Help: Burgundy versus Alsace

I prefer Burgundy myself; here are some places we visited when we last spent a week there.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/burgundy/
Auxerre is a nice city as well; we stopped overnight there on a drive back from the Dordogne a year and a half ago. We have also spent a night in Beune and enjoyed that but prefer for longer trips to base in the countryside with an apartment. There is a nice hotel on the edge of the nature preserve near Vezelay and Avalon. Les Moulin des Ruats where we have stayed a couple of times. It has a very fine restaurant and is pleasant place to stay. We hiked into the Morvan from there although more an afternoon stroll than anything serious

We stayed in Alsace and visited Strasbourg, Colmar and some of the small towns on the wine road a few years ago and enjoyed it as well, but we prefer Burgundy (although the food in Alsace is pretty amazing)

I spent 4 days in each on my last trip to France. I'd have a really hard time choosing between the two. In Burgundy I stayed in Avallon, in Alsace in Eguisheim. Looking back, I think I spent less time driving in Alsace. Outside of Colmar, the places I went to were mostly villages. Dijon and Beaune are cities, even Auxerre felt like a big town, though I did visit villages like Vezelay and Noyers.

I've been to both areas several times, and it's tough to choose. You'd probably wind up doing a lot more driving if you to go Burgundy, while in Alsace you can cover several villages just by walking. Both regions have excellent wine, with Alsace wineries being more approachable generally and in many villages it's easy to visit several by walking around the center of the village.

Red wine or white? Burgundy makes the best red, Alsace focuses more on drier whites (Gewurztraminer is their best). I loved the little stone villages around Burgundy. The rolling hills are beautiful and there are surprisingly few vineyards (it's limited to avoid over production). You see more cattle than grapes on the side of the road.

I really enjoyed some history stops in Burgundy. In particular the Battle of Alesia sight has a big museum where I learned a ton about the Celts, Julius Caesar and Vercingetorix. I went to Guedelon, a place where they are currently building a castle using 12/13th century plans and techniques. It was interesting and educational - really an introduction to all the trades at that time period (carpentry for furniture, clay for roof and floor tiles, weavers and dyers for textiles, stone-cutters for the walls, etc.). There is also a big Celtic history museum in Bibracte. Beaune wasn't my favorite by a long shot. There are a couple of good sights but the city construction is newer than I like (17th century and newer). I liked the center in Dijon more but it's a bigger city. Villages are mostly stone construction with some defenses and/or Romanesque style churches.

Alsace towns on the wine route are all very similar. Tons of half-timber construction, often inside a perimeter wall with grand gate entrances. More of the area seems to be used for vineyards. There is a nice castle roughly half way between Colmar and Strasbourg, Haut-Koenigsbourg. Near there is a place called Monkey Mountain where they have Barbary Apes similar to Gibraltar; I didn't stop there.

I like Burgundy a little more but I like the cities of Colmar and Strasbourg more than I liked Beaune and Dijon.

I like the cities of Colmar and Strasbourg more than I liked Beaune and Dijon

I would second that.

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I like the cities of Colmar and Strasbourg more than I liked Beaune and Dijon
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I would second that.

Me too, but I liked the countryside, the abbeys and the small medieval towns like Semur en Auxois of Burgundy than the villages of the Alsace. Although one cool thing we saw many times in Alsace were stork nexts complete with storks and nestlings. Can't lose either way.

Thanks for all your suggestions. We're leaning more towards Burgundy with a stay in a smaller town like Avallon and then maybe Dijon. We do prefer medieval towns and red wine so Burgundy sounds like a lovely place and we're very interested in Vezelay too.

Vezeley is a dream. Friends went to Avalon and were disappointing by the Roman antiquities.

Auxerre is not a village by any stretch. I'd steer clear of it, and Dijon, given your stated tastes, in favor of Semur and Beaune.

Do visit Chablis and the small towns of the Serien valley, if you will be in northern Burgundy. Don't miss the Fontenay Abbey. Don't linger in Montbard.

I stayed in Avallon for 4 nights, but I never spent any time there except at the supermarket and my hotel! I did a lot of driving. I enjoyed Vezelay, loved Noyers, and I liked Auxerre very much too. I guess I'm too much of a francophile. Don't miss Fontenay Abbey. I spent an afternoon in Beaune, mainly to see L'Hotel-Dieu (and worth driving through the city and its traffic for it). Another very interesting place to visit is Château de Bazoches. I never got to Dijon.

Avallon would be a fine place to stay, as would Vezelay. Noyers and Semur-en-Auxois are fantastic villages to visit.