One Day in Meursault

Meursault is a wine village of about 1,400 people on the Côte de Beaune, 8 km south-west of Beaune. On one day you can cover the village, a guided cellar visit and tasting at its château, the two neighbouring villages of Volnay and Puligny-Montrachet, and the Hôtel-Dieu in Beaune. What you can't do is turn up and wander from cellar door to cellar door. Most estates here receive visitors by appointment, the château included, and between mid-November and the end of March it is shut on Mondays, Tuesdays and Sunday afternoons.

This plan does the day by bike on the Voie des Vignes, the signposted cycle route through the vineyards from Beaune. You leave Beaune in the morning, ride through Pommard and Volnay, taste in Meursault before lunch, ride on to the grand cru vineyards of Puligny-Montrachet, then come back to Beaune for the Hôtel-Dieu, which stays open until 18:30 even in winter. The cycling adds up to about 27 km, almost all on quiet lanes and vineyard tracks. There are three short climbs and one long, gentle one. Without a bike, the same day works with the TER train to Meursault and a walk back through the vines (see the end of the 14:15 section).

Book this before you go.

• Château de Meursault: tastings are booked at chateau-meursault.com. The standard "Grands Terroirs" visit costs €59 in 2026. It covers the château and its cellars, then 7 red and white wines, takes 1h15–1h30 and is limited to 12 people. On 4 November 2026 the page listed no walk-in tastings, so book. From mid-November to the end of March the château is closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Sunday afternoons.
• A bike, if you don't bring your own. Several firms in Beaune rent bikes and e-bikes, and some deliver to your hotel. The Beaune tourist office lists them.

09:00 — Beaune to Volnay: the Voie des Vignes through Pommard

The Voie des Vignes leaves Beaune from the Parc de la Bouzaise, on the west side of town. From there it runs 22 km south to Santenay through Pommard, Volnay, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet. Beaune's tourist office describes it as "small roads and vineyard paths". France Vélo Tourisme rates the Beaune–Santenay stage as easy and well signposted, with about 170 m of climbing in all. There is no shade anywhere on the route, which matters in July and not at all in November.

Pommard comes first. The route climbs into each village and drops out again. If you'd rather skip the climbs, stay on the lane along the foot of the village. Volnay is about 5.5 km from Beaune, so allow 25–30 minutes at an easy pace.

Bare winter vines on the slope at Pommard, looking east over the Saône plain. Image: GO69, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The vines you ride through are part of the Climats of Burgundy, which UNESCO listed as a World Heritage Site in 2015. The climats are 1,247 named plots on a strip about 60 km long, from Dijon to south of Beaune. Each one has its own name, and often its own wall and gate. Many plots carry their name on a wall, gatepost or sign: the same names that appear on the bottles.

09:30 — Volnay: the church above the vines

Volnay sits higher on the slope than its neighbours. Its parish church, Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte, stands at the top of the village. The regional heritage inventory dates it to the 13th century. Fire damaged it several times in the 15th and 16th centuries, and it is said to have been restored in 1442 with help from Duke Philip the Good. One keystone in the nave vault carries the date 1519. Inside are rib vaults resting on carved corbels. The exterior was restored in 1985.

Allow 20 minutes for the church and the view from beside it, then roll downhill. Meursault is about 3 km further south. The château is on the south-east edge of the village, 500 m from the church spire.

The 13th-century church of Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte at the top of Volnay. Image: Florian Pépellin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

10:15 — Château de Meursault: a thousand years of cellars

The Château de Meursault is at 5 rue du Moulin Foulot, on the south-east edge of the village. Its own history begins in the 11th century, when Robert I, Duke of Burgundy, granted the fief of Moulin Foulot to one of his squires. The house you see now is an 18th-century, Italian-inspired building, fully renovated in 2024. Its terrace looks over the Clos du Château, 8 hectares of chardonnay inside a dry-stone wall.

The reason to come is underground. The estate says its Cistercian-style cellars were dug between the 12th and 19th centuries and cover 3,500 m² beneath the château and its outbuildings. A guide walks you through them in French or English before the tasting. The estate farms 67 hectares in about 100 plots, so a 7-wine tasting can take in Meursault, Volnay, Pommard and Beaune in one sitting.

