OFF THE BIKE

CHATEAU DE SAVIGNYLES-BEAUNE

More than just a castle: a vast motorcycle museum, with an aviation museum and a car museum attached. Historic models from every brand you can think of plus many minor ones. An absolute must-see. (www.chateau-savigny.com)

CHATEAU DE BAZOCHES

France is covered with gigantic fortresses designed by Vauban – but he lived in this far more modest chateau (www. chateau-bazoches.com). For a different kind of military engineering, visit the nearby Châteauneuf-en-auxois. (www.burgundy-tourism.com)

TOURNUS

An attractive and vibrant town with a 10th-century Benedictine abbey and a bicycle museum. The Hotel Dieu was originally the city hospital in the 17th-century and the pharmacy is straight out of Harry Potter. (www.tournus.fr/hotel-dieumusee-greuze)

SOLUTRE-POUILLY

This is burgundy wine country and half the houses in this small village are ‘wine caves’. Combined with the scenic vineyards and the Rock of Solutré – a large limestone cliff – which is a prehistoric site with evidence of the Solutrean Paleolithic culture, it’s an ideal ‘taster’ for the region’s many attractions. CHATEAU DE LA VERRERIE This castle in the heart of the old industrial town of Le Creusot has been turned into a museum dedicated to the forges, mines and factories that shaped it. (www.burgundy-tourism.com)