A proper French tune to put you in the right mood while you read.

The Franks (that’s us!) arrived in Paris on a Tuesday afternoon on the first day of September. The cardinal rule upon entering a distant time zone is to get on the local sleep/wake schedule as quickly as possible. And because we would be starting a bike tour through Burgundy in just three days, we needed to acclimate quickly. We dropped our bags at our apartment hotel, changed out of our travel clothes, and set out on foot to see some Parisian sights.

The incredible view from our Paris apartment in the 3rd arrondissement

Just a couple blocks away, we crossed the River Seine at Pont Notre-Dame. Yes, THAT Notre Dame! I’ve never been to Paris (or France) before, so was in awe of seeing familiar sights with my own eyes. The city was as lively and picturesque as I had imagined.

We dined that evening at a tiny off-the-beaten-path traditional brasserie called La Réserve du Terroir that had high ratings on Google. We had to try some of the local specialties like foie gras, escargot, comté cheese, and those stretchy, cheesy mashed potatoes called aligot. We each had a glass of local red wine, which was delicieux. This was a wonderful introduction to the French palate.

Our three days in Paris were an exploration of new foods, incredible architecture, and history that we just can’t replicate in the United States. On Friday morning, we took at train to Dijon, the birthplace of the eponymous mustard. We were merely changing trains there, however, on our way to a lively medieval town called Beaune. This is where our bike tour would begin. We chose this tour six months prior from an organization appropriately called BikeTours. This online outfit organizes rides all over the world in varying lengths and challenge levels. Then they contract with local experts in each area to provide gear and a modicum of human support.

As we stepped off of our train in Beaune, we were met by a driver who whisked us to our hotel. In the lobby we were immediately approached by a woman from Active Tours, the company hired to facilitate our tour. We thought there was going to be a welcome meeting that evening, but apparently it was moved up to accommodate our exact arrival time. She had texted me with this update, but got my number wrong. We sat down with her for about a half hour while she described the details of the tour and handed us a packet of maps and hotel vouchers for each night. Then she took us to see our bikes. Because she had texted me at the wrong number, I also hadn’t gotten the heads-up that I needed to download WhatsApp and another app called Ride with GPS that was programmed with our specific route each day.1 Greg and I quickly got on board with all the new information and asked her our follow-up questions. We thought maybe there would be other people on our tour, but it was just us. This type of ride is self-guided, but your luggage gets moved to the next hotel each night. All we had to do was get ourselves to the next hotel also.

On the website, the tour was described as between 15-28 miles per day. In reality, however, some days ended up being up to 10 miles longer. This may be because we chose an upgraded hotel package and perhaps those required longer diversions from the main trail. It was somewhat surprising to learn this though since we had chosen standard bikes versus electric and there was some hilly terrain to contend with. It was also much more hot and humid than is typical for this area at this time of year. In the back of my mind, I felt confident that if we’d gotten in over our heads we could probably call for an emergency e-bike switcheroo.

The first day of the “Tour de Franks” (haha) was, smartly, a local loop just north of Beaune with a second night in the same hotel. This allowed us to try the bikes, see some of the area, and really prepare for the much more active days to come. We didn’t get started as early as we had hoped, but by mid-morning we fired up the riding app and hit the road. The route we were given was a 26-mile loop just north of town deep into wine country.

Beautiful vineyards just outside of Beaune, France.

The loop took us through tidy vineyards - some with the appellation of “grand cru” (top tier), down the narrow cobbled streets of tiny villages, past old buildings and churches, and up and down some pretty good sized rolling hills. Most of this ride was on dedicated bike trails, but there were sections that wove through narrow streets. We encountered very few cars.

Because this was a Saturday and I had read about Beaune’s impressive Saturday morning market, I felt compelled to be back in town in time to experience it. This meant cutting our loop short. We ended up doing just an 11 mile test ride, parking the bikes back at the hotel, and walking into town to check out the market.

It was a sight to behold! Meats, produce, soaps, tapestries, clothing, and more! It was so colorful and festive. The way they present their goods is so much more enticing than the local farmer’s markets I’m used to back home.

While we were in the city center, we also took at tour of the Hospices of Beaune. What fascinating history! This 15th century hospital for the poor was still treating patients until the 1980s. We did the self-guided audio tour and it was really well done. I’m not a “museum person” and find most tours very dull, so trust me when I say that this was consistently interesting and utterly engrossing.

Beaune also has plenty of wonderful eating and drinking establishments, wine tasting caves, ancient ramparts circling the city center, a grand triumphal arch, a 13th-century clock tower, a Gothic cathedral, and a very lively atmosphere. There is apparently an impressive light show every night, but sadly we were never out quite late enough to see it. If you’re in the area, Beaune is definitely worth a stopover - on bike or otherwise.

Up Next: Day 2 - HOT and Hilly! (With a surprise at the end of the road)

The suggested route for Day 1. It would be 26.2 miles (a marathon!). We did an out and back of 11 miles instead as our test ride.

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Our route maps with mileage and elevations will be provided at the end of each post.

Cycling in Burgundy, France: Day 1