Dijon Travel Guide

Once the proud capital of the Dukes of Burgundy – Jean sans Peur, Philippe le Bon, Charles le Téméraire were born there – Dijon is nowadays a modern regional capital, within the only agglomeration with more than two hundred thousand inhabitants located between Lyon and Paris.

The heir to an exceptional architectural heritage, one of the first sectors safeguarded in France, Dijon accounts for 97 ha of nationally classed monuments. Glazed rooftops, half-timbered houses, private mansions of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Saint Benign Cathedral, the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy... The Estate of Rameau and Bossuet, rented by Voltaire, and in which Gustave Eiffel was born, was classed first in France for urban tourism.

Eight museums enrich the town: the Art museum in the Dukes’ Palace, one of the best in France, in which the tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy can be found, the Magnin museum (a very beautiful private mansion dating from the 17th century), the Rude museum (transept of the Saint Etienne church), the museums of Natural and Architectural History (ancient Benedictine abbey of Saint Benign), the museums of life in Burgundy and of Sacred Art, which form a remarkable ensemble of the 17th century (Bernardines’ convent and Saint Anne’s chapel) and the botanical gardens.