Last updated July 2026
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Most Burgundy itineraries you’ll find online are only about Beaune. That’s fine for a long weekend, but it skips two of the most interesting parts of the region: Chablis to the north (the steel-and-oyster-shell Chardonnays that don’t taste like anything else) and the Côte Chalonnaise to the south (the value tier where the wine is very good and nobody’s fighting over the tables). The four-day plan below covers all of it, in the order that makes sense if you’re arriving from Paris.
We’ve written this from experience — Jesse worked a full harvest with the Debavelaere family at Domaine Rois Mages in Rully, and between that stint and multiple return trips we’ve spent enough time here to know which producers actually take walk-ins, which restaurants matter, and how long you really need between tastings. This is what we’d send to a friend.
Before you go
How to get there. From Paris, TGV to Dijon (1h40) or continue on to Beaune (another 25 minutes). Pick up your rental car in Beaune rather than at Charles de Gaulle — cheaper, and you don’t want to be doing the A6 with jet lag. No direct train to Chablis; take a train from Paris Gare de Bercy to Auxerre (about 2 hours), then drive the last 20 minutes.
Best months. Late May, June, and early October — warm enough for outdoor tastings, quiet enough that producers have time to talk. Late August through late September is harvest and tastings get cancelled last-minute. Winter is quiet and cheap; some smaller producers close their tasting rooms.
Reservations are non-negotiable. Almost every serious Burgundy producer is appointment-only, and often it’s the winemaker themselves pouring for you in the cellar. Do not expect a Napa Valley Disneyland experience here. The best tastings are in a chilly, musty basement cellar, with cobwebs, dust and zero views. And it’s the best experience ever.
Email two to three weeks ahead, be flexible on time, and always include a note about why you want to visit their wines specifically. Copy-paste requests get slow replies or none at all. Dinner reservations at the good spots — Maison Lameloise, Au Fil du Zinc, Caves Madeleine — also go on the calendar the moment you know your dates.
Car and bike, both. A car for getting between the four zones. E-bikes for the tasting days within each zone. Reserve from Bourgogne Randonnées, Galmard Vélos, or Velovasion two to three weeks ahead.
Day 1: Chablis — the palate warm-up
Chablis is the smart first stop coming from Paris — the driving halfway point, and it functions as a palate reset before the barrel-fermented whites of the Côte de Beaune. Pronounced SHA-blee, not shab-liss; that error will out you in a tasting room within seconds.
The region is 100% Chardonnay, but it’s Chardonnay from the coldest part of Burgundy, planted on Kimmeridgian limestone laced with fossilized oyster shells. The wines are lean, mineral, mouth-watering — almost no new oak on most of them. The four appellations, from bottom to top: Petit Chablis (outer plots, lightest), Chablis AOP (village workhorse), Premier Cru Chablis (43 named plots, meaningfully more depth), and Grand Cru Chablis (seven contiguous slopes on the right bank of the Serein — Blanchot, Bougros, Les Clos, Grenouilles, Preuses, Valmur, Vaudésir). Tasting through all four levels in a single day is one of the great progressions in wine.
First tasting — Jean et Sébastien Dauvissat. Fourth-generation, three Premier Crus and a Grand Cru in the portfolio, and one of the most respected addresses in the region. You’ll ring a doorbell at a 17th-century house on a quiet street in town and be led down to an underground cellar. On our first visit our French was limited to bonjour and merci — the tasting still landed, because the wine did the talking. Our favorite producer in the region.
Second tasting — Domaine Thierry Laffay. Seven hectares, family-run, small in the way that means the person who farms the fruit is also the person pouring the glass. Their Old Vine regular Chablis is the wine that stuck with us — some of the most cost-effective bottles you’ll find in the region.
Lunch — picnic from the market. Grab a baguette, a wedge of Époisses (the local stinky washed-rind cheese — you’ll smell it before you see it), a bottle of Petit Chablis from a wine shop in town, and eat it in the vineyards. This is a Burgundy tradition and the version of the region we love best.
