Anyone got any suggestions for a good base for a 3/4 day road cycling break in the northern Burgundy / southern Champagne areas? (Anywhere not too far off the main route between Dijon – Troyes – Riems).

I’m driving back from the alps, and fancy staying somewhere enroute to enjoy a different area of France. Would prefer somewhere which is undulating / hilly; quiet lanes through pretty villages (not really interested in miles of flat canal towpaths); interesting area to visit. Would prefer to stay in a village.

Any suggestions? Ta 🙂

Not sure what the road riding is like other than it being relatively flat, but have a look at chatillons sur seine, also Villeneuve l’archeveque has the auberge de moulin which serves stunningly good food in the restaurant

Reims (where I am from!) is a nice city for a break with plenty to do off the bike. The area south of Reims, called ‘Montagne de Reims’ is pretty good for road biking and takes you through all the champagne vineyards. Depending on how much mileage you are looking for this all extends to ‘la vallee de la Marne’ aheading West toward Chateau Thierry. The area between Reims and Laon is also good. This may be your best option to avoid all the flatness between the Troyes to Calais corridor.

Michael

Southern Burgundy has this to offer .

I have stayed in the area to the west of Chalons sur Soane around the village of Buxy .

Loads of good cycling , wine and food .

There is a excellent cycle path running North / South in the area also .

http://www.burgundytoday.com/sporting-activities/cycling-routes.htm

Some years back I led a couple of easy sightseeing cycle trips based from Santenay, got up towards Beaune and down I think as far as Givry. The canal from Chalone sur Saone up gives a quick way of getting about Routes des Grandes Vins up to Beaune was lovely.

It’s a nice area, you’ll have fun!

We stayed in Chatillon sur Seine too – Hotel Sylvia to be precise. It reminded me of 1950s France (or rather, what I’d always imagined 1950s France would be like). Although we only stayed the night, it suited our needs travelling en route from the south. Cheap, great breakfast, clean rooms and the owners were v helpful. They have a garage for bikes. It’s a smallish town with a few restaurants but not as big as Reims. It felt very safe and offsite parking a bonus. It may be a bit quiet if you’re staying for a longer period but ideal for a few days. I think we paid around 80€ between 4 of us for a shared room plus extra for breakfast. We ate in a place called Cote d’Or and had a fantastic meal. I’d go there again.

We spent a couple of weeks camping with the kids at lac d’orient in a little town called mesnil-saint-pere. Loads of quiet lanes for cycling and the lakes to cycle around. There’s a cycle path linking the lakes, which is suitable for a road bike.
Might be too quiet for you as the town didn’t have much in it apart from a couple of bars and a beautiful little bakery/patisserie. Rumours of me finishing all my rides there for coffee and cake are completely unfounded. 😀

http://www.a-la-flute-enchantee.fr/avize-chambre-hote-ang.html

We stayed here for a few days during summer a couple of years ago en route to the Alps. Brilliant place, in the woods just above the village of Avize. Beautiful setting surrounded by rolling quiet roads through some very famous vineyards. Definitely going back.

Champagne is lovely. I’d consider staying in Epernay, I’ve not been cycling, just drinking, but lots of pretty villages with nice roads. Lots of hills too. Quieter than Reims too.

Eperney.

Stay there, it’s a lovely little market town filled with the regions Champagne houses.

The hills are rolling, it’s a bit flat towards the southern end, but wow, what a view from the tops.

I have a favourite hotel just on the outskirts of town I use, let me know if you need the name.

Saw this at lunchtime and didn’t have a chance to reply until now. Burgundy is beautiful and as long as you avoid the N roads rural France is great for cycling.

We stayed in Vaux-en-Beaujolais last summer (just south of Macon) and did two lovely rides in the hills between the Saone and L’Azergues rivers – could easily have done a lot more. Hotel was absolutely fantastic and very reasonable for the quality of food and wine. http://www.aubergedeclochemerle.fr/uk/index.php

Burgundy proper also looks good for riding – north of Beaune is hillier than south but once you get away from the wine villages it’s really rural (and even then, as long as you’re not on the D974/ D981 then you’ll be grand). Can suggest some places there too, though tends towards the expensive end.

Champagne is a lot flatter and more industrial if that’s a fair term – wasn’t too impressed by Epernay and haven’t been too fussed about visiting Reims (sorry Blacksmith).

At risk of recommending something completely different to that which you’ve asked for (hey, it is STW you know!), have you considered Alsace? It’s picture-postcard beautiful, quite different from the rest of France and well worth the detour in my opinion. We’ve stayed in a few of the villages around Ribeauville and Eguisheim – flat plain flanked by the Vosges mountains. It adds 2-3 hours onto the drive from French Alps to Channel but it’s not such an issue if you’re taking a couple of days and you’ll save a pile on tolls if you go home via Lux and Belgium, plus fuel in Luxembourg is silly cheap (especially diesel). Alsace wine is also tremendous and superb value. I love the area – if you want more tips just shout.

We love Burgandy from the North to the South, so much good food, wine and countryside. 🙂 We visit once a year to buy wines from smaller local producers and of course to eat too much! I don’t have my maps to hand but I can dig them out or you can use geoportal.gouv.fr and switch on IGN mapping for research

A few thoughts, the Alasdar Sawday online guide has some fabulous places to say, we’ve stayed in Carpe Diem in Chablis area, definitely recommended. That area is more rolling farm land than vinyards. Abbey du Fontany is wonderfully restored and imho would make a good mid-ride break for a look around. Also interesting Medieval Village just a bit North of Carpe Diem.

The “main” Burgandy area from Chagny to Gervy Chambertain / Dijon is full of hills and small roads with classic towns along the Route du Grand Crus and the Petit Route d G C (smaller roads and better imho) you can climb up and down the hills as much as you like and there are a couple of intersting gorges for a quick blast up/down just before Gervy Chambertain. We particularly like the wines around St Aubain up onto the ridge and Saint Romain all lf which you can ride around in smaller roads. We stayed in a great Alasdair Sawdray place in Chaudenay

You have the Parc Morvan too. Ut a little firther off the route for you and maybe better for mtb than roadie-ing ? Th town of Salazeu runs an annual xc mtb event fyi and is at the Northern end of the Parc.

Note both the places I’ve recommedmed to stay are in very quite villages so possibly not what tou are looking for the Sawday guide though is excellent,

I can dig around some more if you wish OP