Beaune, home of the Festival International d’Opéra Baroque, is small. Walking around its perimeter would take, at most, several hours. There are a few attractions: l’Hôtel-Dieu, Notre Dame, the vineyards… Otherwise, take Beaune at face value and stroll through the marketplace and soak up the simple pleasures of being in a charming French town. There are many bistros serving up the local specialties such as bœuf bourguignon and œufs en meurette, but after a few meals the Burgundy-heavy sauce becomes repetitive. I therefore would not recommend spending more than two or three days in Beaune, unless you plan on drinking copious amounts of fine Burgundy wine and promptly forgetting that you have already visited the hospice. My family and I did not do this, and consequently we were prepared to leave after one day.

The way in which we travelled to Beaune is much more worthy of note. French Country Waterways has a fleet of luxury hotel barges which cruise down the canals and rivers of France. Horizon II, the boat upon which we cruised down the canal of central Burgundy, is a spacious barge with a decadently long sundeck and four staterooms to accommodate eight passengers. The barge travels at a very slow pace, such that it is easily overtaken by a leisurely jog. It generally cruises for several hours a day, giving passengers the opportunity to walk or cycle (or whatever, really) alongside the barge. Unlike the view from a large luxury cruise liner, which is mostly one of infinite ocean, the view from the barge is one of an unfurling tableau of French countryside.
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