Afternoon — William Fèvre. One of the largest producers in Chablis, and yes, their bottom-tier wines are supermarket wines. But the reserve and Grand Cru tier is genuinely serious. A well-placed reservation gets you into a proper cellar tasting.
Dinner — Au Fil du Zinc. This is our favorite restaurant in Burgundy, quite possibly in all of France. A rotating prix-fixe menu with a wine pairing built around local producers, in a small dining room where the chef will come out to talk to you if you ask a real question. Reserve well ahead — this place fills up.
Where to stay. Hostellerie des Clos is the reference-class option in town. If Chablis is full, Auxerre 12 miles west has more inventory. See our Where to Stay in Burgundy guide for more detail.
Day 2: Côte de Nuits — the “big reds”
Drive south from Chablis in the morning — about 90 minutes down the A6 — and check into Beaune. Drop the bags, grab a coffee at a café on Place Carnot, and head north. Today is Pinot Noir.
The Côte de Nuits runs from the outskirts of Dijon south to just north of Beaune. Every red-wine name you know — Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-Saint-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges — is on this 15-mile stretch. The Grand Cru plots are in some cases single walled vineyards the size of a suburban backyard, and the wines from them sell for more than a car. You won’t taste at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti or Leroy. Almost nobody does. But there are excellent producers up and down this road who will take a well-written appointment request.
Morning — coffee at Les Deux Chèvres, Gevrey-Chambertin. Even if you’re not staying there, the property is the anchor for the northern end of the Côte de Nuits and worth a coffee stop en route to the day’s first tasting.
First tasting — Christian Clerget, Vougeot. Our favorite domaine in the Côte de Nuits. Traditional, minimalist winemaking — Christian lets the terroir talk. With an appointment, his wife Isabella walks you through a generous flight of Premier and Grand Cru from Morey-Saint-Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vosne-Romanée, Échezeaux, and Clos de Vougeot. Fair pricing for plots of this pedigree, and they’ll ship internationally. Violets, strawberry, silky tannins — this is what people mean when they say Burgundy has a whisper the other regions don’t.
Late morning — Domaine Dujac, Morey-Saint-Denis. Dujac has a cult following and the price tag to prove it, but they take appointments — which makes them accessible in a way many top Côte de Nuits names aren’t. House style is stem-inclusion (whole-cluster fermentation), which gives the wines a spicy, structural character. A masterclass in what stems bring to Pinot Noir. Note this is likely a very difficult tasting reservation to get due to demand so plan accordingly.
Lunch — picnic on the Route des Grands Crus (D122). Pull over anywhere between Chambolle-Musigny and Vougeot, spread out a market picnic, take the hour.
Afternoon — Caveau des Musignys, Chambolle-Musigny. Technically a wine shop, but they run walk-in tastings in the cave with six or seven open bottles from local producers. Free to taste, fair pricing on bottles — buy at least one of what you liked. Our default Côte de Nuits afternoon stop when a proper appointment doesn’t come together.
Optional detour — Clos de Vougeot. The 12th-century walled Cistercian vineyard that essentially invented the concept of terroir as we know it. Self-guided tours run daily; give it 45 minutes.
Dinner in Beaune — Caves Madeleine. Tiny bistro-slash-wine-cellar with communal tables and a wine list that will keep you at the table longer than you meant to stay. If it’s full, La Lune and La Table du Square are our reliable backups.
Day 3: Côte de Beaune — the great whites (and one great red)
Today is the whites — Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet — plus a stop in Pommard for red. If you rent e-bikes for one day of the trip, this is the day. The villages sit close together in the flatter southern part of the Côte, and the ride from Meursault to Puligny to Chassagne is one of the great days of wine travel.
Morning — Domaine Bouzereau Philippe, Meursault. Central Meursault, patio tasting, and — the reason we keep going back — a library collection Philippe is generous with. He’ll often open bottles 15 years and older during a tasting, which lets you actually experience aged white Burgundy without waiting a decade. Citrus, toasted almonds, flint, butter, honey — Meursault at reference class.
