Thursday, April 19, 2012

How to split up nights between Loire and Burgundy?

My husband and I have 6 nights to split up between Loire and Burgundy. We will be arriving in Paris after a long day of traveling from CA and plan to rent a car and drive to Loire (most likely Amboise). Question is, should we spend 2 nights Loire, 4 nights Burgundy or should we split it up 3 nights each? We love wine, food, and meeting new friends along the way. We especially love the Burgundy varietals. We%26#39;re concerned that 3 nights in Loire may result in looking at way too many chateau, but we%26#39;re concerned 4 nights in Burgundy may be too long? We would not get bored spending 4 nights in Napa, CA, but not sure if we run out of things to do in Burgundy if we don%26#39;t have appointments prearranged for wine tasting/touring for the entire time? After we leave Burgundy we%26#39;re headed to Paris for 4 nights. Any recommendations of how we should split up the time would be appreciated.




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Don%26#39;t worry. You could easily spend a week in each area without running out of things to do. There is a lot more to the Loire Valley than just chateaux. My favorite historic place is the Abbey at Fontevraud about 100km west of Amboise, with a hotel within the abbey grounds.



Amboise is an OK place to stay, central, touristy. If you are looking for somewhere a little more authentic, try the Grand Hotel de Beaugency. It is an 11th century abbey, right on the Loire River in Beaugency.



You will probably be warned on this forum not to get into a car and drive from CDG when you first arrive because of jetlag, but if you can sleep on a plane it shouldn%26#39;t be a problem and the roads from CDG towards Amboise aren%26#39;t especially challenging.



In Burgundy, visit Auxerre, Chablis, Vezelay, Beaune and the nearby wine villages (Pommard, Mersault, Puligny-Montrachet, etc), Autun (Roman Ruins), Cluny (beautiful Benedictine Abbey), Macon, Dijon.



If you really get bored in Burgundy, take a detour to Troyes, the capital of Champagne, on the way back to Paris.




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Vezelay has some wine shops with tasting without appointments. They do take their lunch shutdown seriously though.



Beaune and Dijon have big cooperatives in centre ville that are open for tastings all the time.



There was an IrishRover that frequented this forum a while back. He often posted that Loire wines were quite good. That may be very much worth verifying if/when I ever get to the Loire.



I%26#39;d also try a hot air balloon flight. I tried once but it was cancelled by bad weather. Chances are better if you linger around for at least couple days, and maybe not during the turbulent spring time.

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