Driving to Beaune

I like your Sancerre and/or Nevers idea. Never(s) been to either, but they are on my France short list. Also along the way Autun, also on the short list. I'd like to string these places together by bicycle, but a car tour also seems grand :)

Sancerre is very cute, but skip Nevers IMO.
Nevers takes you too far south anyway: from Sancerre I would cut east towards Clamecy (just a waypoint), Vézelay (where you can stop too), and join the A6 autoroute at Avallon for the final stretch. There's a road closure near Vézelay right now but it seems temporary. In any case, it is a less tedious route than Nevers - Chateau Chinon - Autun - Beaune.

Are2,
In 2017 we drove from a home with chambres d'hote where we stayed in Chambord to Beaune. We took most of the day and stopped to visit Fontenay Abbey. It was well worth it, a beautiful sight. Depending on your timing, you could make it a lunch stop if you bring some picnic supplies with you. (No cafe on site.) We thought about Vezelay which looked promising, but I am glad we picked Fontenay. We got to Beaune mid- afternoon. We had a hotel with parking that was in close walking distance to the Hospice. We did have time to explore a bit before dinner at a nice restaurant across the street from our hotel. I don't recall the roads we took, but we did some driving on the Autoroutes, and some on the D roads. It was early May and an off and on rainy day, but that enhanced the atmosphere at the Abbey. I hope you get to see it. It is less visited than Cluny Abbey, and less well-known, but a really nice experience!
Bon voyage!

I would take the faster route. We drove from Dinan to Beaune the long way to visit Guedelon. Guedelon was fun but the drive was too long and not memorable.

I would take the faster route. We drove from Dinan to Beaune the long way to visit Guedelon. Guedelon was fun but the drive was too long and not memorable.

Indeed, that must have been a very long day from Dinan. However, the OP is starting from Amboise: that's a much shorter drive, barely 4 hours by the fastest route, so it does give some leeway for long detours. Guedelon is a great idea, BTW.

Amboise---> Bourges ---> Moulins ---> Paray le Monial ---> Beaune

Bourges for the Palais Jacques-Coeur and the Cathédral Saint-Etienne

Moulins for lunch at the ornate Le Grand Café and the surprisingly good Musée Anne-de-Beaujeu

Paray le Monial for the Romanesque Basilique de Sacré Coeur, la Chapelle de la Visitations (where an apparition of Jesus reportedly appeared to a nun [now Sainte] Marguerite-Marie Alacoque with the sacred heart motif) and for the incredibly ornately tiled, small, 1930s chapel dedicated to Sainte Marguerite-Marie's priest, also now a saint, la Chapelle Saint-Claude-la-Colombière. I'm not Catholic (I'm not even religious) but this trio, within an easy walk of one another, is pretty cool.

And then on to Beaune because that's your destination. Plenty to do there.

The stretch with two-lane roads between Bourges and Beaune is around 220km and not only boring but not relaxing too. You have to deal with various speedlimits driving through villages and slower traffic which are not always easy to overtake. After a while you will get completely fed up with it.

My preference in this case would be the fast version with a stop in Auxerre and if possible a visit to Guédelon. The distance between the two places is 50km but with these long stops doable, worth doing to my opinion. You can also drive to Guédelon along the A77 with a stop in Briare for it’s aqueduct made by Eiffel.