The most beautiful villages in France

We stand on the banks of the Doubs in the Jura with a view of picturesque limestone cliffs and look at the weather report. Sunny and warm, almost mid-summer-like days with 28 - 30°C await us in the next few days. With such good views, we decide on a tour through the Côte-d'Or north of Dijon.

By the way, the Doubs is a strange river, not only because its source and mouth into the Saône are only 90 kilometers apart, but also because after some distance to the north the water flows south again in a large loop. It is also connected underground to the beautiful Loue River. This was only discovered with astonishment when an absinthe factory on the banks of the Doubs burned down and a little later the Loue smelled of aniseed.
But right now we can't detect anything high-proof in the water and head west.

Côte-d'Or sounds like vineyards, cozy villages, warm sunlight and colorful church tower roofs made of glazed tiles. There are two “Most Beautiful Villages in France” near Dijon - we want to discover them now. Flavigny-sur-Ozerain is 180km from here, a measly three-day journey.

"Les plus beaux villages de france" is a label that is awarded by an association under certain conditions. For example, the places cannot have more than 2000 inhabitants, they have to have listed buildings and I suspect they have to be on a steep hill. There are now more than 170 across the country.

Of course, France still has plenty of pretty, picturesque, picturesque, worth seeing, romantic, charming, idyllic places to offer. But not all of them can be Most Beautiful Villages. That's why you get creative and come up with other predicates. The brand "ville or village fleuri" has been around for many years and at first we were amazed when a village had three flowers on its town sign.

This award is also only available under certain conditions. Above all, attractive green spaces are important, but architectural treasures or beautiful walls also play a role. Communal coexistence, a variety of leisure activities or social offerings are also crucial in the evaluation. One to five flowers can be purchased.

In Alsace there are also dragonflies and storks on the town sign. We hope to be able to capture a few examples for you on the way back.

Here in the department of Bourgogne-Frache-Comté they came up with the Cités de Caractère. By chance we end up in Fondremand and realize that these characterful places are in no way inferior to the most beautiful villages.

Small spots or even larger towns can be visited on leisurely walks. A lot of effort is made to welcome visitors in a friendly manner, even if Monsieur Motorsense has started his device with a loud clatter in every village so far when we arrive. But maybe that's part of the show?

Generous parking spaces also allow travelers with caravans to stop and if you stay overnight, you won't immediately shout that it's forbidden! We are really charmed by the cute little villages with the typical stone houses, romantic alleys and pretty churches. Here and there you can also admire a château, even if only from the outside because it is privately owned - so much for the revolutionary idea...

We can only recommend a trip through the charming character towns in this region if you don't want to travel all the way to the wide, beautiful French south.

And the Côte-d'Or? We're experiencing the Champagne effect again: vineyards, tasting directly in the domaine, red Burgundy pouring in? This landscape only begins south of Dijon.
Here in the north of the mustard city we are greeted by gigantic, endless fields in colors ranging from fawn to rusty red. Heavy soils, harvested agricultural fields, interrupted by small forests, dazzlingly bright field paths on which the fossils are brought to the surface by tons of combine harvester tires and just have to be picked up.

Magdeburger-Börde home feelings again. The caravan rumbles through the hilly landscape on endless empty streets, tractor drivers wave to us and Monsieur EDF is happy that Zappa lets him speed past and turns on his yellow signal to thank us. The country has an incredibly relaxed charm that quickly affects us and slows down the speed of travel a little more. Vineyards are overrated anyway...