Forêt Domaniale de Cîteaux & the Saône Plain Cycling Loop
East of Nuits-Saint-Georges the landscape flattens into a quiet mosaic of forest, meadow and canal that most wine tourists drive straight past — yet a 30–40 km cycling loop through the Forêt Domaniale de Cîteaux and along the Canal de Bourgogne towpath is one of the most peaceful half-days you can spend in the region. The great Cistercian abbey of Cîteaux, birthplace of the Trappist monastic tradi
The Route and Abbey
Rent a bike from the Nuits-Saint-Georges tourist office or one of the town's two cycle-hire points and head east on the D8 toward Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux. The road is almost traffic-free and passes through fields of Charolais cattle before the forest closes in around you. The Abbey of Cîteaux (Abbaye Notre-Dame de Cîteaux) is still home to around 30 Cistercian monks who produce their own cheese — sold at the abbey shop — and welcome visitors to the public areas and the small museum explaining the order's extraordinary 12th-century influence on European monasticism.
The abbey church itself is architecturally austere in the Cistercian tradition — deliberately stripped of ornament — but the silence inside is profound and the contrast with the wine-focused bustle of the Côte de Nuits just 10 km away is striking. Arrive for the midday or evening office if your timing allows, when the monks' Gregorian chant fills the stone interior.
Forest Paths and Canal Towpath
After the abbey, the route continues through the Forêt Domaniale de Cîteaux, a managed oak and hornbeam forest criss-crossed by straight forestry tracks ideal for cycling or easy walking. Woodpeckers, red squirrels and — in spring — carpets of wood anemone make this a genuine nature experience rather than a scenic backdrop.
Return via the Canal de Bourgogne towpath, which runs arrow-straight through the plain and connects to Nuits-Saint-Georges via a quiet back road. The canal is busy with hire barges in summer, making the towpath a pleasant place to pause, watch a lock cycle and eat your abbey cheese with a baguette on the bank.
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