A region of history that the crowds pass by
The Yonne has the distinction of being driven through by everyone and visited by few. The A6 motorway cuts it in two, but the travellers carry on south. So much the better: you can visit major monuments here without queuing.
These are the five outings our guests mention most often as they leave, listed by distance from Chablis. All can be done in half a day, which leaves time to come back and have lunch in the garden.
Pontigny Abbey
The second daughter house of Cîteaux, founded in 1114 on the banks of the Serein, on the border between Burgundy and Champagne. The present abbey church was raised between 1137 and 1150, exactly at the hinge between Romanesque and Gothic.
It is one of the largest surviving Cistercian buildings in France, and above all one of the purest: an immense nave without ornament, white light, complete silence. At the end of the 12th century the original flat chevet was replaced by the Gothic chancel visitors see today.
Allow an hour on site. Entry to the church is free; the effect on pushing the door open remains striking.
Tonnerre and the Fosse Dionne
The Fosse Dionne is a karst spring that wells up at the bottom of a circular basin ringed by a covered gallery that once served as a washing place. Its flow varies with the rain and its colour with the season and the light — from milky turquoise to deep green. The place fed centuries of legend.
A few streets away, the former Hôtel-Dieu founded at the end of the 13th century by Marguerite of Burgundy served as the model for the one in Beaune. Its great hall for the sick is practically intact: panelled vault, a church at the far end of the hall, a gnomon engraved in the floor and a stone entombment group.
The church of Saint-Pierre, perched above the Fosse Dionne, houses an organ dating from 1616 that is still played.
Château de Tanlay
Surrounded by moats in the middle of a park, this is one of the finest Renaissance residences in Burgundy. Built in the 16th and 17th centuries, it belonged to the Coligny family and served as a rallying point for Huguenot leaders during the Wars of Religion.
Particelli d’Hémery, superintendent of finances and close to Mazarin, completed the work with the help of the architect Le Muet. The family of the Marquis de Tanlay, owners since 1705, finished the interior decoration.
See first: the trompe-l’œil room and the Tower of the League, whose frescoes alone justify the trip. The park runs alongside a great canal 525 metres long, ending in a Renaissance nymphaeum.
Noyers-sur-Serein
Listed among the Most Beautiful Villages of France, Noyers has kept its ramparts and sixteen towers following the meanders of the Serein. Half-timbering and dressed stone, carved colonnettes, granite and limestone paving, narrow lanes opening onto one small square after another.
It is a village to wander without an itinerary, camera in hand, looking up at the old shop signs. The late afternoon light is particularly fine, and visitor numbers stay modest outside summer weekends.
Allow two hours to walk round without hurrying, more if you stop for lunch.
Château d’Ancy-le-Franc
A Renaissance palace set down in the middle of the Burgundian countryside, the masterpiece of Sebastiano Serlio, Italian architect to François I. It is the only building in France with four rigorously equal wings forming a perfect square around a courtyard of honour.
It holds the largest surviving ensemble of Renaissance mural painting in France, making it a direct rival to Fontainebleau: works by Primaticcio and Niccolò dell’Abate, coffered ceilings, carved panelling and remarkable marquetry.
The guided tour takes in apartments, galleries, the chapel, the guard room and the King’s chamber. Allow a good hour and a half.
If you are staying more than a week
Auxerre
About twenty kilometres away: Saint-Étienne cathedral, Saint-Germain abbey with its Carolingian crypts, a half-timbered old town and the quays of the Yonne. A full day.
Vézelay
About an hour away. The basilica of Sainte-Madeleine and its hill are World Heritage listed. Go early for the light in the narthex.
The Nivernais canal
A flat, shaded towpath, cyclable with children for tens of kilometres. See our cycling stay.
Frequently asked questions
Are these places open off-season?
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A base at the centre of everything
Chablis puts all of these visits within an hour’s drive. Send us your dates.