This time last year, we spent 9 days in the regions of Loire Valley, Perigord, Quercy and Bordeaux (see more details here), all in France. We like ours so much roadtrip, which we decided to do similarly this year, but passing through the regions of Burgundy, Alsace, Lorraine and Champagne. As Luxembourg was close to the route, ended up being included too. 🙂

OUR ITINERARY

The “rough” itinerary (with only the main cities marked) looked like this:

Here are the crunchy details:

AIRLINE TICKET

We bought the tickets through Ryanair Dublin – Beauvais and Beauvais – Dublin for us 2 by 247.96 euros, with only hand luggage. We left on Saturday, July 2nd, very early (6:25 am) and returned on Sunday, July 10th, very late (10:25 pm) and so we were able to save on the daily rates. I thought the ticket was expensive, especially because this route usually has promotions, but since the date was special – 6 years of dating <3 –, there was no way around it, right?

 CAR RENTAL

We always use the website of RentalCars to rent our cars when traveling and this time it was no different (use our link to rent cars, please!). The cheapest option that appeared to us was from the company Budget and it cost 229.11 euros with full insurance (we always take the total so we don't have to worry during the trip). Luckily for us, they gave us a upgrade there at the time and we ended up getting a great car (Nissan Juke). Beautiful, tall, comfortable, but it didn't seem very economical... lol.

TOLLS + FUEL + PARKING

I love writing down all my travel expenses so that I can later get an idea of the total cost and compare one trip with another. These expenses end up being useful for anyone who wants to do a similar itinerary, so let's share them, shall we? For the 3 categories above, the total expenses were:

• Tolls: 59.80 euros
• Fuel (Diesel): 136.01 euros (I would love to know how much it would be if we had the car we chose – this amount was for the big car upgrade.)
• Parking in the cities visited: 34.40 euros

ACCOMMODATION

We book all hotels through Booking.com (reserve yours by our link too!), always looking for options with ratings above 8, prices up to 80 euros (our limit), parking, wifi free breakfast and air conditioning. Breakfast wasn’t a requirement for us, because we love to visit French bakeries. The air conditioning, however, was a big problem – Last summer in France, we were dying of heat in hotels without air conditioning, so we made sure to get rooms with air conditioning this time. Just one detail here: I found these regions colder than last year’s regions, so it was possible to have gone without air conditioning. Look at the economy going down the drain here…lol.

Here is a summary of our hotels (I will talk more about each of them in the posts of the cities):

See more about the hotels in the links below:

• Sy Les Glycines – see details here
• The Colombier – see details here
• Hôtel Roi Soleil Prestige – see details here
• La Demeure de la Dame du Fer – see details here
• B&B Hôtel Reims Center Gare – see details here

CITIES/ATTRACTIONS VISITED

Here is a list with a summary of what we visited in these 9 days.

BURGUNDY

See all the details at post 3 and a half days in Burgundy.

• SENS– the cathedral is beautiful and the city is very cute.
• CHABLIS– a region famous for producing delicious white wines. We stopped by the wine cellar Chablisienne and we tasted several wines for free (some quite expensive) until we bought our favorites. It was totally worth it!
• VEZELAY– the village’s main street goes up the hill and has several cafes, little shops and artists’ galleries. At the end of it, the imposing Basilique Ste-Madeleine asks for a visit.
• FONTENAY ABBEY – 12th century abbey with beautiful gardens.
• FLAVIGNY-SUR-OZERAIN – the village from the movie “Chocolate“. Medieval and very small, the tour was well worth it. It was like being in a movie! We had lunch at the restaurant La Grange (tip from my mother-in-law), which has typical dishes made with fresh regional products at very reasonable prices.
• CHATEAUNEUF-EN-AUXOIS – We stopped in this village to visit the castle, but what caught our attention the most was the view from the viewpoint.
• BEAUNE- the Hôtel-Dieu des Hospices de Beaune It's amazing and worth every penny of the visit. We also stopped at the Dijon mustard factory Edmond Fallot and We tried several types for free. If I were a fan, I would stay there for hours. 🙂
• MERSAULT, PULIGNY-MONTRACHET, POMMARD – charming villages with vineyards around them and some Michelin restaurants. Very peaceful…
• CHATEAU LES CLOS DE VOUGEOT – we stopped at this 16th century castle, which since 1945 has been the headquarters of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin.
• DIJON – Notre Dame is beautiful (don’t forget to pet the owl for good luck) and the city is also very cute. Just follow the owl’s trail (there are signs on the ground) to visit the city’s main attractions.

ALSACE

See all the details at post  2 and a half days in Alsace.

A region full of cute flower villages, some of which are considered the most beautiful in France. They served as inspiration for the village in the cartoon BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. <3

• EGUISHEIM – very cute and small, it’s a little off the Colmar – Strasbourg route.
• COLMAR – a very pleasant city, with a lot of tourist facilities and charming streets, some of which have canals. We chose it as a base for our trip around Alsace.
• NIEDERMORSCHWIHR – hiding place of chef Christine Ferber, known and respected for its delicious artisanal jams. It's worth stopping by the shop!
• KAYSERSBERG – We quickly passed through this cute village just to take some photos with the canal and the colorful houses.
• RIQUEWIHR – our favorite village has a little more structure for tourism (restaurants open all day, finally!), but it is still very pleasant to walk around.
• RIBEAUVILLÉ – It has a very long main street and some castles on the hills around it.
• HUNAWIHR – It has cute streets, like all the others, and a 15th century church that stands out on top of the hill.
• RODERN – we stopped in this village to visit the winery Koeberle Kreyer, recommended by my mother-in-law, but the owner was out at the time we passed by and we were unable to do so. tour/tasting.
• CHÂTEAU DE HAUT-KOENIGSBOURG – This castle was restored in the 20th century, but it was once a fortress in the 12th century. It is one of the main attractions in Alsace and is well worth a visit. It is beautiful, as is the view from it.
• STRASBOURG – the largest city in the region has a wonderful Gothic cathedral and bridges and neighborhoods that are worth visiting. Lots of restaurants, shops and great excursions too.

LORENA

See all the details at post A morning in Verdun

• We only stopped in the region of Verdun, which is famous for one of the main battles of World War I. We visited the memorial which has an incredible war museum, the ossuary, the cemetery, the forts and some trenches on the roads. The tour is very interesting.

CHAMPAGNE

See all the details at post 1 day and a half in Champagne

• REIMS – Notre Dame Cathedral is a must-see with its beautiful stained glass windows and perfect proportions. More than 30 French kings were crowned here. In addition to the cathedral, the Basilica of St-Remi is also very interesting, but what really left an impression on us was the visit to the Taittinger cave. The medieval underground tunnels are impressive.
• EPERNAY – We passed through this city quickly on the last day of the trip and it was worth it because the road is beautiful with vineyards everywhere. The views of the vineyards are definitely worth it…

LUXEMBOURG

See all the details at post An afternoon in Luxembourg

• We only visited the country's capital for a few hours, but it was enough to see the main attractions: the casemates, the various squares, the Palais Grand Ducal, the Notre Dame Cathedral and the most beautiful balcony in the world – Corniche.

TRIP SUMMARY IN PHOTOS