This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
The Burgundy, or Bourgogne, region of France is known for some of the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the world, detailed by the classic French countryside with the most charming villages and cities. A trip to this region makes for a great two night trip to really experience all of the culture, and even the perfect day trip from Paris, Lyon, or Geneva.
When my parents came to visit during the summer, we spend a week in Lyon and made a day trip to Dijon to explore more of France’s beautiful cities and taste wine from one of the best regions in the world! Dijon is filled with so much charm, and was such a relaxing and enjoyable day trip.
In this blog, I’m going to give you two unique itineraries for taking a day trip Burgundy region in France, including how to spend the day in Dijon, and which château to go wine tasting at.
These two day trips can easily be made into a two night weekend getaway!
At a glance:
Day trip idea #1: Exploring the city of Dijon
How to get to Dijon
Getting around in Dijon
One of the best boulangeries I’ve ever been to
Self guided “Owl Tour” of Dijon
Dijon Mustard Tasting
Lunch at a Family Owned Restaurant
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon
Final Thoughts
Day trip idea #2: Excursion to Château de Meursault
Why Château de Meursault?
How to Get to Château de Meursault
Tour of Château de Meursault
Final Thoughts
Day Trip Idea #1: Exploring the City of Dijon
How to Get to Dijon
Reaching Dijon from Paris or Lyon is quite simple. Paris offers TGV and TER trains via SNCF from between 19€ and upwards of 75€ for one way, depending on when you book. If you choose the TER, or the slow train, it will take about 3 hours to reach Dijon. However if you spend a bit more for the TGV, you’ll reach Dijon in about 1.5 hours.
From Lyon, it it a bit cheaper and closer! Looking out about a month in advance from now, you can find a TER train for just under 2 hours for between 15€ and 40€. It doesn’t seem that Lyon has a TGV to Dijon, but it is already so much closer so that’s okay!
Getting Around in Dijon
Dijon is quite a small city. They offer a tram line to get around, however we felt that it wasn’t necessary to use for our day trip.
It takes about maybe 10 minutes to walk from the Dijon Ville train station to Old Town, which is such a beautiful and easy walk. This allows you to experience more of the city!
The Best Boulangerie I’ve Been To
When arriving in Dijon, we were ready for a little breakfast, so we hunted down a boulangerie to get us going for the day. We came across Tartin’art Boulangerie by chance, and I can easily say, after living in France for 2 years, they had by far the best pain au chocolat I’ve ever had!
The pain au chocolat was so light and flakey, had the perfect amount of butter, and melted in my mouth. My mom had tried their almond pain au chocolat and my dad had their Speculoos cookie, and those blew me away as well.
We had even stopped back here before leaving Dijon to bring back some pain au chocolats for the next day!
The Best Way to Explore Dijon: The Owl Trail
The city of Dijon has created a simple self guided tour, perfect for exploring Old Town at your own pace! Known as Le parcours de la Chouette, or “The Owl Trail” in English, you can purchase a little booklet for about 4€, which features 22 spots on the trail to learn about Dijon and it’s history.
All you have to do is follow the golden owls placed on the cobblestone throughout Old Town, and read about the corresponding portion in the booklet!
We really enjoyed doing the Owl Trail because it showed is little streets we wouldn’t have thought to walk down, and also felt like a little self guided scavenger hunt!
Dijon Mustard Tasting
What’s a trip to Dijon without sampling their mustard!
During our self guided Owl Trail tour of the city, we stumbled upon La Moutarderie Edmond Fallot, which has been a family business since 1840!
When you walk in, you’ll be mezmerized by the most Dijon mustard you’ve ever seen in one place. They offer a wide variety of flavors that I had never seen in mustard, and you can even sample them all.
This was a fun little stop along our walking tour, and a great place to pick up unique souvenirs!
Cozy Lunch at a Family Owned Restaurant
For lunch, we were looking to enjoy local French specialties while tasting wine from the Burgundy region. Since we decided to spend the day exploring Dijon, we didn’t have time to see any of the châteaux, but this was the next best option!
