TOUR SUMMARY

SPLENDORS OF EUROPE offers this week long luxury escorted tour to Burgundy France.  This is a small group luxury tour of Burgundy that includes walking tours and excursions which highlight history, architecture, art, and gourmet culinary experiences.  This tour has a regional focus and provides wonderful in-depth cultural experiences in Burgundy.  Two professional escorts ensure that our small group of 12 or less has a friendly and personally rewarding  experience.  The tour includes escorted museum visits in Beaune and Dijon and visits to the most beautiful vineyards and villages of Burgundy.  You’ll enjoy multiple wine cellar and  wine tasting visits.   The tour also includes hot air ballooning, first class high speed trains, visits to a castle and château and all of the best sights in Burgundy.  Travel to Burgundy France and enjoy the charming Burgundy Wine Region tour with Splendors of Europe.  You'll have the best vacation trip ever.  Visit the hotel, restaurant, and tour photo galleries at the end of this page.

You will stay in medieval Beaune, the gastronomic and wine center of Burgundy.  Here you’ll dine on delicious Burgundy cuisine at award winning restaurants, and of course savor some of the world famous wines!  Your last evening is spent in a wonderful château in the Chantilly forest.

No need to tote your luggage today.  After checking out of our hotel in Paris, it is delivered to your hotel room in Beaune. You travel comfortably by the world’s fastest train, the TGV to Dijon.  We arrive in Dijon and begin with a delicious lunch at a fine local restaurant.

After lunch we go to Place Francois Rude and enter old town Dijon. We stroll the narrow cobbled streets and see the renaissance facades on rue de Forges. visit the Gothic Eglise de Notre-Dame with its many gargoyles. We walk past charming medieval half timbered on our way to the renaissance style hotel de Vogue. From here we walk past medieval stone and

timbered houses.  Next we visit the former regal palace of the Dukes of Burgundy. We explore the courtyards and the Tower Philippe-le-Bon. From the top, we enjoy a wonderful view of Dijon and the surrounding countryside. Next we explore inside where we find the Museum des Beaux Arts, the best art museum in France after the Louvre.

 After the art museum we investigate the many fine shops in the area. The Cathedral of St. Bénigne, famous for its outstanding 11th-century crypt by Volpiano can be visited before we depart Dijon.

We end our visit at the park like Place Darcy and see the Triumphal Arch. 

We leave Dijon by train to make the short trip to Beaune.  In Beaune we check into our beautiful hotel, only a 3 minute walk to the center of Town.

An evening stroll around Beaune is a pleasure. Dinner is enjoyed in Beaune near our hotel. B+L+D

TUESDAY - Champagne Balloon Ride in the morning, Beaune in the afternoon.

                                                                                                                                                                                Hotel Dieu

We ride through the vineyards and the most beautiful villages of Burgundy including Pommard and Saint-Romain.  In Saint-Romain we make a brief stop at the barrel makers shop and witness this ancient craft.  On to the cliff side village of Orches. Here we enjoy the panoramic view of the valley.  Next we visit Rochepot, the story book image of a Castle. We tour this large well preserved castle, built high on a rocky cliff.                                                                   

Rochepot Castle

We enjoy lunch in an ancient salt cellar where your meal in grilled in a fireplace in the dining room.

After lunch we  pass through the vineyards and villages with names that are synonymous with great wines, like Puligny-Montrachet, Meursault, Volnay and Pommard. This afternoon we enjoy a wine tasting visit at the cellars of the majestic Château de Meursault. Afterward, we return to Beaune. We visit the cellars of Marché aux Vins and enjoy wine tasting.  Stroll around this charming medieval village, with many attractive shops along the narrow pedestrian only streets.       

Tonight we enjoy another gourmet dinner at La Grilladine in Beaune.  After dinner enjoy wine tasting or beer tasting at Pickquicks Pub, a "British Pub" in the heart of France that is frequented by the English speaking. International beers are severed upstairs while downstairs there is a well stocked wine bar. B+L+D

 Wine tasting in Burgundy

Château Bellecroix

Chantilly is considered one of the most beautiful in all Europe. Here we visit the Château and the Conde Museum. We see beautiful furnishings and great works by van Dyck, Botticelli, Rubens and many other great masters.

Château Chantilly

Lunch is enjoyed in the hameau hidden in the trees near the palatial French gardens.

We also visit the stables fit for a king.

After our visit of Château Chantilly we return to our Château. Here the lovely setting offers splendid forest views and quiet walks around the grounds.