Our favorite months to go on a driving tour of Burgundy are May, June, September, and October. These months offer you the best chance of enjoying nice weather during your trip, and avoiding the summer tourist crowds.
Although the average maximum summer temperature is around 25°C/77°F, it can get much hotter, especially in August. In 2023, temperatures reached around 35°C/95°F. In the winter, the temperature can drop to below 0°C (32°F), and there are fewer hours of daylight.
Visiting Burgundy during late spring, early summer and early fall will help you to avoid the most extreme temperatures, and are the ideal times to enjoy walking and cycling in the region.
Here we give you a month by month guide, with suggestions of things to do during each month.
We warmly invite you to browse our France tour packages. All our tours can be customized to suit your preferences
Burgundy by Month
January and February (winter)
Winter in Burgundy can be a time of quiet charm. While temperatures are cold and the days are short, this season offers travelers the chance to explore museums and monuments in cities like Dijon and Beaune without the tourist crowds.
Any time of year can be a good time to explore Burgundy’s gorgeous villages and the winter landscapes are still impressive. However, cold, wet weather will probably limit the amount of exploring you will want to do outdoors, so plan indoor activities too in the places you visit.
This may include visiting a wine cellar, a cheese factory, a museum or enjoying a delicious meal or pastries in one of the local bistros or bakeries.
Wine lovers who book a tour with us can enjoy cozy tastings and sample the region's famous vintages in some of our favorite wine cellars. We’ll share these in your personal guidebook. However, keep in mind that the wine cellars and tourist sites will have shorter opening hours in the winter months.
If you’re in Burgundy in late January, be sure to check out the Saint Vincent Tournante festival, where winemakers celebrate their patron saint with tastings, entertainment and processions. In 2025, the festival will take place on January 25-26 in the village of Ladoix-Serrigny.
Late February and early March is carnival season in France. The Carnaval de Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy is the fifth largest carnival in France. The highlights are two large parades which happen on the Sundays, with decorated floats, papier-mâché heads, and marching bands that pass through the town center, with huge confetti battles all over town. There’s also a funfair with over a hundred rides.
If your priority is drinking lots of wonderful food and wine in France, you may like to browse our Gourmet Food Tours in France
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March and April (early spring)
The weather can be unpredictable in early spring, so be sure to include a few indoor activities in your itinerary. For example, if you’re in Dijon, you may enjoy a visit to the International City of Gastronomy and Wine. There are exhibits on the history of food and viticulture in Burgundy, and you’ll be able to participate in cooking and wine-making workshops, or try some of the local cuisine.
In Beaune, you can visit the famous Hospices, which has an indoor museum about the history of the site and a 15th-century pharmacy.
Wine festivals start to pop up in the spring. For example, on the third Saturday of March, the Fête du Crémant et du Tape Chaudrons in Châtillon-sur-Seine is a highlight. The Tape-Chaudrons (pot-banging) tradition dates back to medieval times and is a celebration of the first days of spring. There's a parade with floats and the sound of cooking pots (the chaudrons) being banged together. For the last few years, the Crémant de Bourgogne (Burgundy's sparkling wine) has also been showcased on this day. Activities and entertainment include the 'Crémant hike', wine-tasting sessions, and fireworks.
April brings warmer days and an explosion of local produce in weekly markets. Keep in mind that markets are only open in the morning until noon-1pm. These are some of our favorites:
- Dijon: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in Les Halles covered market. On Saturday, there’s a market in Les Halles and also for the whole day on the town’s pedestrian streets.
- Beaune: Wednesday (very small market) and Saturday (a very nice market)
- Bligny-sur-Ouche: Wednesday
- Nuits-Saint-Georges (nice market): Friday
- Meursault (small market): Friday
Have you considered a tour from Marseille to Paris via Burgundy, away from the crowds?
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France Just For You
May (spring)
May and June offer some of the best weather for exploring Burgundy. The landscape is stunning, with the region’s iconic mustard fields blazing yellow and vineyards lush with new growth. It's the perfect time for hiking or cycling through the picturesque countryside, and if you book one of our Burgundy tours, we’ll share with you some of our favorite routes.
Wine enthusiasts will enjoy a vineyard and winery tour in a 4x4 jeep with one of our favorite wine experts, Sebastien. He’ll take you on routes through the vineyards to hidden wineries that other tours can’t reach.
If you’re in Beaune, the wine capital of Burgundy, you can join the locals in celebrating the beginning of the wine-growing year with the annual Saveurs de Vignes. One day around the beginning of May, tours take people on a 5-mile walk through the vineyards around Beaune to see them coming into bloom. Along the route there are six gourmet food stalls, so you'll enjoy a full meal from starter to dessert paired with delicious Burgundy wines along the way. Tours start every fifteen minutes from 11 am - 1.30pm, leaving from the Cuverie des Hospices Civils de Beaune on Avenue des Stades in Beaune.
It’s also a lovely time to explore Burgundy’s many beautiful towns and villages. We love to help our travelers discover Burgundy off the beaten path, away from the most crowded tourist areas.
Late spring and early summer are wonderful times to visit some of Burgundy’s UNESCO World Heritage sites. These include Fontenay Abbey, one of the oldest and best preserved Cistercian abbeys in Europe, having been founded in 1118; and Vézelay Abbey, a 12th-century Benedictine and Cluniac monastery and a masterpiece of Burgundian Romanesque architecture.