Only a street away from Place de la Libération, which is also the heart and center of Dijon, we stumbled upon La Petite Reine. This restaurant turned out to be the cutest spot as it was family run, and the owner was in the kitchen baking all of the desserts when we arrived. It had such a cozy ambiance and made me want to come back again, even before trying their food!
To start, we decided to each start off with a glass of wine. My mom and I had ordered a red Burgundy, and my dad a white. I forget which wine we had tried specifically, but we really enjoyed it!
For our lunch, we shared two of their planches: the charcuterie and fromage. These planches came with a variety of French cheeses and meats, and was the perfect accompagnement to our wine.
La Petite Reine turned out to be such a little gem! I would definitely recommend having a meal or apéro here.
Afternoon Museum Stroll
After lunch, we decided to check out Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon. This museum was absolutely gorgeous, as it is held inside the old palace of the Dukes of Burgundy! It is also right next to Place de la Libération, so just steps away from your delicious lunch.
This museum was a great way to learn about Dijon’s rich history. It was especially cool for my parents and I, as we’ve come to find out that some of our ancestors came from this region, and one of them was even the Duke of Burgundy in the late 1100’s!
After the museum, we popped in and out of some shops along the way before heading back to the train station to catch out train to Lyon.
Final Thoughts of Dijon
Dijon is a great city for a day trip from Lyon, Paris, or even Geneva, as it’s small and quaint, and you can see most of it in one day. If you want to spend more time in on of the best wine regions in the world, pair it with an excursion to one of the many chateaux nearby for the perfect weekend trip!
Day Trip Idea #2: Excursion to Château de Meursault
Why Château de Meursault?
For a day trip excursion to one of the many châteaux in the Burgundy region of France, I definitely recommend visiting Château de Meursault. This château dates back to over 1,000 years ago, and thus is rich and history and has mastered it’s craft. It also happens to be one of the top producers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay!
I visited Château de Meursault when I studied abroad in Lyon, and I am still impressed with my visit here. I had discovered this château because one of my friends, who was a sommelier, had planned our whole weekend to Beaune to taste and experience Burgundy wine, and she found us a tour to this Château. She had done her research well and knew this was the best place to taste Burgundy wine!
Here, they are especially known for their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. And if I remember correctly, they were the first producers of Chardonnay!
How to Reach Château de Meursault
Arriving at Château de Meursault can be a little bit of an adventure if you do not have a car.
From Beaune, where my friends and I stayed the weekend, we took a train about 1 or two stops, or about 5 minutes, to reach Meursault. From the train station in Meursault, you have to walk about 20 minutes to reach the Château. For us, we enjoyed the walk because the town is very quiet and cute to explore. It’s worth keeping this in mind when planning your day trip here!
From Dijon, you can also take the train to reach Meursault. It is also quite fast, only about a 20 minute ride.
To check on train times from Beaune or Dijon to Meursault, check the SNCF website!
Touring Château de Meursault
Our visit of the château was about two hours total, the first hour consisting of visiting the wine cellar and learning about their history, and the second hour being the wine tasting.
When I visited, we did our tour fully in French, and at the time my French was very rough and I only understood about 1/5th of it. But the other girls filled me in with the parts I missed. They also offer tours in English!
During the wine tasting, we were able to taste 9 of their wines. This is the most I’ve ever tasted when doing a wine tour! This experience really helped me discover new wines and try to identify different notes, as I hadn’t had much experience in doing so before.
The tour was only 20 euros, which I feel like was a great price for all that we got to experience!
Final Thoughts: Excursion to Château de Meursault
Château de Meursault is really a great place to visit to really immerse yourself in the history of French wine, taste the quality, and discover why Burgundy is known as one of the best wine regions in the world. I cannot recommend this château enough!
Read more about my weekend trip to Beaune and Meursault here!
Have you visited Dijon or the Burgundy region in France? Which châteaux have you visited? Let me know in the comments!
Be sure to follow my blog to learn more about living abroad and how to travel the world in your 20’s!
Under The Sun 
Leave a comment