stop on the way to Paris, stopping for a couple of hours both times. It is small town that depends upon tourism. It has nice places to eat lunch. It is also popular, so it's the kind of place that I like to get to lunch first so I don't have to wait. It's not crazy popular but you won't be by yourself.

We stayed one night in Autun -- afternoon to tour the cathedral and most of the following day, since we were only travelling another hour for our next night. Don't miss the Last Judgment above the west doors and the superb capitals. We really enjoyed the Roman stuff -- Roman walls that still make up walls around the town, the amphitheatre, 2 Roman gates and also some pre-Roman ruins. We did a nice walk in the hills. Autun is a town with a life besides tourism. There were plenty of restaurants, nice place to stay. It was very pleasant town. (We loved the new museum in Alise Ste. Reine if you are interested in the Roman battle there. We spent most of the day there)

This is kind of funny, but we found the Autun cathedral to be quite "modern" compared to the Romanesque churches we had visited in Auvergne earlier in the trip. Sculpture was more detailed and realistic. If you really like Romanesque architecture and sculpture, google the churches in Orcival and St. Nectaire in Auvergne and Conques a little further south. They are wonderful!

A pleasant solution might be to base youself at a one of the myriad of inns in the area and visit each town as a day trip. We did that some years ago. We loved the aspects of both towns, already well-described by the previous posters; but we also heartily enjoyed the experience of the b&b where we stayed. It was nice to have a pool for r-and-r at the end of each day of heavy duty sight-seeing. We chose to eat dinner in one night - - often a possibility at such establishments - - ; and we had a great time in the company of our fellow lodgers, who were Canadian, Irish, English, and French.

Rosalyn, that is an attractive idea, thanks. The more I look at that area the more beautiful small towns I find (e.g., Semur, Salieu) in addition to the original target places. I'm now thinking that staying in or near a well-located small town would allow access to the art (etc.) we want to see in Vezelay and Autun, while facilitating just driving around and seeing the countryside, Roman ruins, maybe that Celtic settlement, and whatever else we run into.

Eef, thanks for the Romanesque tips. And yes, I am definitely looking forward to that Last Judgment in Autun, have been really since my art history-student days 40 years ago!

I've been to both and loved them both. I would spend one night in Vezelay just to enjoy the peace of the town (I visited it as a daytrip by bus and it is rather remote). If you can be there when the sisters chant the liturgy of the hours, it's open to the public.

Autun is one of my favorite places in France, I went back to the cathedral every day that I was there, never got tired of it. There are also more places in Autun to keep you interested.

Autun and Vezelay both took me right back to sophomore art history, the course that opened my eyes way back when. Amazing places! Choosing between them, I'd pick Autun for the longer stay because, as others have noted, it's bigger and has more to see, do, and eat. A small town in between might be another good choice, but you might not find as many food and lodging options. I don't like to have dinner and then drive because I enjoy a glass of wine or three. Burgundy countryside is beautiful but driving (off the autoroutes) can take longer than we're used to expecting.

I overnighted in Vezeley and it was a high point of my trip.. Such a lovely place in the evening and morning.

We stayed near Vezelay at a a lovely little inn on the river with a very nice restaurant popular with locals. It sits beside a stream and in the park, so you can enjoy a lazy afternoon reading by the 'river' or hike in the national forrest. Vezelay is close by. The Inn is Moulin des Ruats.

Many thanks to all for such helpful information, and for the great suggestions. I will follow up all of them! I love this pre-travel planning.
best, Joel