Day Trips in the Burgundy Region

Methinks you're biting off more than is reasonably chewable! Rochepot is good for half a day to do it right ... Hotel Dieu the same .... and they're probably doable on the same day. I can't speak about the others on your list 'cause I'm hoping to see them myself this May. You have a bunch of driving in front of you ... and be careful ... the French gendarmes are VERY serious about enforcing drinking while driving laws ... so aware, tastings and mileage don't make a good mix!

Debra, You'll be able to get a lot of help from the Michelin green guide to Burgundy. The Michelin guides are oriented for driving trips.

I honestly don't think you can do all this in two days. If you base yourself in Beaune, not Dijon, I think you can gain some extra time to see more of these sights. If you'd like to indicate which of these are your top priorities, I might be able to make some useful suggestions.

We already have reservations in Dijon. We have a car and are not afraid to have an action packed day. With that said, by evening, its time to relax and enjoy a nice dinner closer to Dijon. We have never been to the area, and have read plenty of books (which is why our list is long) It would be great to at least experience a bit of everything. At least one castle, a winery, the mustard museum, at least one abbey. I did locate the michelin driving guide and will pick it up this week, however I still need to narrow down our destinations. Any suggestions for getting the most out of two days would be great. We can't go wrong!

You can do it, but it's going to be a bear. Make one loop Dijon, Chateauneuf, Rochepot, Beaune, Dijon. That's about two hours of driving, You need a couple of hours for Beaune, and a couple or three for each chateau. That's a ten hour day. I'd skip Rochepot if I had to cut something. Make the other loop Dijon, Flavigny, Fotenay, Vezelay, Dijon. That's three hours of driving. With three hours at each stop, it's starting to stink. Abbeys look a lot alike and tend to blend together in your head at the end of the week. I'd eliminate Vezelay first since it's way the heck and gone. Of the two remaining, I prefer Fotenay. If you do this, you can work in a winery ( I have no idea where one is, but the darn things all look alike so you only need to see one). No matter how you skin it, lunch for both days is going to have to be a melted candy bar out of your back pocket.

ha ha ha ha Ed - great advice. We can start out early, and if we poop out, it will still end up being a fabulous day! I will follow your loops. I tried to google earth them, with not much success, so thank you for the driving pattern.

For some great wineries, check out these small towns outside of Beaune: Volnay and Meursault. Look for the "Cave" signs for wine tasting and purchasing. Volnay is a small town on the top of a hill overlooking the vineyards. When I get home, I'll find my bottle and give you the name of the winery. By the way, I brought home 10 bottles of French and Italian wine in my checked luggage.

We stayed in Beaune and did the two scenic drives in RS France book and both were amazing. I'd recommend following those. All the places you name and more were on the drives. Every place we went was great but my all time favorite was Chateauneuf-en-Auxois, a medieval storybook village with a chateau. I probably took over 200 photos there.

Ed makes some good points ... but I don't agree about skipping Rochepot!

I like what Ed has to say and I agree with him about cutting out Vezelay. I was disappointed with it and felt it wasn't worth the drive. On the contrary, I was hesitant about the Abbey de Fontenay and surprised by its beauty. Be sure to check opening and closing times of any attractions/wineries/etc. you hope to visit. And I'll put in a plug for our favorite winery tour, which was Veuve Ambal located just south of Beaune (easy on/off the A6). It's a very modern, high-tech, high quantity operation and you can view it from platforms above (And the information is available in English). They mostly produce Cremant (sparkling) and we really liked their products, too. It was a fun contrast to all the caves and small producers in the area. And one piece of advice to pass along - if a winery advertises that they've got millions of bottles in their caves - it's because no one is buying it! We were lured in by that claim at Patriarch & Fils and found some horrible wines. Even the employee at the end of the tour admitted he didn't like their wines LOL!

Stop at the patisserie, grocery and pick up picnic supplies for lunch on your way out of Dijon. Burgundy is beautiful and you will find many places to stop to picnic for lunch. This will save you time and allow you to be more flexible with your touring schedule. Having been to all the sites you mention I would skip Flavigny and Chateauneuf, but that's a purely personal opinion. Get a Michelin driving atlas of France and plan your route, but be flexible as you will probably run into other sites you didnt know about but want to check out on your way. I also vote for Chateauneuf en Auxois, if you have the time.

Maybe I should re-phase the question...
of all the sights that we can drive to during 2 day trips from Dijon.....what what the plan be?

We travel a lot in Burgundy as it is one of our favorite regions in France. Chateauneuf-en- Auxois is one of our favorite villages and it is on the Burgundy canal- actually it overlooks the canal. Remember that if you are using a GPS that there are several Chateauneuf's in France. The beautiful village has en- Auxois on the end of the name. This little village has a wonderful little creperie called L'oree de Bois. We travel in Fall and this little place has a wonderful fireplace in the middle of the room. Very nice if it is cold. The have wonderful soups, salads, crepes, as well as nice dinners and local wines.

"of all the sights---what should be plan be?" That depends on your priorities. What are they? How do you like to sightsee? How fast and quick it too fast and quick for you and yours?