WITH DR T.

September 2025

Reims to Lyon:  A Taste of Champagne & Burgundy

A 300-mile slice across the heart of eastern France, south from the cathedral city of Reims, capital of the Champagne wine-growing area, and the city where most French kings were crowned, to Lyon, France’s bustling second city.  Exploring the scenic, culinary and historic sites of Champagne, Burgundy, and Lyon, this 10-night tour includes two nights each in Reims, Troyes, Beaune, Cluny and Lyon.  Dr Andrew Thomson, author of France: Just-Enough History, will be our guide, sharing some of his favorite sites, with stories from the Celts, Joan of Arc, the golden age of monasteries, to Charles de Gaulle and the French Resistance - along with some fine restaurants, tastes of both Champagne and Burgundy wines, and beautiful varied scenery.  The tour includes seven group evening meals and three group lunches, plus entries to all sites, and transport by coach.

Cost: $3,975.00PP (Dbl Occ) Sgl Sup: $745.00

16 travelers minimum needed in order for trip to make.

Day 0 - Monday 8 September - Depart US

Day 1 - Tuesday 9 September - Reims (2 nights)

Check-in to our central hotel in Reims.  Meet at 5.30 pm for an introduction and our first evening meal together, in one of Reims’ finest brasseries.

Day 2 - Wednesday 10 September - Reims walking tour & Cathedral; Automobile Museum

Morning walking tour of Reims taking in the Roman gateway, and the Cathedral, with the story of Joan of Arc’s role in bringing the Dauphin here to be crowned Charles VII in 1429, its bombardment during World War & the Rockefellers’ role in the rebuilding, and spectacular modern stained glass.  After free time for lunch, by coach to the wonderful Automobile Museum for a nostalgic taste of the 20th century, with a French flair.  Finish around 3.30pm, giving time to enjoy the shops and cafés along the esplanade near the hotel.  Group evening meal.

Day 3 - Thursday 11 September - Champagne country; Troyes 2 nights

9.00 am departure by coach for a drive through the Champagne vineyards.  Coffee in Epernay, followed by a visit to Pressoria, a new centre (in the mold of the Cité du Vin in Bordeaux) which offers a ‘playful, interactive and immersive experience’, looking at how champagne is made, and its secrets, ending with a tasting of two champagnes overlooking the vineyards.

1hr 30 minute drive to Troyes, a city with a rich heritage of ‘Tudor’-style half-timbered medieval buildings.  Short walking tour taking in the city’s history - Troyes was one of the sites of the medieval Champagne trade fairs - and ending with a visit to the new (2018) Cité du Vitrail / City of Stained Glass, looking at the techniques and history behind stained glass.  End with check-in to our hotel (2 nights), and a group evening meal. (B/D)

Day 4 - Friday 12 September - Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises

Day out by coach 1 hr 15 minutes to the small town of Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises, where Charles De Gaulle had his private home in the eastern part of Champagne.  A visit to his house (La Boisserie), his grave in the town cemetery, and the Mémorial museum telling the story of his life and times.  The Mémorial is adjacent to the giant Cross of Lorraine erected on the hillside after De Gaulle’s death in 1970, with superb views over the rolling, open Champagne countryside.  Group lunch today; free evening in Troyes. (B/L)

Day 5 - Saturday 13 September - Vix Treasure; Fontenay Abbey; Beaune 2 nights

Drive one hour south to Chatillon-sur-Seine: coffee, and a visit to the regional museum, housing the spectacular Treasure of Vix, an amazing haul of treasures from around 500BC, found in the nearby village of Vix in 1953.  The tomb of a Celtic princess, the most significant late Iron Age find in western Europe, it includes an enormous bronze vase more than 5 feet tall, clearly of Greek origin.

After free time for lunch we drive 20 minutes south to visit Fontenay Abbey, in Dr T’s opinion the most beautiful of the many Cistercian abbeys in France, from the 1100s.  Wooded setting; beautiful glass; interesting displays on the iron-working which the monks pioneered here.

1 Hour 30 minute drive to Beaune, to check-in to our hotel for 2 nights.  Group evening meal. (B/D)

Day 6 - Sunday 14 September - Côte de Beaune wines & lunch; free afternoon

A morning excursion into the Côte de Beaune wine region, including a short vineyard tour and group lunch.  Back for a free afternoon (time, if you’d like, to visit the Hospices de Beaune, famous 15th-century almshouses with a beautiful tiled roof) and free evening. (B/L)

Day 7 - Monday 15 September - Tournus; Cormatin Château; Cluny 2 nights

Drive 1 hour south to Tournus, famous for the Abbey Church of St-Philibert, a wonderfully well-preserved Romanesque building; coffee and visit. Then we drive 30 minutes over the hills to the village of Cormatin.  Group lunch here in a country restaurant before an afternoon visit to Cormatin Chateau, a special private chateau, superbly restored from the 1980s onwards.  A mix of guided tour and free time to wander the pretty and restful grounds, complete with maze and moat.

From here it is only 45 minutes to Macon, main town for the nearby Beaujolais region, on the River Saône, where we check-in to our hotel for 2 nights.  Free evening. (B/L)

Day 8 - Tuesday 16 September - Cluny Abbey; Fortress of Berzé-le-Châtel

Drive 30 minutes to visit the famous Abbey of Cluny, once the mother church of a Europe-wide network of 1,400 Benedictine monasteries, with the largest church in Europe (before St Peter’s in Rome was enlarged in the 16th-century).  Only a transept remains of the church, pulled down after the French Revolution - standing in it allows you to appreciate just how huge the church was; the adjacent museum has many of the surviving remains.

After free time for lunch we go 15 minutes by coach to the hilltop village of Berzé-le-Châtel to visit its photogenic medieval fortress with three surrounding walls and thirteen towers.  Group evening meal. (B/D)

Day 9 - Wednesday 17 September - Vieux Lyon; Lyon 2 nights

Drive 1hr 40 minutes to Lyon, plus coffee break en route.  Short walking tour of the Vieux Lyon medieval quarter, before free time for lunch.  By funicular railway up the slopes of the Fourvière hill to take in the superb view over the city from Notre Dame Basilica, and a look down into the impressive remains of the hillside Roman amphitheatre.  Check-in to our hotel for 2 nights; group evening meal in one of Lyon’s famous ‘bouchons’, the local name for brasseries serving classic Lyon fare.

Day 10 - Thursday 18 September - Lyon & the Resistance; Lyon & silk

By coach north into the suburbs to see the site where Resistance leader Jean Moulin was arrested by the Gestapo in June 1943 - the doctor’s surgery in Caluire; Lyon was a very active centre of the Resistance.  Then we head back into the city for coffee at the confluence of the River Rhône and the River Saône, the junction that explains Lyon’s location.  We end our tour with two museum visits: to the Centre for the History of the Resistance and Deportation, before lunch, and the Brochier Silks Museum near the hotel, silk being a famous industry of the city’s over the centuries.  Final group evening meal.

Friday 19 September - Onward travel