Cycling in Burgundy: The Best Routes Through the Vineyards

Burgundy is usually visited by car, cellar to cellar. On a bike the same country reads differently. The famous vineyards are a single ridge, the Côte, running about 60 km from Dijon to Santenay, and a cycle route now follows the whole of it. Behind the ridge lie canals, an old railway turned greenway, and the flat farmland of the Bresse.

This guide covers the region as a rider uses it: the three route networks, our five-day loop from Beaune with the real kilometres and climb for each day, when to go, and how to reach Beaune with a bike. For the rest of the country, see our guide to cycling in France.

Why Ride Burgundy

Burgundy is the gentlest wine region to ride in France. The Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region has 2,900 km of signed cycle routes, most of them on canal towpaths and former railway lines, and the loop below never climbs more than 430 m in a day. The vineyard villages sit 3 to 5 km apart, so a riding day is a string of short hops between cellars.

The wine is the reason most people come, and it is UNESCO-listed. The Climats of Burgundy, 1,247 precisely mapped vineyard parcels between Dijon and Beaune, were inscribed in 2015. Riding the Côte means riding through them, past Meursault, Pommard and Gevrey-Chambertin at the pace the parcels were laid out for.

What the wine tours miss is the other half of the loop. East of the Saône the Bresse plain is flat farmland of half-timbered farms and poultry, crossed by its own greenway, and the ride back to Beaune along it is as quiet as the Côte is famous.

What You Need to Know at a Glance

• Our loop: 7 days, 5 riding days, Beaune to Beaune clockwise via Buxy, Mâcon, Louhans and Chalon-sur-Saône

• Distance and climb: 243 km and 1,360 m, 41 to 59 km a day

• Biggest day: Mâcon to Louhans, 58 km and 430 m

• Difficulty: our tour rates it 3/5; suitable on a road, gravel or e-bike

• Season: April to September

• Surface: vineyard lanes, the Givry to Cluny railway greenway, the Voie Verte La Bressane, quiet roads

• Getting there: Beaune station, about 20 minutes by TER from the Dijon TGV

Burgundy Cycling Routes

Four routes carry most of the riding in the region, and our loop comes first because it uses two of the other three. The Voie des Vignes runs along the vineyard ridge, the greenways follow old railway lines and the Bresse plain, and the canals join the towns of northern Burgundy, a different holiday altogether.

1. Vineyards of Burgundy: The Beaune Loop

• Distance: ~243 km over 5 riding days

• Climb: 1,360 m, with 430 m on the biggest day

• Days: 7, five of them riding, 41 to 59 km a day

• Route: Beaune, Buxy, Mâcon, Louhans, Chalon-sur-Saône, Beaune

The loop runs clockwise from Beaune. Day 2 rides south along the Côte and onto the Côte Chalonnaise to Buxy, and day 3 follows the greenway to Cluny before dropping to the Saône at Mâcon. Day 4 crosses the river into the Bresse to Louhans, and days 5 and 6 return north along the Bressane greenway and the Saône to Chalon and Beaune. Five riding days cover 243 km and 1,360 m.

The loop rides the vines first and the plain second, so the two hilliest days come while the legs are fresh and the last two days are almost flat. Every night is in a town with its own cellars or market: Buxy, Mâcon, Louhans, Chalon and Beaune.

The map shows a loop split by the Saône. West of the river the route follows the vineyard ridge south and the Mâconnais hills; east of it the route crosses the flat Bresse and returns along the Saône valley. The two halves meet at Chalon-sur-Saône and Mâcon.

Only the greenway sections carry route signs. The vineyard lanes and the Bresse roads are unsigned as a loop, so the tour's GPS track does the navigating, and the Voie des Vignes signs help only on day 2 south of Beaune.

Burgundy is not flat, but it is close. Day 2 climbs 310 m over 43 km through the vineyard villages, and day 3 climbs 300 m over 59 km across the Mâconnais hills to the Saône. Day 4 climbs 430 m over 58 km, the most of the week, on the rolling roads into the Bresse.

