YONNE

GENERAL INFORMATION

Yonne is a French département named after the Yonne River.  It is one of the four  departments within the Burgundy/Bourgogne Region, Yonne, Nièvre, Côte-d'Or and Saône-et-Loire.  The capital is Auxerre.

Some of the world's most prestigious wines are produced here including 'Borgogne' and 'Chablis' - best sampled with local Burgundy truffles or Charolais beef.

HISTORY

The Yonne is a river in France, tributary of the Seine. It is about 293 km long. The river gives its name to the Yonne département. Its source is in the Nièvre département, in the Morvan hills near Château-Chinon. It flows through the départements Nièvre, Yonne and Seine-et-Marne. It flows into the river Seine in Montereau-Fault-Yonne.

THINGS TO DO AND SEE

This département has rich and varied landscapes, green pastures, forests, lakes and ponds, vineyards and estates, Puisaye’s copses, Burgundy’s canals and the rolling hills of the Morvan natural park.

You can enjoy the outdoors with one of the many leisure activities available in the Yonne département such as horse trekking, hiking, mountain biking, cruising on the Nivernais and Burgundy canals, white water boating in the Morvan, fishing in the département’s many lakes, rock-climbing at Saussois, or golfing.

The local countryside has retained a natural charm, Puisaye’s landscapes of copses, ponds and woods, home of the writer Colette, plateaus, rocks and chateaus around Tonnerre, in

Ancy-le-Franc and Tanlay, prairies and rapid rivers reaching from the Morvan to the Terre-Plaine and Avallon areas, vineyards and cherry orchards around Auxerre as well as towns overlooking the Yonne river; Sens, with its cathedral – the first of the Gothic cathedrals- and its prestigious past, Joigny with its half-timbered houses and Côte Saint-Jacques vineyard, the northernmost in Burgundy, Auxerre with its exceptional heritage, its unique panorama and its excellent lifestyle.

There are also the towns’ large museums with fine collections representing the history and culture of this part of Burgundy but also presenting modern art, in addition to villages with charming museums preserving tales of life as it used to be, for when you want to get back to your roots.

Savour prestigious wines and sample the highly reputed cuisine in the country inns, top-ranked restaurants or while strolling through the country markets, Chablis wines, Burgundy truffles, farm-made cheeses, Burgundy snails or Charolais beef.

Yonne can be enjoyed in the air by hot air balloon or hang-glider, on the water in a rented house-boat, in a canoe or kayak on the rivers flowing out of the Morvan or quietly seated on the banks of a river fishing pike, trout or pikeperch.

On foot, on mountain bike or on horseback, following the footsteps of pilgrims along hiking paths that lead to Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle. Between Sens and Auxerre, you can enjoy the view over the Yonne valley. In Puisaye, find an ‘enchanted’ path as described by the writer Colette; “yellow, bordered by burning pink foxgloves”, tour the washhouses around Tonnerre, follow Restif de la Bretonne’s steps in and around Auxerre, while in the Morvan and along the Yonne rivers you can walk along the towpaths. All in all, you will find over fifty marked hiking paths in the Yonne. At the Saussois rocks, the quality and nature of the soil and its excellent routes have made this a highly reputed site for rock-climbers.

Then there is the Yonne vineyards, the soil is calcareous and so the paths can be used all year round. By car, follow the wine trail that leads to famous ‘crus’ and typical villages. Then, armed with your tasting cup, head down into the cellars where our winemakers will present their irresistible wines.

On the Yonne is Auxerre, a good centre for visiting the picturesque vineyards of Chablis and the cherry tree strewn hills of St Bris le Vineux. This small town produces an excellent sauvignon blanc, rather more fruity than Chablis, at a fraction of the price. Tastings (dégustations) are in the 11th century cellars behind the church.