Ideas for few days around Buxy, Burgandy (Chalon-sur-Saône/Beaune area)

I lived in the area for several years. Went to some very good vide-greniers in Buxy (kind of like a big garage sale), and there's a good voie verte (greenway) that passes by Buxy: a nice place to ride bicycles.

My suggestions, given your interest, would be:

1. Bibracte, located an hour west-northwest of Buxy using D61. Bibracte was an important Gaul hill fort and later, after Julius Caesar's army conquered it, an important Roman oppidum. There's ongoing archaeological work at the site and a very good museum explaining the role of oppida in Roman civic organization. Bibracte is tied to Autun, which is itself an excellent hill town to amble around with lots of interesting architecture, an impressive cathedral (Cathédral Saint-Lazare d'Autun), and some good restaurants.

2. La Roche de Solutré just south of Mâcon, which is a limestone monadnock (sorry, I'm a geologist) which was formed in conjunction with the orogeny (mountain building, there I go again) of the Alps to the east. It forms an isolated limestone hill bounded by steep cliffs overlooking the vineyards of the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation. It's very scenic and the wines, if you like white wine, are quite good. You can hike to the top (be careful, there are no fences or barriers between the trail and the cliffs, which is often the case in France) and there's an interesting museum at the base explaining the archaeological history of the area. It was a Paleolithic hunting site that has been occupied by humans for at least 55,000 years. The museum has stone tools, axes, and arrowheads that look remarkably similar to those used by aboriginal inhabitants of the Americas tens of thousands of years later.

3. About a half hour south of Buxy is Cluny, which was the site of a the largest Benedictine monastic order in western Europe, which extended throughout the continent and into Britain. I believe the ruined abbey church at Cluny was the largest Christian church ever built, before it was destroyed. Many buildings in the modern day town of Cluny were built with stones from the church, treating it more or less a quarry from which to obtain dressed stones. There's a network of Romanesque churches throughout this part of Bourgogne that answered, at one time or another, to Cluny and you can find a mapped route to visit them if you're so inclined.

That's a few suggestions. There's much more. It's a very historical area.

Thanks so much for the detailed suggestions! I'll review them in detail make some plans.

@Bob you're speaking my language on those places. Looking around I wonder if Autun is worth a visit given the Roman and Gaulic activities there. I know there is a semi-intact theater and some museums.
Also one thing I have never managed to do is to see cave paintings. I know the Arcy caves have only a couple of lesser paintings and it's 2 hours away but I'll need to think about that.

Thanks again,
=Tod

Bob has given you excellent suggestions about some of my favorite places in France, ones not in RS's book. Yes, Autun is worth visiting, especially if you can go on a Saturday morning, market day. Autun was founded as a Roman garrison town. This is where the Celts from Bibracte were moved after their defeat by the Romans. The excellent local museum is filled with objects from everyday Roman and Celtic life.
.
The site of Bibracte was being studied and rebuilt by teams from many different EU countries when I was there a couple decades ago.
.
As you are going up Soulutré, there is a museum of prehistoric history that you can visit. According to their website, this area has been inhabited by humans for 55,000 years, Neanderthal and Homo Sapien Sapien.

If you do decide to drive north to Arcy-sur-cure for the cave, you will be 19 minutes to Vezelay.