Days 5 and 6 barely climb at all: 160 m over 42 km on the Bressane greenway to Chalon, and 160 m over 41 km along the Saône back to Beaune. No day on the loop climbs more than 430 m, and no single climb lasts more than a few kilometres. The difficulty is distance in the heat, not gradient.

Our tour rides the loop over seven days, five of them in the saddle, at 41 to 59 km a day.

For the Voie des Vignes and the greenway, yes. Both are signed, both have Accueil Vélo accommodation on the route, and Beaune and Cluny have bike hire. The Bresse half of the loop is harder to arrange alone, because the roads carry no route signs and Louhans has few hotels.

A self-guided booking takes care of the plain: the hotels in five towns, luggage moved each day, and a GPS track for the unsigned stretches. Riders who want the loop without the admin book the tour below.

The three networks below are what the loop is built from. Each can be ridden on its own, and the greenway is the one to start with if you have never toured before.

2. The Voie des Vignes and the Route des Grands Crus

• Distance: 81 km, Dijon to Santenay, plus a 13 km greenway to Nolay

• Terrain: rolling vineyard lanes along the slope of the Côte

• Villages: Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée, Pommard, Meursault, Puligny

• Our tour: day 2, south of Beaune to the Côte Chalonnaise

The Voie des Vignes is the cycle version of the Route des Grands Crus: 81 km of vineyard paths and small roads from Dijon south through Beaune to Santenay. A 13 km greenway extension continues to Nolay. Beaune tourism gives the section distances as Dijon to Nuits-Saint-Georges 21.6 km, Nuits to Beaune 24.4 km and Beaune to Santenay 22 km.

The Voie des Vignes is a rolling ride, not a flat one, because the vineyard lanes climb and fall with the slope of the Côte. It passes every famous name in turn: Marsannay, Gevrey-Chambertin, Vosne-Romanée, Aloxe-Corton, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet. Our day 2 picks it up south of Beaune and continues past Santenay onto the Côte Chalonnaise through Rully and Givry.

3. The Southern Burgundy Greenway: Chalon to Mâcon

• Distance: 144 km in six stages, 96% on dedicated cycle path

• Core: the Givry to Cluny greenway, the first built in France

• Terrain: flat, shaded, traffic-free

• Our tour: the end of day 2 and most of day 3

South of the Côte the riding leaves the road. The Southern Burgundy route runs 144 km between Chalon-sur-Saône and Mâcon in six stages, and 139 km of it, 96%, is dedicated cycle path. Its core is the Givry to Cluny greenway on a disused railway line, which France Vélo Tourisme records as the first greenway ever built in France.

The greenway is flat, shaded and traffic-free, and it is where the loop spends the end of day 2 and most of day 3. This is the section to send a nervous rider to first. Buxy, Saint-Gengoux-le-National and Cluny sit directly on it, and the route page at France Vélo Tourisme lists every stage.

4. The Canals and the Tour de Bourgogne

• Tour de Bourgogne à Vélo: 664 km loop from Dijon on the canal towpaths

• Also: EuroVelo 6 along the Doubs, the 700 km Voie Bleue down the Saône

• Terrain: flat and long, for a week or two of touring

• Our tour: touches the network only at Chalon

Northern Burgundy is canal country. The Canal de Bourgogne, the Canal du Nivernais and the Canal du Centre all carry towpath cycle routes, and the Tour de Bourgogne à Vélo joins them into a 664 km loop that starts and ends in Dijon. EuroVelo 6 follows the Doubs across the east of the region, and the Voie Bleue runs 700 km down the Saône.

These are flat, long routes for touring riders with a week or two, and none of the sixteen tours on this site rides them end to end. Our loop touches the canal network only at Chalon, where the Canal du Centre meets the Saône. For a first trip the Côte and the greenway beat the canals, because the towns are closer together and the cellars are on the route.

When to Go

Spring (April – June)

The tour opens in April, when the vines are bare and the mornings cold, and improves every week. By mid-May the Côte is green, the greenway is in leaf and daytime temperatures sit around 20°C. May and June are the best months for the vineyard days, because the villages are quiet and the light on the slopes is long.