Late morning — walk the Le Montrachet vineyard. The village of Puligny is quieter than you’d expect for a place whose name sits on some of the world’s most expensive whites. Walk the perimeter of Le Montrachet just outside town — it straddles the Puligny and Chassagne borders, which is why both villages appended “Montrachet” to their names in the 19th century. Standing at the wall is worth 20 minutes.
Lunch — picnic in Puligny. Market bread, cheese, and a bottle of rosé under a plane tree. If you’d rather move, the terrace at Domaine de Rymska (see Day 4) is a wonderful long lunch on the drive south.
Afternoon — Pommard. The great red of the Côte de Beaune — muscular, tannic Pinot Noir that ages a long time. Domaine de Courcel and Domaine Comte Armand are the reference addresses; if those are booked, any of the smaller family domaines in the village will pour a solid glass.
Late afternoon — Caves de l’Abbaye, Beaune. Back in town, our favorite wine bar in Burgundy. In an old monk’s cellar below the walled city — watch your head on the way down. Owner Guillaume teaches at the local wine school and picks producers with a good story for each bottle. Select Saturdays the bar becomes a small jazz venue; if your dates line up, don’t miss it.
Dinner — Maison Lameloise, Chagny. Three Michelin stars, 20 minutes south of Beaune. If you’re doing one splurge, do it here. If Lameloise isn’t in the budget or the calendar, La Table du Square in Beaune is a delightful mid-tier alternative.
Day 4: Côte Chalonnaise — the value buys
Day four is the reason we insisted you leave time to go south. The Côte Chalonnaise is the value tier of Burgundy — same grapes, same Kimmeridgian-adjacent limestone, drastically lower prices because the villages aren’t household names. Rully, Mercurey, Givry, Montagny. This is the part of the region we buy from most often for our own cellar.
Morning — Domaine Rois Mages, Rully. Jesse worked a full harvest here with the Debavelaere family. Anne-Sophie and Stan started making wine in the early 80s; their son Félix came home to join the operation after time abroad. With advance notice the tasting starts with Aligoté — a lean, high-acid white grown just over the hill in Bouzeron, one of Burgundy’s great sleeper varietals — then Premier Cru Pinot, several excellent Chardonnays, and if you’re lucky and it’s the right week, a barrel sample straight from the cellar. Rully is one of the great value appellations in Burgundy, and this is a big part of why.
Late morning — Louis Picamelot, Rully. Fun fact: Crémant de Bourgogne was born in Rully. Same grapes and méthode traditionnelle as Champagne, a fraction of the price. Book a tour and taste through Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs, sparkling rosé, and some aged vintages. Bring bottles home — they hold their own next to Champagne twice the price.
Lunch — Domaine de Rymska, Saint-Jean-de-Trézy. Working estate, on-site restaurant, cheese ageing in the cellar. One of our favorite long lunches in Burgundy. (Enter code THEWINESCRIBES at checkout if you’re also staying — free aperitif with your booking.)
Afternoon — Domaine de la Monette, Mercurey. Mercurey is the other Chalonnaise appellation to know for value reds. La Monette wasn’t a place we made it into during harvest, but every bottle we’ve had since has been consistently excellent. Fixin and Ladoix are other good bets for value reds if you want to add a stop.
Evening — drive back to Beaune (about 40 minutes). Dinner at whichever Beaune spot you didn’t hit earlier in the week.
If you only have two days
Skip the Chalonnaise and Chablis. Do Day 2 (Côte de Nuits) and Day 3 (Côte de Beaune) with Beaune as your base. You’ll cover the greatest hits of the region and eat well in the evenings.
If you have five days
Add a slow day in Beaune between Days 3 and 4. Farmers market in the morning (Wednesday or Saturday), tour the Hospices de Beaune, wine bar in the afternoon at Caves de l’Abbaye, dinner at Maison Lameloise or Caves Madeleine. Wine trips are exhausting; a scheduled rest day is not a wasted day.