The Château de Meursault and its lawn, photographed in 2014, ten years before the renovation. Image: M.Cellard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Opening hours in 2026:

• May–September: daily 10:00–18:30.
• October–April: daily 10:00–12:00 and 14:00–18:00.
• Mid-November to end of March: also closed on Sunday afternoons, Mondays and Tuesdays.

Book the first slot after the 10:00 opening and allow 1h15–1h30. For a private tasting, the "Prestige" formula (€105) is 8 wines in a salon of your own. Pets are not admitted.

During the wine-sale weekend (13–15 November 2026), the château swaps its usual programme for special tastings: "Vente des Vins" with 7 wines for €59, "Vins d'exception" with 10 wines for €105, and "Trésors de Côte de Beaune" for €185. The last departure for all three is at 12:30 on 15 November.

If you're cycling, tasting and riding don't mix. Use the spittoon, or put the tasting at the end of the day instead (see the train variant below).

From the château, the church spire in the village centre is 500 m away, about 7 minutes on foot.

12:00 — The Hôtel de Ville and Saint-Nicolas

The Hôtel de Ville on place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville is Meursault's medieval castle. According to the national heritage register, Robert de Grancey built the keep in 1337. It originally had six floors and walls 2 m thick. The fortress was dismantled in 1474. The roofs of lead-glazed tiles and the 1869 wing with its pepper-pot corner turret date from the 19th century, when the municipal offices moved in. The 15th-century staircase and the mullioned windows on the main front survive. Film fans will know the building from La Grande Vadrouille (1966): Gérard Oury filmed its Kommandantur scene here.

Across the square stands the church of Saint-Nicolas, listed as a historic monument in 1846. Its story is tied to the castle. The first church stood inside the castle walls and was given to the abbey of Cluny in 1094. Jean de Poitiers, lord of Meursault, built the choir and bell tower in 1470. After a fire around 1480, the Cluny abbots had the church rebuilt with the octagonal stone spire you see now, decorated with pinnacles and crockets. The work was given to three brothers, the Jeannin architects. During the Revolution, from 1792 to 1800, the church served as a "Temple of Reason". The nave was enlarged in 1843.

The octagonal stone spire of Saint-Nicolas, rebuilt by the abbots of Cluny after a fire around 1480. Image: Benjamin Smith, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Meursault's tourist information point is on the same square (place de l'Hôtel de Ville, tel. 03 80 21 25 90). Allow 30–40 minutes for the square and both buildings.

Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, with the town hall on the left. Image: François de Dijon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

12:45 — Lunch in Meursault

Eat in the village. The château closes from 12:00 to 14:00 between October and April anyway, and most cellars stop at lunchtime. In November, and on wine-sale weekend in particular, reserve a table.

14:15 — Puligny-Montrachet: where Le Montrachet begins

From Meursault the Voie des Vignes heads south. First comes a long, gentle climb of about 4 km, then a short, steep descent into Puligny-Montrachet. Allow about 25–30 minutes. At km 13 from Beaune the route passes a viewing table with a plan of the crus, plus benches. It is the best place on the ride to stop and understand what you're looking at.

Vines in a Meursault vineyard, with the wooded top of the Côte behind. Image: Benjamin Smith, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

South of Puligny's houses lie its grand cru white-wine vineyards. Le Montrachet, about 8 hectares, straddles the boundary between Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet. Chevalier-Montrachet and Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet lie wholly in Puligny, and Bâtard-Montrachet is split between the two villages. From the road they look like any other vines. Only the names on the walls and gateposts tell you where you are.

Vines on the flat at Puligny-Montrachet, with the village behind. Image: Benjamin Smith, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Turn back here. The route continues to Chassagne-Montrachet and Santenay, but at km 16.4 it crosses the D906, the old N6. The cycling association AF3V's route sheet (last updated 2012) describes that crossing as dangerous: a straight, busy road with lorries and no safety features. The ride back to Beaune is about 13 km, roughly an hour. Leave Puligny by 15:00 to reach the Hôtel-Dieu in good time.

