Dukes, gargoyles and mustard: Dijon as a riddle trail
The Dijon scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk from landmark to landmark, solve a riddle at each one by looking closely at what is in front of you, and unlock the stories and legends behind it. Over 1.8 km and 10 stops the walking itself comes to about 25 minutes, all inside the old ducal centre, and with riddles, stories and a pause or two the game lasts around 2 hours, beginning whenever you decide.
Highlights include the Porte Guillaume arch, Saint-Bénigne Cathedral with its glazed tile roof, the semicircular Place de la Libération, the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy, Notre-Dame with its gargoyles and lucky owl, and the covered market. Dijon's old town is compact and largely pedestrian, so the short route links the capital of the dukes of Burgundy on foot.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 25 min · 1.8 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
Riddles from the Darcy garden to the market halls
A winegrower, an owl and a row of gargoyles
Each stop poses one riddle, and the answer is in plain sight: the bronze Bareuzai treading grapes in the fountain on Place François Rude, the glazed tiles on the cathedral roof, the gargoyles lining the front of Notre-Dame. You win them by looking, not by knowing Burgundian history in advance.
Valois dukes and a clock from Flanders
The answers unlock Dijon's stories: how the Valois dukes ran a rich state from their palace, why an architect of Versailles drew the semicircle of Place de la Libération, and how Philip the Bold carried the Jacquemart clock off from Kortrijk in 1382. If you would rather listen than read, switch on the audio narration for the stretch down rue de la Liberté.
Along rue de la Liberté
Walking adds up to roughly 25 minutes: from Place Darcy through the Porte Guillaume, along rue de la Liberté to the palace, then north past Notre-Dame to the market. Between stops, Google Maps shows the way, and most of it runs through streets closed to cars.
Mustard, cheese and a coffee break
Nothing runs against the clock, so sit down for a coffee on Place François Rude or browse the Burgundy produce around the Halles, then carry on later or another day. Arriving by train? Place Darcy is a short walk from Dijon-Ville station.
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How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who plays the game in the dukes' city
A stopover before the vineyards
In about 2 hours you take in the cathedral, the palace of the dukes, Notre-Dame and the market, which suits a stopover on the way south or a first look before heading out to the vineyards. The riddles make you notice the carvings and roofs most visitors walk straight past.
An owl for luck
Children like finding the little stone owl on the side wall of Notre-Dame, waiting for the Jacquemart figures to strike the hour and spotting the bronze winegrower in his fountain. One grown-up joins each team, and with barely 25 minutes on foot the youngest rarely ask to be carried.
Colleagues on a Burgundy offsite
Split the group into teams of up to 5, every player following on their own phone, and let them set off from the Jardin Darcy a few minutes apart before meeting again under the iron roof of the Halles. Between the Porte Guillaume and the market everything happens on public ground, so apart from the tickets nothing needs reserving.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The route: from the Jardin Darcy past the ducal palace to the Halles
10 stops · about 25 min walking · start: Place Darcy & Jardin Darcy · finish: Halles de Dijon
The hunt starts at the Jardin Darcy by Place Darcy and passes through the Porte Guillaume to Saint-Bénigne Cathedral. Along rue de la Liberté you reach Place François Rude and Place de la Libération, then the Palace of the Dukes, the Museum of Fine Arts and Place des Ducs de Bourgogne, before Notre-Dame and the finish at the Halles, the covered market. Since every clue sits on a façade, a fountain or a carved stone outdoors, you never queue at a ticket desk, and the app can just as easily open the game at Notre-Dame or the palace and arrange the remaining stops around that choice.
Open the route map ↗
1Place Darcy & Jardin DarcyStart
Place Darcy is the open square in central Dijon, and the neo-Renaissance Jardin Darcy lies beside it. The garden was laid out in 1880 by the architect Félix Vionnois on the site of the water reservoir that Henry Darcy built to supply the city's fountains, and it is Dijon's first public garden. Walk round the square and the garden's terraces, basins and fountains give a calm start to the route.
2Porte Guillaume
This triumphal arch was built in the 1780s and first dedicated to the Prince of Condé, governor of Burgundy. It takes its name from an older city gate, traditionally linked to Abbot William of Volpiano, and it marks the start of rue de la Liberté, the main street of the old town.
3Saint-Bénigne Cathedral
Dijon's cathedral is a Gothic church built mainly in the late 13th and 14th centuries on the site of an abbey founded at the tomb of Saint Benignus. Its roof is covered with colourful glazed tiles in Burgundian style, and below it lies a crypt with remains of the 11th-century rotunda of Abbot William of Volpiano.
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4Place François Rude
This small square on rue de la Liberté is named after the sculptor François Rude, born in Dijon in 1784 and known for the Marseillaise relief on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In its fountain stands the Bareuzai, a bronze winegrower treading grapes, and half-timbered houses line one side.
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5Place de la Libération
This semicircular square in front of the ducal palace was designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, an architect of Versailles, and built from the 1680s as the Place Royale. It took its present name after the liberation of Dijon in September 1944, and today it is a traffic-free square with fountains set into the paving.
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6Palace of the Dukes and Estates of Burgundy
The Valois dukes of Burgundy ruled a rich state from this palace in the 14th and 15th centuries, and Philip the Good added the 46-metre tower that still rises above the city. From the late 17th century it was rebuilt in classical style for the Estates of Burgundy, and today it houses the town hall and the Museum of Fine Arts.
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7Museum of Fine Arts
Founded in 1787, Dijon's Museum of Fine Arts is one of the oldest museums in France and fills a large part of the ducal palace. Its most famous works are the tombs of the dukes Philip the Bold and John the Fearless, surrounded by rows of small carved mourners.
8Place des Ducs de Bourgogne
This small square on the north side of the palace shows the older, medieval parts of the ducal residence, very different from the classical front on Place de la Libération. It is framed by old townhouses and makes a quiet link between the palace and the streets around Notre-Dame.
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9Notre-Dame de Dijon
Notre-Dame was built in the first half of the 13th century, and its façade is lined with rows of carved gargoyles. On its tower the Jacquemart clock, brought from Kortrijk by Duke Philip the Bold in 1382, has figures that strike the hours. A small carved owl on a side wall is said to bring luck if you touch it with your left hand.
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10Halles de DijonFinish
Dijon's covered market was built in iron and glass in the second half of the 19th century, inspired by Victor Baltard's market halls in Paris. On market days its stalls and the streets around it fill with Burgundy produce such as cheese, wine and mustard.
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Anonymous (verified owner) –
Very nice activity !