beaune

I don't think there's enough to do in Beaune for 5 days, but it is an excellent home base for exploring Burgundy and there is definitely enough to see and do in the surrounding area for five days. Beaune is fairly small and manageable without a car, but I'd think you'd want a car to explore the surrounding area. Beaune is small enough that you can drive around it on the one-way ring road in about 15 minutes. There are bike routes through the vineyards.

Sondra, I don't think there is enough to do or see in Beaune for 5 days without a rental car. Even with a rental car, touring a good part of Burgundy could be done in about 3 days but there is enough to see in 5 days if you traveled all throughout Burgundy including the Grand Cru trail and Dijon.

There are some very nice bike rides out of Beaune (and a great rental shop in town), but not nearly enough to make 5 days even including seeing the town and a day trip to Dijon.

You made a typo initially, right? You meant .5 days? A half day is about right. And you can do it without a car if you can walk five or six blocks without pooping out.

I could spend 5 days in Beaune and be very happy but I'm not the norm. We were there for 4 nights and loved every minute, wished we could have stayed longer, but... we had a car and spent 2 days doing the scenic drives in the RS France book and the other 1.5 days in town and loved it. I think, w/o a car, 5 days is too long for most people.

Thank you all for the comments. We have decided to keep our rental car longer and have it available in Beaune.

Sondra, you should get the Michelin green guide to Burgundy, printed in English and available on line. You'll find enough to do for day trips to keep you busy for weeks. As for Beaune itself, a friend who works in city government there showed us the historical highlights in a couple of hours. The rest is food, wine, biking, walks.

thanks everyone. We do love wine tasting and Bike riding so I think we will enjoy all 5 days. we may rent a car for a few of the days.

We stayed overnight in Beaune, and it was very nice. Visited the Hospice, drove alone the vineyard route to see pretty countryside. Did a wine tasting. But then we were done. :-)

If you're into wine and enjoy biking, then sure, you can fill 5 days. You will have a much better time with your car, though. If wine isn't your thing, you're likely to get bored in the region trying to fill 5 days. I just spent 4 nights in Meursault (much smaller town) in June and had great time. Never got bored, but we did some drives to La Rochepot and Fontenay, for example. I could easily spend 5 days in the beaune area every year, and we usually do.

We're going to Beaune for a week in October with a car and expect to spend most of our days seeing other places, like Fontenay, Vezelay, Auxerre, Cluny, Autun. We'll probably take the train to Dijon (frequent, fast and cheap) to avoid its traffic and parking. My impression is that, as Ed says, Beaune itself is easily seen on foot.