Where to eat (beyond the daily itinerary)
- Splurge: Maison Lameloise in Chagny — three Michelin stars, 20 minutes south of Beaune.
- Chablis: Au Fil du Zinc for the rotating prix-fixe; Les Trois Bourgeons for modern French-Japanese fusion; Marguerite de Chablis for a pre-dinner glass.
- Beaune: Caves Madeleine (tiny, communal), La Lune, La Table du Square — honest bistro cooking, wine lists that punch above their weight.
- Dijon: Au Buffon chez Eddy — small, hyper-seasonal, chef-driven.
- Cellar dining: Domaine de Rymska’s on-site restaurant, one of our favorite meals of any Burgundy trip.
Getting around
You’ll drive between the four zones (Chablis → Beaune → Chalonnaise). Within each zone, e-bikes are the best move for the tasting days, and Beaune itself is entirely walkable inside the old walls. See our Where to Stay in Burgundy guide for the full base-by-base breakdown.
Tasting fees. Most small producer tastings in Burgundy are free. There’s no formal fee, but there is a real expectation that if you liked the wines, you’ll buy at least a bottle. This isn’t Napa. If you show up, taste through six wines, and leave without buying, don’t expect a return appointment.
Approximate cost
A four-day mid-range trip for two runs roughly €1,700–€3,700 all in — lodging €600–€1,400, meals €400–€900, wine at tastings €200–€600 (this is the real money — you will buy bottles), rental car + fuel + tolls €250–€400, Paris trains and taxis €200–€350. A Lameloise dinner adds €400+; a splurge Rymska stay adds another €500+.
Where this fits with the rest of the trip
For lodging picks and area-by-area breakdown, see our Where to Stay in Burgundy guide. For the full regional guide with more producers, restaurants, and history, our main Burgundy guide is the starting point. For the northern appellation deep-dive, see our Chablis wine guide.
Coming from the Pacific Northwest and wondering how these Pinots compare to what you know? Our Burgundy vs Oregon Pinot Noir side-by-side breaks it down.
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Frequently asked questions
Four is our recommended minimum for a proper first trip — one day each in Chablis, the Côte de Nuits, the Côte de Beaune, and the Côte Chalonnaise. Three days works if you skip either Chablis or the Chalonnaise. Two days works if you focus on Beaune and only do the middle of the Côte d’Or. Anything less than two is a taste, not a trip.
Late May, June, and early October are the two windows that consistently deliver — warm days, working vineyards, producers who have time to talk. Late August through late September is harvest, when producers are working 16-hour days and tastings get cancelled at the last minute. July and August are hot and busy. Winter is quiet and cheap but restaurants scale back and some smaller producers close their tasting rooms.
Yes, for almost every serious producer. Burgundy tastings are personal — often the winemaker or a family member is pouring for you in the cellar. Email two to three weeks ahead, be flexible on time, and reference something specific about their wines in your request. Copy-paste requests get slow replies or no reply. The exception is wine bars and a handful of walk-in-friendly boutiques like Caveau des Musignys in Chambolle-Musigny.
Yes, and it’s our favorite way to explore. The Voie des Vignes is a dedicated bike path running roughly parallel to the Route des Grands Crus from Beaune to Santenay. E-bikes (not regular bikes) are the right choice — the Côte d’Or is on a real slope. Rent from Bourgogne Randonnées, Galmard Vélos, or Velovasion; book two to three weeks ahead in high season. Bike days work best in the Côte de Beaune (flatter, closer villages) and the vineyard tracks around Chablis.
Better than you’d think. Almost every producer we’ve worked with speaks enough English for a tasting, and Beaune’s restaurant and hospitality staff are broadly bilingual. That said, opening with bonjour and merci and attempting un verre de vin blanc, s’il vous plaît goes further than you’d think — French producers will meet you halfway if you show that you tried. The one place we recommend using Google Translate ahead of time is the cellar appointment email — a request written in bad French with a note that you’ll happily switch to English in person is much better received than a fluent English request.
