Burgundy sights?

Autun, Vezelay, L’Abbaye de Fontenay, Semur-en-Auxois for starters. Burgundytoday.com is a good place to get started on your homework.

Brad

I wonder: what are your interests? Beaune is great if you like to be around English speakers. Venturing out to other parts of Bourgogne might be more challenging.

Hey Bob - this will be my 11th trip to France and I'm very comfortable outside cities. In fact I prefer rural France, which is not to say I shun towns and cities, but love the small villages, too. I also speak some French as does my sweetheart, so no issues with being off the beaten path. We also are very comfortable renting a car and driving around. We've done that on most trips.

On our most recent trip to Provence, we deliberately stayed in smaller places. We stayed in a seven-room hotel in in the tiny village of Beaumes de Venise, North of Carpentras and also at a six-room farmhouse inn in the middle of the countryside about 45 minutes from Aix.

So my interests are visiting villages and taking in the French lifestyle and culture. I love nothing more than strolling through a village marché in the morning. But, I also like museums and interesting sights. In Provence, I loved all the Roman ruins and in the Dordogne region, I loved the Medieval castles. Does that help?

We loved driving north out of Beaune on the Route du Grand Crus. We also really enjoyed our stop in Noyers dur Serein. A quaint medieval town, west of Dijon

I'll agree with much of what is recommended here, especially Vezelay, Semur-en-Auxois and Noyers sur Serein. I'd add Montreal (just south of Noyers) and Chateauneuf-en-Auxois. Both charming little villages.

On the other hand, I don't think anything over in the Morvan merits a detour.

Except that Vézelay is within the boundaries of the Morvan. And it's certainly worth a stop if you're in the area.

You've made some good suggestions. I would quibble with staying in Beaune because it's a pretty large town and quite, quite touristy. The original poster suggested that she prefers villages, so I would recommend she look at villages, perhaps north of Beaune. I don't really have any recommendations, as I don't get up in that area very often.

While at Solutré (near Macon) don't miss the museum on prehistoric culture in the area at the base of the rock. It's worth an hour or so.

In addition to Cîteaux, the Abbaye de Fontenay is worth a stop, in my opinion. That's not too far from Vézelay.

West of Beaune is Autun, a partially-walled largely medieval hill town that, historically, played an important role in the area, complete with some Roman ruins and a pretty good cathedral. We stayed once at the Hôtel Les Ursulines, located (I believe) in a former nunnery. It had a pretty good restaurant and our room had some nice views of the hills and valleys surrounding Autun.

Butting in with 2-cents. If you love rural, the Morvan is very rural. You can see the difference the moment you drive into the boundaries of the Park (Parc). Vézelay is almost in the Morvan Park. We used to drive down to the delicious Auberge de l'Atre in Quarré-les-Tombes every year from the family house in northern Burgundy. You can see some interesting Merovingian(Anglo-Saxon period in English) stone coffins in the churchyard. It's rustic. Read David Downie's description of the Morvan region in Paris to the Pyrenees. I concur with it.

Bob has mentioned Autun, a town where we spent a week about ten years ago. I highly recommend it, as well as the restaurant Bob mentioned--yes, it was a convent before. There's a time period for everyone--since it was founded as a Roman garrison town and a place to bring conquered Gauls who were living in surrounding hills. (Visit Bibract close by to see Gaulois archaeological excavations.) Furthermore, Autun had the most rustic Saturday market I have ever been to.

Andrew has recommended the Solutré Rock--an absolutely magnificent place to hike up. But we need to add that when you get to the top, it's not for the faint of heart. There's no railing or anything to stop a child or exuberant adult from plunging over the edge--little known to Americans, but famous in France, thanks to President Mitterand, and worth the hike. (Andrew, you've got to warn people, especially with little kids! They'd love the horses, but to the top!)
Edit: Andrew has sent me a pm letting me know that not only have railings been installed but the path up is also safer! Thanks for the update. My hands got sweaty before just typing about it, but it's ok now for even acrophobics. I kept the original so you could have an idea what it used to be like.

Finally, Burgundy starts as far north as Sens and goes almost to Lyon, almost a 3-hour drive with no shortage of places to visit, terrains to explore, foods to taste, from the Treasures of Vix to the source of the Seine River.

I spent 4 nights in Avallon, day tripped all over by car. Wonderful, except I never had time to explore Avallon ! Noyers, Auxerre, Vezelay, Château de Bazoches, Fontenay Abbey. And I skipped more than I saw.