Photo spot in Dijon & the Burgundy climats
Rue des Forges and the half-timbered old town
Carved Gothic doorways, glazed Burgundian roof tiles and leaning timber facades on the oldest street in Dijon, two minutes from the palace.
About Rue des Forges and the half-timbered old town
Get directionsRue des Forges was Dijon's main street before the palace square was built, and it kept the best of the merchants' houses. The Hôtel Chambellan has a late-Gothic spiral stair in its courtyard; the Maison Milsand carries a Renaissance facade of carved stone; the old Hôtel Aubriot has a thirteenth-century front. Around the corner in Rue Verrerie and Rue Vannerie the houses are timber-framed, overhanging and slightly out of true, which is exactly what makes them photograph well.
The streets are narrow and mostly pedestrian, so the light is soft and even for most of the day — a real advantage in summer, when the open square nearby is unusable at noon. The frames that work here are close: a doorway, a carved corner post, a couple in a stone archway, a strip of glazed roof tiles catching sun at the top of the frame. For anything wider, the junction with Rue de la Chouette gives a little more room.
The brass owls set into the paving link this quarter into a walking route, so a session can simply follow them: Rue des Forges, the Notre-Dame flank, then out toward Rue Verrerie. It is a ten-minute walk end to end with a dozen usable spots on it.
All of it is public street. Shops open around ten, and after that there are boards, bicycles and delivery vans in most frames — an early start is the only real requirement.
Best time to shoot
Before ten, while the lanes are empty and the shopfronts are still shuttered
Tips
Narrow streets give even light all day, so this is the summer fallback when the open square is too harsh. Work close: doorways, carved posts, an archway rather than a wide view.
Other spots in Dijon & the Burgundy climats
Place de la Libération and the ducal palace
A half-moon of pale stone laid out in the 1680s in front of the palace of the Dukes of Burgundy — closed to cars, and empty at first light.
Notre-Dame de Dijon and the owl
A Gothic west front bristling with rows of gargoyles, a fourteenth-century Jacquemart clock on the tower, and a worn stone owl everybody touches for luck.
The first vines at Marsannay-la-Côte
Where the Route des Grands Crus starts — eight kilometres south of the city, with Dijon's roofs still visible at the end of the rows.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know Rue des Forges and the half-timbered old town — free of charge.