At the heart of the Nievre are fantastic open spaces, great vistas and just enough wilderness and forests to add adventure to your experience.
This region is not super rich, nor is it on a well-trodden tourist track, and we think that makes all the difference! There are so many beautiful old villages to explore. Ancient architecture and history laid right out before you. From this area in the image (just below Vézelay) Richard the Lionheart left for the Third Crusade. In chateaus and villages there are stories of nobles with various claims to fame and histories of knights, wars and pilgrimages that make dusty books come alive!
Vézelay is the start of the ‘Way of Vezelay’ – one of the pilgrimage routes to Spain. In the summer, there are many pilgrims making the walk to the Spanish border (around 800 km) and then more, onto Compostela. You can follow some of the pilgrimage walks yourself for a day trip (a randonee) and walk along old Roman roads. Every stone tells a story.