Without a bike: train and walk. Direct TER trains on the Dijon–Chalon line run from Beaune to Meursault in 6 minutes. On a November 2026 weekday the morning departures from Beaune include 07:22, 09:22 and 11:21. Meursault station is 2 km from the village, about 25 minutes on foot. Take the 09:22, walk to the château for a late-morning tasting, see the square and have lunch. Then walk back north on the Voie des Vignes through Volnay (about 3 km) and Pommard to Beaune, about 9 km in all, or roughly 1 hour 50 minutes. Puligny drops out of this version. To ride back instead, trains leave Meursault for Beaune at 13:09, 14:32 and 16:31 on that day. Check the times on SNCF Connect before you go, because a few Dijon trains change at Chagny instead of stopping at Meursault.

A TER leaving Meursault station, 2 km from the village, for Beaune and Dijon. Image: Florian Pépellin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

16:15 — Hôtel-Dieu, Beaune: the hospital that sells wine

Back in Beaune, return the bike and walk to the Hôtel-Dieu at 2 rue de l'Hôtel-Dieu. The hospital was founded in 1443 to care for the sick and the poor. Its courtyard is ringed by roofs of coloured glazed tiles, and the long Grande Salle des Pôvres was its main ward for the poor.

The glazed-tile roofs and dormers of the Hôtel-Dieu courtyard in Beaune. Image: Jebulon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Opening hours in 2026:

• 1 April – 15 November: daily 09:00–19:30.
• 16 November – 31 March: daily 09:00–12:30 and 14:00–18:30.
• 1 January and 25 December: 14:00–18:30 only.

The ticket office closes an hour before the site, so the last tickets go at 17:30 in winter. Arriving at 16:15 leaves you the hour the Hospices recommend for a visit. You can buy tickets online through the Hôtel-Dieu's e-ticketing site. If you came by TER, show a ticket to Beaune from the last 48 hours and you get a reduced-price "Billet Hôtel-Dieu".

The Grande Salle des Pôvres, the long ward of the Hôtel-Dieu under its timber ceiling. Image: Chatsam, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The wine sale. The Hospices de Beaune own vineyards and auction their wine every November. The 166th sale takes place on Sunday 15 November 2026 at 14:30 under the Halles de Beaune, run with Sotheby's. The weekend around it, 13–15 November, is when Beaune and the villages are fullest. The next day, Monday 16 November, Meursault holds the Paulée. It is a private, invitation-only lunch at the Château de Meursault for growers and their guests, a tradition dating from 1923 that includes a literary prize. Visitors can't buy a seat, so don't plan a visit to the château that day.

17:30 — Notre-Dame de Beaune

If it is still open, walk about 300 m north to the collegiate church of Notre-Dame, Beaune's Romanesque collegiate church. The Life of the Virgin tapestries in its choir are shown only from April to October (12 April – 31 October in 2026). In November you'll see the building, but not the tapestries.

The day at a glance

Practical notes

Getting there. Beaune is on the TER line between Dijon and Chalon-sur-Saône. Some trains on it also stop at Meursault, 4–6 minutes south of Beaune. Bikes travel free on TER trains, but on this line a free bike reservation is compulsory, so book one with your ticket. You can then bring your own bike from Dijon, ride the Voie des Vignes, and catch a train back from Meursault or Santenay. Beaune's tourist office has two desks: 6 boulevard Perpreuil, and the Point Information on place de la Halle, opposite the Hôtel-Dieu.

Buses. The Côte-d'Or Mobigo coach routes that Beaune's tourist office lists from Beaune (113 to Dijon, 115 to Saulieu, 116 to Seurre) do not serve Meursault. Use the train, a bike or a taxi.

By car. The villages are a few minutes apart by road, but someone has to stay sober. Do the tasting at the end of the day if you're driving.

Visiting estates. Most estates in Meursault receive visitors only by appointment. Book ahead by email or phone and say which wines you'd like to taste. The Château de Meursault is the one large house with a published timetable and online booking.

Seasons. From mid-November to the end of March the château is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so in winter do this day between Wednesday and Saturday. The Hôtel-Dieu is open every day of the year. The wine-sale weekend (13–15 November 2026) brings the most events and the fullest hotels.

Mondays and holidays. The Hôtel-Dieu opens only in the afternoon on 1 January and 25 December. The Château de Meursault does not publish holiday hours, so check with it by email (tourisme@chateau-meursault.com) or phone (+33 3 80 26 22 75).

Opening hours, prices and train times are as published in November 2026.