What is the Dijon self-guided walking tour?
The Dijon self-guided walking tour is a narrated tour with your phone in place of a guide: in the World City Trail app you follow a route on the map and, at each stop, hear the history, legends and odd facts of the place, with no group to keep up with and no departure time. Count on roughly 2 hours overall, 25 minutes of it on foot, across 1.8 km and 10 stops. The old town of the dukes of Burgundy is compact and largely pedestrian, so the stops follow each other closely along rue de la Liberté and around the palace.
At the Jardin Darcy you hear how a garden grew on top of the reservoir Henry Darcy built to supply the city's fountains. Place François Rude belongs to the Bareuzai, the bronze winegrower treading grapes in the fountain, and at the Palace of the Dukes the narration explains why Philip the Good wanted a 46-metre tower. The Museum of Fine Arts keeps the ducal tombs with their rows of carved mourners, and at Notre-Dame you learn where the Jacquemart clock came from in 1382 and which hand to use on the little owl that is said to bring luck.
- Durationabout 2 hours
- Walkingabout 25 min · 1.8 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
How the walk unfolds
Listen on the spot
Each stop opens its own chapter as you arrive: the people behind the building, the events it witnessed, a legend or two and a small detail to look out for. Every chapter can also be read on screen.
Follow the map
Each leg to the next stop is drawn in Google Maps. The whole route is 1.8 km, roughly 25 minutes of walking at a normal pace.
Stop when you want
Coffee, lunch, a museum you had not planned on: the app remembers where you stopped, and you pick up the thread later that day or on a different one.
Eat and shop nearby
Along the way the app suggests places to eat and local shops. You can also start at a different stop or change the order of the route.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of people. 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.
- Walk when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who enjoys it most
Curious minds
Who built it, why it stands there, what the name means: the narration answers the questions a street corner raises.
Families and couples
Children get the legends, adults get the history, and nobody has to rush.
Return visitors
Streets you thought you knew gain a past once you hear what happened in them.
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.
- Groups of up to 5 work best; larger groups split up, one ticket per person.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Through the ducal town: the route
10 stops · about 25 min walking · start: Place Darcy & Jardin Darcy · finish: Halles de Dijon
The walk sets off at Place Darcy and the Jardin Darcy, passes under the Porte Guillaume arch and reaches Saint-Bénigne Cathedral with its glazed tile roof. Rue de la Liberté then leads to Place François Rude and the semicircle of Place de la Libération, in front of the Palace of the Dukes and Estates of Burgundy, home of the Museum of Fine Arts. Behind the palace, Place des Ducs de Bourgogne shows its medieval side before Notre-Dame and, at the end, the iron-and-glass Halles de Dijon. In the app you can choose another start or order, and no stop needs a ticket.
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 informative ! Will do it again