Dijon

The ducal palace, the owl trail and Lac Kir across two days in Dijon

Give Dijon a weekend. Day one covers the Palais des Ducs, with the ducal tombs in the free Musée des Beaux-Arts, the 316 steps of the Tour Philippe le Bon and the owl trail to Les Halles. Day two starts at the Cité internationale de la gastronomie et du vin, then follows the Ouche by bike to Lac Kir.

Begin on Place de la Libération, the semicircular square in front of the Palais des Ducs, and spend the morning in the free Musée des Beaux-Arts. The highlight is the Salle des Gardes, where the tombs of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless rest above a parade of small hooded mourners. Then climb the 316 steps of the Tour Philippe le Bon for the view over the glazed tile roofs.

Behind the palace, walk up Rue de la Chouette and touch the stone owl on Notre-Dame with your left hand. Follow the brass owl plaques along Rue Verrerie and Rue des Forges, past the best half-timbered houses, to Les Halles for lunch at a market bistro. In the evening, have a Kir on a terrace and dinner on Rue Berbisey.

On day two, start at the Cité internationale de la gastronomie et du vin, south-west of the centre, for a tasting or a cooking workshop. Hire a bike and follow the Ouche path upstream to the Well of Moses, Claus Sluter's sculpted prophets in the grounds of an old charterhouse, and on to the beach at Lac Kir for a swim in summer. Ride back along the river in the late afternoon.

Burgundy classics, Époisses cheese and Dijon pain d'épices

Dijon's bistros serve the Burgundy classics: boeuf bourguignon, oeufs en meurette, jambon persillé and escargots, most cheaply on fixed-price lunch menus. Les Halles, busiest on Saturday, sells Époisses cheese, and Mulot et Petitjean has sold pain d'épices since the 18th century. Order a Kir, Aligoté with cassis, named after a former mayor.

Burgundy gave France several of its best-known dishes, and Dijon's bistros cook them without fuss. Boeuf bourguignon is beef braised for hours in red wine with onions, mushrooms and bacon. Oeufs en meurette are eggs poached in a red wine sauce and served on toast. Jambon persillé, ham set in a parsley jelly, is the usual starter, and a plate of escargots de Bourgogne, snails baked in garlic and parsley butter, is almost compulsory once. The fixed-price lunch menus are the easiest way to work through them.

Les Halles, the iron-framed covered market near Notre-Dame, opens several mornings a week and is busiest on Saturday. Look for Époisses, a powerful orange-rinded cheese washed in marc brandy, and the bistros around the market for lunch afterwards. Pain d'épices, honey gingerbread, has been a Dijon speciality for centuries; Mulot et Petitjean has sold it from the same old-town shop since the 18th century.

Mustard is the city's name on every supermarket shelf, and the Maille shop on Rue de la Liberté pumps fresh mustard into jars. To drink, order a Kir: white Aligoté wine with a dash of blackcurrant cassis, named after Canon Félix Kir, the priest who was mayor after the war.

Harvest time, the Route des Grands Crus and Dijon's November fairs

Visit Dijon in spring or early autumn for the mildest weather. July averages about 27C, January about 6C, and May and November are the wettest months. The Route des Grands Crus starts at the city's edge and is reachable by regional train, and November brings the International and Gastronomic Fair and the Hospices de Beaune auction.

The Côte de Nuits begins on the edge of the city. The Route des Grands Crus runs south along the slope through villages whose names fill wine lists, Gevrey-Chambertin, Vougeot and Nuits-Saint-Georges, then into the Côte de Beaune. Without a car, take a regional train to Gevrey-Chambertin or Nuits-Saint-Georges and walk between cellars, or go straight on to Beaune for the tiled roofs of the Hospices. Many small domaines receive visitors only by appointment, so book ahead or join a minibus tour from Dijon.

The weather favours spring and early autumn. January averages 6C by day and freezing at night, July about 27C, and the wettest months are May and November at around 76 to 78 mm. September is harvest month, when growers are at their busiest and least able to host visitors.

Each autumn, around the start of November, the International and Gastronomic Fair fills the exhibition park with producers from across France, and the city's hotels with them. In the third weekend of November, Beaune holds the Hospices de Beaune charity wine auction, the biggest date in the regional calendar. Florissimo, a large flower show, returns every few years.