Explore France off the beaten path on our tour, Central France Along the Back Roads, which includes Burgundy
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Chemins de Bourgogne
June (early summer)
June brings long, warm days ideal for outdoor activities in Burgundy. Take a leisurely one-hour bike ride along the stunning Voie des Vignes cycling route from Beaune to Santenay. It runs alongside vineyard paths in the heart of gorgeous landscapes, through the Climats de Bourgogne (another UNESCO World Heritage site), and various wine estates. The route is also suitable for walking along.
The tour of Burgundy’s vineyards and wineries by jeep with Sebastien is still an excellent option in June. With Sebastien doing the driving, you can taste - and drink - the best Burgundy wines to your heart’s content!
Early summer is a pleasant time for walking tours in the cities of Beaune and Dijon. There are a few audio-guide options for exploring Beaune, including this one on the VoiceMap app.
As for Dijon, the best way to explore is on foot, following the Owl’s Trail (le Parcours de la Chouette). This refers to the little brass owl on the side of the Church of Notre Dame (if you rub it with your left hand, it’s said to bring good luck!). The route is marked by brass plaques on the streets and sidewalks, and it will take you all around downtown Dijon.
While you’re in Dijon, you should certainly take the opportunity to try some of the region’s famous mustard! You can do this at La Moutarderie Edmond Fallot, where you can see all the different varieties of traditionally-made mustard. Les Halles covered market is also nice to wander around on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday mornings, and you may gather some fresh food for a picnic.
If you’re in France on the summer solstice (June 21st) you’ll be able to experience the Fête de la Musique, or World Music Day. This interactive map tells you which events will be going on across France and the world.
In late June, around Pentecost (St John-the-Baptist Day), there's the annual hot air balloon festival, Les Montgolfiades de Chalon-sur-Saône, held in Chalon-sur-Saône. Over two days, you can see dozens of hot-air balloons ascend into the sky, with free entertainment on the Prairie Saint Nicolas. As well as hot air balloons, the entertainment includes parachutists, acrobatics, family-friendly sports contests, live music and wine-tastings. On the last day, there's a firework display at around 10.30pm.
Explore the Many Facets of France, including Burgundy, on this one month tour of France
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Ron & Don
July and August (mid-summer)
This is the hottest and busiest time of year in Burgundy. Many French holidaymakers will be in Burgundy in August, making popular towns and villages extremely busy.
The peak summer season also brings a full calendar of events and festivals. The Festival Musical des Grands Crus de Bourgogne brings music festivals to various wine towns across the region, including the International Festival of Baroque and Romantic Opera in Beaune and Les Grandes Heures de Cluny.
If you’re in France on Bastille Day on July 14th, there will be celebrations and fireworks all over the country. This is a French national holiday and commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris in 1789. This significant event marked a turning point in French history, as it triggered the beginning of the French Revolution.
On the hottest days it may be uncomfortable to spend too much time outside - but never too hot for wine-tasting! Escape the heat in one of the region’s many wine cellars - when you book a self-drive tour of France with us, we’ll share our favorites with you!
Enjoy the best of French scenery, wineries and castles on this self-guided tour of Burgundy and the Loire Valley
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September and October (late summer/early fall)
Fall is a magical time in Burgundy, with more comfortable temperatures and stunning autumn colors in the vineyards. The vendange (grape harvest), begins in September, bringing a buzz of activity to the French wine regions.
Fall is a magical time in Burgundy, with more comfortable temperatures and stunning autumn colors in the vineyards. The vendange (grape harvest), begins in September, bringing a buzz of activity to the French wine regions.
It can be nice to see people working in the vineyards during the harvest season. However, because the workers are so busy, keep in mind that it will be more difficult to get full tours of the wineries, unless you go with a wine guide like Sebastien.
September and October offer ideal conditions and gorgeous landscapes for hiking, cycling, and visiting many of the towns and sites we’ve already mentioned. We’ll share with our travelers our favorite off-the-beaten-track driving routes with the nicest views.
Find out the best things about visiting France in the fall
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November and December (winter)
November and December can be cold and wet, so you’ll want to plan plenty of indoor activities for rainy days in Burgundy.
It’s an excellent opportunity for gourmets to sample some of Burgundy’s famous delicacies. Settle into a cozy wine cellar in Beaune to sample some of the finest wines, and ask for some expert opinions on whether they think this year’s vintage will be a good one.
In Dijon, it’s an ideal time to visit La Moutarderie Edmond Fallot to try some Dijon mustard, or the historical boutique, Mulot et Petitjean, for some delicious pain d’épices (spiced bread - like gingerbread but so much better!).
One of the highlights of visiting Burgundy in November is Les Trois Glorieuses in Beaune, which takes place on a Saturday, Sunday and Monday on the third weekend in November. This trio of wine celebrations culminates in the famous Hospices de Beaune wine auction, which we talk about more in our French wine regions blog post.
As winter sets in, Burgundy takes on a festive atmosphere. December brings Christmas markets, where you can wash down your pain d’épices with some vin chaud (mulled wine), while looking for some authentic French Christmas gifts. The Christmas market in Dijon normally runs from the beginning of December through the first week of January.
Get more ideas for your Christmas trip to France from our blog post, France in December
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In summary, the best time to visit Burgundy is in May, June, September, and October. These months offer pleasant weather, beautiful landscapes, and lots of things to do in Burgundy, without the peak summer crowds.
If you think you might be interested in doing one of our self-drive tours in Burgundy, contact us with your ideas and wishes for your trip, and we’ll get back to you within one working day.
