Free day between Beaune & CDG

Autun has Roman ruins and a famous Romanesque cathedral in a hilly setting.

Thanks, I'll dig in with some reading on Autun. I was actually thinking about somewhere a little closer to Paris, though.

Have you visited Troyes or Vezelay?

I am traveling the reverse, from Paris to Beaune, but am staying in Reims in between. We are going to go to Epernay (super easy train ride from Reims) for champagne tasting. So I suppose you could drive straight to Epernay and stay there, and then head back to Paris. I know the train from Reims to Paris is about an hour, so it should be very doable for you!

Have you been to Semur en Auxois; we have made that our last stop before Paris a couple of times and once spent a week there exploring Burgundy. http://www.bluepacificvacationrentals.com If you have a flight on the 18th then spend the night at the airport (many hotels are AT the airport) and take the RER into Paris for dinner and the evening that last night.

A town near the airport is Senlis, a charming medieval city. You could visit there and then turn in the car and spend the night at an airport hotel.

Thanx to all who replied. From early research, all the suggestions look good, but it looks like Troyes is the winner. It's halfway to Paris & has the sort of half timbered medieval "vieux centre" that I love. I should be able to enjoy a good breakfast in Beaune, & easily arrive in Troyes by noon. I can wander & explore the old town, eat a good meal that night, & have only a 90 min. drive the next day to CDG. This forum is a great resource for questions like this. All the thoughtful replies are much appreciated.

It's always hard to know what would interest you most. Some to consider:

Direct options - Auxere, Fountainbleu/Vaux le Vicomte.

Less direct options - Troyes, Reims (if you haven't been), Verdun.

Guess you are too optimistic about driving times. According route planners like Viamichelin or Google Maps you need a bit more as 2 hours from Troyes to CDG, but that’s theory. The routes around Paris are notorious for traffic jams caused by roadworks or from time to time an accident at an unlucky place. You can lose easily an hour, so I would calculate about (at least?) 3 hours for the journey itself.

If you choose to stay off the autoroute your journey from Troyes to CDG will take you near this

https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/belleau-wood

In case you have 2 hours to spare before the flight.

The routes around Paris are notorious for traffic jams caused by roadworks or from time to time an accident at an unlucky place.

Or nothing at all. I don't think I've ever had an easy trip on the roadways around Paris. Last year our route took us north of Paris, and I thought it was far enough away from the city for it to be OK. Not a chance.

Robert - Even the roads further away from the city centre give indeed no guarantee for a quick drive. I have made use many times of these roads and with a bit of luck it goes quite easily, there are almost always places with slow moving traffic, giving delay but no reason to worry. But twice the traffic was jammed seriously due to accidents and I lost almost a few hours, very inconvenient in case you have a deadline.

Robert and Wil bring up a good point about the roads--use the outer route around Paris to CDG, the A5, A104, etc. Use viamichelin.com, google, etc. Beware that your GPS may take you onto another route such as the peripherique (ring road), so be sure to have paper maps to follow. It happened to me from Burgundy to Normandy where the GPS uselessly pulled us all the way up to Paris and onto the peripherique instead of heading off west via Versailles. We pulled out the paper maps for the return trip.

Edit: Adding some info to the post--Troyes has had trade fairs for goods from all over Africa, Europe, and Central Asia, since medieval times! Today, Troyes is still a crossroads for shoppers from all over Europe with a ton of discount shopping both in stand-alone stores and two large discount malls. Don't count on souvenirs but if you want to peruse some of last year's clothes, shoes, and household goods, this is the place.

I am assuming you are not flying that same day. If so then I would come in the day before.

Totally agree about Paris area traffic. I've been a prisoner more than once in the Pas de Paris.

That said, I don't fly 'til late morning on the 18th. I figure if I leave (say) Troyes after a good breakfast (9 -10 AM) on the morning of the 17th I'll have plenty of time to get up to CDG, plant myself in the airport Hilton, & turn in my car, With the evening left to have a good meal & a solid 8hrs. of sack time before the stroll over to the gate.