Burgundy: touristy villages?

We visited Noyes and Flavigny and do not recall mobs,or tour buses. We stayed in Joigny, then Vezelay, finally Beaune on that trip. There are so many charming villages, Chablis, Semur etc.

I have visited Noyers and Flavigny too, it was in the last week of September of 2018, so during shoulder season. There were some tourists but the places were far from crowded. Expect August and July will be more busy but no idea how much.

I've been in both Flavigny and Noyers in July and don't remember any crowds at all. In fact, there was hardly anybody around in Flavigny.

In years past we visited Semur en Auxois . very calm and peaceful. A must see , and worth a fair amount of time is nearby Fontenay Abbey , a highlight for us - https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fontenay+Abbey/@47.6393348,4.3885168,3a,83.9y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipM_qDmEiXXcxyKDZV39jI-oJDYQu3kuYvqt-j_m!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipM_qDmEiXXcxyKDZV39jI-oJDYQu3kuYvqt-j_m%3Dw128-h86-k-no!7i1000!8i667!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x47edebd4b92836f7:0xaa6670f4c3d26503!2sFontenay+Abbey!8m2!3d47.639611!4d4.3893256!3m4!1s0x47edebd4b92836f7:0xaa6670f4c3d26503!8m2!3d47.639611!4d4.3893256

I used to live in Bourgogne and no, I wouldn't expect any of those places to be packed with tourists. Really, the only place in the region I can recall having that feeling is Beaune. It's the only place near where my house was that I could hear English being spoken on the street as people passed by -- sometimes even with an American accent!

We spent a week in a cottage at the base of the wall in the stunning town of Semur en Auxois 12 years ago which when we were there one May was not full of tourists.

https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/medieval-towns/
We visit4ed Flavigny where the film Chocolate was shot and there was pretty much noone else there. Again we never travel in June July and August because we don't like hot weather.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/flavigny-sur-ozerain-no-chocolate/
We visited chateaux, abbeys and towns in this region and didn't find any of them overrun in May

THANK YOU all so much! Very helpful. Getting excited about this trip!
JP

"...We spent a week in a cottage at the base of the wall in the stunning town of Semur en Auxois 12 years ago which when we were there one May was not full of tourists."

Hi Jane,
Wondering how you found that marvelous cottage? Divine!
JP

I was in Noyers in June several years ago on a Monday. I think I was the only tourist that day. The tourist info office was open and I got a good self-guided walking tour there. I was in Vezelay the day before and it was packed with tourists because it was the equinox and the basilica has a special ceremony as the sunbeams march down the main aisle. I'm sure it wouldn't have been nearly so crowded on any other day. And no, it didn't have a "Disney" feel at all. Maybe because most of the tourists were French.

Yo JP,
Apparently Bourdain favoured Noyers and our old Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau favoured Vezelay, not that one has to slavishly feel obliged to go by others' personal choices. We loved Semur so much that we made it back-to-back daytrips. There were literally zero other tourists there that we were aware of. As for Flavigny, is that not where the manufacturer for those anis candy lozenges are made? Apparently, one can smell the flavour in the air there, probably not a bad thing.

We once rented a nice place in Meursault. Over that week, we saw almost no tourists. We made daily visits to the Tourism Office, and there was never a single tourist inside.

Bon Chance.
I am done. the end.