Discover Local Burgundy & Franche-Comté: What to Do Around Mercure Burgundy & Franche-Comté

At Mercure, we believe you shouldn't need a guidebook to feel like you belong somewhere. That's the idea behind Discover Local: since 1973, every Mercure hotel has been built around its neighbourhood, not just dropped into it — from the décor on the walls to the flavours on the menu. Step into any Mercure and our teams are on hand with the kind of tips you won't find in a guidebook: the market stall locals queue for, the bar where nobody speaks English, the walk that skips the crowds. They live here. They know. Discover Local isn't a generic city guide — it's a short, honest list of the restaurants, markets and neighbourhoods our own hotel teams actually recommend to guests, updated as the city changes around us. Below, you'll find our picks for Burgundy & Franche-Comté, an interactive map to help you find your way, and answers to the questions travellers ask us most. So — where will Discover Local take you?

Burgundy & Franche-Comté in 5 picks

Dijon

The Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy sits at the heart of a compact old town, easy to explore on foot between meals.

Beaune

A medieval town built around wine, with the Hospices de Beaune and its glazed tile roofs as its best-known landmark.

Besançon

Wrapped in a loop of the Doubs river and watched over by a citadel designed by Vauban, now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Arc-et-Senans

Home to the Royal Saltworks, a UNESCO-listed complex built as a statement of 18th-century industrial architecture.

Vézelay

A hilltop village crowned by the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, a UNESCO site since 1979 and a historic starting point for pilgrims heading to Santiago de Compostela.

Where to eat
Époisses and Comté anchor the region's cheese board, alongside boeuf bourguignon and escargots on menus across Burgundy. Pair it with the local wine — this is Pinot Noir and Chardonnay country, and most towns have a cave or wine bar built for exactly that.
Wine routes and UNESCO sites
The Route des Grands Crus runs about 60km from Dijon down to Santenay, tracing the Côte d'Or through many of Burgundy's best-known wine villages. Further east, Besançon's citadel and the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans add two UNESCO sites to the same trip.
Getting around
Dijon to Beaune is about 45km, an easy drive or short train ride. Dijon to Besançon runs closer to 93km, so plan a bit more time if you're covering both halves of the region. Wherever you're staying across our Mercure hotels here, Dijon makes a workable base for reaching most of these towns within a couple of hours.
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FAQ

About 60km, running from Dijon south to Santenay along the Côte d'Or, through many of Burgundy's best-known wine villages.

Around 93km by road, roughly an hour and a half's drive, making it a feasible day trip from Dijon if you want to see both Burgundy and Franche-Comté.

Époisses and Comté cheese, boeuf bourguignon, escargots, and the local Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines — most towns have somewhere to try all of it together.

Where to sleep

See our Mercure hotels across Burgundy & Franche-Comté, ideally placed to explore these picks.

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Where to sleep

See our Mercure hotels across Burgundy & Franche-Comté, ideally placed to explore these picks

View hotels