Cycling Burgundy Canal Itinerary

Hi Julia and welcome to Burgundy! Those websites could help :

http://www.burgundy-by-bike.com/

http://www.ma-voie-verte.fr/piste-cyclable/le-canal-de-bourgogne

http://www.velocanauxdodo.fr/?page_id=8

Have fun!

Hello Julia,

I spent a week riding around Burgundy about 12 years ago.

Based on that, I suggest that you not confine yourself to the canal only. I think you will find it repetitive and restrictive not representative of all that the region has to order

Consider your idea to find a base on the canal for day trips, perhaps Chateuneuf. If you are doing 20-30 miles per day, then you have two trips, 10-15 miles out to the NW, then the same back, and 10-15 to the SE & return. The canal has its charms, but all day on the same towpath will be monotonous.

I think a better plan would be this. Get a good guidebook and select the sights that call to you the most. Make the best itinerary that will let you visit those places, probably a combination of day loops and point to point. You may consider using the trains too.

For point to point, a bag-porting fee would certainly be justified to let you visit these sights, but consider that panniers are cheap and will let you carry what you need. On our trip, we started the point-to-point portion in Auxerre, left our bags ex panniers at our hotel, which held them for us until our return.

By the way: Just because wine is not an interest does not mean you should avoid it; it is the life blood of the region, and you cannot know Burgundy without it. Vineyards are pretty to ride through whether or not you have a thirst. (The wine-tasting caves? Skip them.)

Finally, where are you getting your machines? If you rent locally the bike shop will make the best possible recommendations on routes, if you tell them what you want. Its a perk that comes with the bikes. (They'll probably offer to port your bags and make reservations, too; you can say no thanks.) Just ask them to mark up your maps.

In addition to the links provided by Coco, also consider: https://www.francevelotourisme.com.

I agree with Adam. The paths along canals are easy and generally flat, but they can be a bit tedious after awhile. One thing that makes them more tolerable is to head out into little towns and villages you may pass along the canal route and do some exploring. Some towns have a very medieval feel to them and the (generally Romanesque) churches can be interesting and some have beautiful artwork and stonework.

Thank you so much for these informative replies. It is very helpful to know that following the canal path may not be the best choice for us for the whole time. One more question then: are dedicated bike paths/routes the norm when off the canal? That was one reason for choosing that route -- not having to compete with traffic (and flat). Though we are both fit and no strangers to cycling, we are 70, and I'd like to have as easy a path as possible. Length doesn't bother me, but hills and traffic may!

Julia,

Despite what I said earlier, if absolute flatness is required, the towpath may be your best option.

The land to the east of Beaune is pretty flat, so a knowledgeable local could probably recommend a day trip or two from that town. Have you made arrangements to rent your bicycles yet? The shop you do this with should be able to guide you. The place in Beaune is very friendly and helpful.

I will also mention that the bicycles you can get, velos toutes terraine (VTTs), are extremely capable machines with every possible gear, including some very low ones. So if you think you could manage some gentle ups and downs, these bikes are the right idea.

If you find yourself on the canal after all, I think it might be worth paying to shift your base once during your stay, to cover more ground.

Designated bike paths are not very common outside of cities, other than the network of voies vertes (greenways) which are for pedestrians and bicycles. As for riding on regular roads, in my opinion motorists in France are more tolerant of bicyclists and more accustomed to giving them safe clearance than in the U.S. (it's required by law to pass no closer than 1 meter in towns, 1.5 meters outside towns).

I'm not that familiar with towns along that particular canal, but it looks as if Ancy-le-Franc has an important chateau with Renaissance art and extensive gardens that might be worth a visit.

Flavigny-sur-Ozerain is a bit off the path (it's a medieval hill town) but it's where a popular anise-flavored candy is made. It's listed as one of the more beautiful villages in France. I've read the whole town smells of anise during certain times, but didn't note it when I have visited.

Ancy is not very special. Semur is a splendid place, but there are hills to get there. The crown jewel of the canal corridor imho is the Fontenay Abbey, though it is uphill. Not steep, but definite elevation. Spend as little time in Montbard as possible.

Just because you are not big wine enthusiasts is no reason to skip riding the Voie de Vignes. You ride through vineyards for 20 minutes and then you are in a beautiful village. Lots of things to see besides the vineyards. I wouldn't restrict myself to just the canals.

Thank you all for your advice. We ended up renting bikes in Beaune and cycling to Santanay and back via the Voie des Vignes. It was wonderful, and not as challenging as I thought it might be. October was a great time to bike through the vineyards, because the harvest had just been completed, and the landscape was gorgeous. We must have biked through billions of dollars of grapevines! The towns we biked through were lovely, too. While a bit hilly on the way back to Beaune (and the wind coming at us) it was still enjoyable and I never felt like I couldn't do it. The only drawback is that, because we were biking, we didn't dare stop for wine tastings along the way. We might never have gotten back!