The Bresse can be wet in April, and the Saône floods its meadows in a wet spring. Days 5 and 6 are the ones to watch the forecast for. The greenway drains well and is rideable the day after rain.

Summer (July – August)

Burgundy in July and August is hot but workable, which is why this tour runs through the summer when the Provence tours do not. Afternoons on the Bresse plain pass 30°C. The greenway is shaded for most of its length, and the days are short enough to finish by two.

Summer is also the busiest season in Beaune, and the small hotels in Buxy and Louhans fill early. Riders who can only travel in August should book in spring. Start each day by nine and the heat stays behind you.

Autumn (September – October)

September is harvest, the vendanges, and the Côte is busy with pickers and tractors on the vineyard lanes. The vines turn red and gold through October, the days are still warm, and the cellars are at their most welcoming. Late September is the best week of the year on the Côte, and the last week the tour runs.

The Hospices de Beaune wine auction, held every year since 1859 on the third Sunday of November, falls after the season. Its build-up fills Beaune from late October, and hotel prices rise with it. October riders should book Beaune early and expect closed cellar doors on harvest days.

Winter (November – March)

The tour does not run in winter. The vines are bare, the greenway is wet, and daytime temperatures in Beaune sit around 5 to 8°C. The cellars stay open, and Beaune is a good winter weekend, but not on a bike.

Riders who want Burgundy in winter should look at the Voie des Vignes as a day ride from Beaune on a dry, cold weekend, and leave the loop for spring.

Getting To and Around Burgundy

Beaune is in the middle of France, and the fast train is the easy way in.

By Train: Beaune, Dijon and the TGV

TGV services from Paris Gare de Lyon reach Dijon in about 1 hour 35 minutes, and the regional TER from Dijon to Beaune takes around 20 minutes. Le Creusot TGV, west of the Côte, is the other high-speed stop. From Lyon the TER runs to Beaune via Chalon-sur-Saône in about two hours.

A bagged bike travels free on the TGV, and TER trains carry assembled bikes in dedicated spaces at no charge outside the busiest hours. Eurostar from London connects at Paris, with a transfer between Gare du Nord and Gare de Lyon. The full rules are in our guide to cycling in France.

By Air and Car

Lyon Saint-Exupéry is the nearest large airport, around 160 km south of Beaune by the A6 motorway. Geneva is about 210 km east and Paris Charles de Gaulle about 330 km north. Dijon has no scheduled airline service, so Lyon is the usual arrival for riders bringing their own bike in a box.

By car, Beaune sits on the A6 between Paris and Lyon, about 3 hours 30 from Paris and 1 hour 30 from Lyon. The tour hotel has parking, and the loop returns to the same town. A car can stay put for the week.

How Much It Costs

The loop is priced per person for six nights in three-star hotels with breakfast, with luggage moved each day, the route booklet, the GPS app and support while you ride. Tourist tax is paid at the hotel. A hybrid, e-bike, gravel bike or road bike, a single room and the airport transfer are optional extras quoted with the tour.

Burgundy is one of the cheaper regions to reach with a bike. A bagged bike travels free on the TGV to Dijon in 1 hour 35, OUIGO takes a bagged bike for €5, and on the regional TER in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté the bike space must be booked but costs nothing.

The 2,900 km of greenways and towpaths are free. The only local spend the route forces is the wine: tastings at the domaines are priced by the cellar, and the Hospices de Beaune museum charges entry.

What to Pack

The riding is flat, so the bag is light. A rain shell matters more than a warm layer, because the Côte d'Or catches showers off the Morvan in spring, and a lock for the village stops and cellar visits. Wider tyres, 32 mm or more, take the greenway gravel and the towpaths without fuss, and a bell is compulsory in France, with lights and reflectors for the vines at dusk.

Two 750 ml bottles and a pump, because village shops close from noon to 3 pm and Monday is a closing day. Pack cycling shoes you can walk in: the day ends in a cellar, not on a summit, and cleats on limestone steps are a poor idea.

Ready to Ride Burgundy?

The loop is self-guided, with hotels in five towns booked and luggage moved each day. Send an inquiry with your dates between April and September, and the itinerary is matched to how far you want to ride.