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How would you split 7 nights?

Posted by on

Hi all,
We are going to visit Loire valley (base in Azay-le Rideau), Bourgogne's Cote d'or (base in Meursault), and Alsace (base around Colmar) at the end of May.
Will be driving a car.
We thought of dividing 7 nights (that's all we unfortunately have for this part of trip): 2(Loire) - 3(Cote d'or) - 2 (Alsace). What do you think?
We are interested in seeing:
Few Chateau, short river trip (1 - 2 hrs) in Loire, visiting few picturesque villages, maybe vine tasting;

Drive through Bourgogne countryside (Gran Cru, North, and South loops) and do some light tasting along the way, visiting few picturesque villages, visit Beaune;
Drive along the wine road in Alsace and do some light tasting along the way, visiting few picturesque villages, visit Colmar;
We are not interested in "checking all the boxes" and see everything, just to have a feel for the areas, taking in the views, enjoying food, vine and anything interesting that would come our way...

Thank you so much for your help.

Posted by
11159 posts

The villages in Alsace along the wine road are charming and you should visit several of them. Don’t miss Strasbourg either. We were disappointed in Colmar. You could do this in two nights, two full days.
I no nothing about the Loire so can’t comment.
Beaune and surrounding wine villages can be done in two full days. Give Alsace and Burgandy each one more night.

Posted by
365 posts

3-1-3 is how I’d split. But I’d rather not drive every other day and would rather spend more time in Loire and Alsace.

Posted by
515 posts

Take the TGV from Paris to Strasbourg (or onto Colmar) rather than make the long drive.

I like Colmar -it was super charming at Xmas time, but in the summer there was some kind of wine garden party that was fun. Tried the local dish Baekoffe and thin crust "pizza". The towns around Colmar - many of them awarded among the most beautiful in all of France (most of them have German-sounding names) are best reached by car. In a single long day you can hit half a dozen of them, plus the castle of Konigberg.

As someone said, Strasbourg is a great place too - and definitely a night or two there.

Loire is best driven. I stayed I the same place Azay Le Riddeau some years ago - and like the tiny little town but they were working on the chateau and it was closed. The castle of Chinon is not too far away where French kings lived at one point in history. The town of Poitiers was a little further and a great foodie city.

I would say that those two locations are more than enough for 7 days.

There is a wind road from Dijon down to Beaunne, and I have driven it. It's about 40 miles as I recall with several little towns. It's not highly developed or really worth the effort. The town of Beaunne itself is a nice place to spend 2 days. You can get down there from Paris an 1.5 hours I think.

If you had 10-12 days, this might work. But with 7 days, I would choose 2 of the three.

And you didn't mention Paris. I totally understand not wanting to waste time on the Louvre and Eiffel and regular attractions. But there are many levels of things to do in Paris - and many districts.

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