Well, I think the author, who indicated she would be visiting in early October, probably has come and gone by now, but I felt I should comment on this:

I know nothing about the area you are considering. For me Burgundy is
Dijon, Beaune, and the great vineyards that stretch from Dijon all the
way down to Mercurey.

---

I don't understand why you chose Burgundy if you were not going to the heart of Burgundy. Do you?

There is so much to Burgundy, actually, Bourgogne, than the short run between Dijon and Mercurey. One can find sites important to the history of France, dating from the prehistoric, stone age people who left artifacts around la Roche de Solutré; an important battle site between the armies of the northern Gauls and the army of Romans and southern Gauls commanded by Julius Caesar at Alésia; Roman towns such as Autun which were intended to help the conquered Gauls become Roman; Vézélay, from whence two of the crusades were launched; the ruins of Cluny and its network of Romanesque churches and basilicas scattered throughout the region; the various abbeys where different orders of monks rebelled against the excesses of the Cluniac order; and... well, I hope you get the idea.

I'm not sure I could identify "the heart of Burgundy" but I'm pretty sure it would not be a sequence of towns situated close to the Autoroute that passes through the area as it speeds from Paris to Lyon and down to Marseille. That would be easy for the non-adventurous to access, I suppose, but hardly represents the heart of this diverse and historic area.

That's great, former tour guide, but they're still in Bourgogne, despite your association.

Julia, hi! Sounds like you found a good route.

If I remember correctly, Bob is a retired geographer.
As for Burgundy, at my in-laws in the Yonne, we were certainly within the Dutchy of Burgundy, not far from Chablis, or Tonnerre with the colored (Burgundy) roof on the Hôtel-Dieu. It wasn't tourist-central, it may have had wheat and colza and cattle and table wine but it certainly was Burgundy.
However, ten kilometers to the east, toward Chaource, you could already see a different architectural style, the Champagne.

PS I spent years cycling the canal in the area and agree that it gets old fast. I'm glad you were able to find interesting paths.

Other Bob, if you think the wheat fields of the Morvan and the Nivernais are Burgundy, you go there. I'll head for Beaune, Dijon and the Clos de Vougeot.

And yet, Bourgogne is far more diverse than Beaune, Dijon and the Clos de Vougeot. When we were looking for a new house, we stopped by Chablis and that certainly is different than the short sequence of sites you've mentioned. Western Bourgogne is far more interested in raising Charolais cattle than growing grapes. But I'm sure you know that.

When we host visitors from the U.S., yes, we go to Beaune or Dijon to help them understand the wealth of the Côte-d'Or and the effect it has had on the region.

But we also look to medieval fortresses, abbeys, Roman ruins, and the amazing chain of Romanesque churches that remain here and pay homage to Cluny. And then there are the sites of Alesia and Semur-en-Auxois. There is so much to see beyond the short sequence of sites you've noted I'm amazed that you advertise yourself as "a former travel consultant to independent travelers to France...." while simultaneously admitting that "I know nothing about the area you are considering."

It takes a special person to offer highly opinionated advice on travel while simultaneously admitting that one knows nothing about the area.

Kudos. I guess.

Romanesque churches—doesn’t get much better than Burgundy. They are finding amazing Medieval frescoes under the whitewash in village church after village church. Roman artifacts everywhere, finding huge Gallo-Roman estates with all the trappings of the wealthy homes found throughout the Empire. I’ve seen abandoned temples and Roman fort sites deep in the woods, troglodytes inhabited for a thousand years until the Nazis made the occupants move into the close-by village, old fountains built on Celtic sites, Roman statues reused as statues of saints. If you want to go back in time, go to the Morvan, go to Autun. Though I know Beaune and Dijon well, and love the Arcaeological Museum there, there’s much more to Burgundy.

I think the difference is that I try not to tell anyone do this, or don’t do that, or say one place is worthwhile but another is a waste. I’m not here to decree good vs bad. I can give a suggestion but let the reader research and decide. I’ve never read a Rick Steves guidebook to anywhere in France, and for me, it’s often the tiniest Michelin Green guide entry that leads me to a site I find amazing, one Michelin classifies as unimportant. So I try not to draw a line through any possibility for either myself or the reader, even the north of France, which by the way, a Lyonnaise of our generstion recently told me was her favorite part of France. So, you never know.

How do you say, "Let's settle this behind the bleachers after school." in French?

Thank you all for your advice. We ended up renting bikes in Beaune and cycling to Santanay and back via the Voie des Vignes. It was wonderful, and not as challenging as I thought it might be. October was a great time to bike through the vineyards, because the harvest had just been completed, and the landscape was gorgeous. We must have biked through billions of dollars of grapevines! The towns we biked through were lovely, too. While a bit hilly on the way back to Beaune (and the wind coming at us) it was still enjoyable and I never felt like I couldn't do it. The only drawback is that, because we were biking, we didn't dare stop for wine tastings along the way. We might never have gotten back!