Mâcon
France > Burgundy > Southern > Saone valley > Mâcon

Lamartine, the nineteenth-century French Romantic poet, was born here in 1790 and his name is much in evidence. He is remembered in the handsome eighteenth-century mansion, the Hôtel Senecé in rue Sigorgne, which houses the Musée Lamartine (Mon & Tues–Sat 10am–noon & 2–6pm, Sun 2–6pm; €2.30), part of which is dedicated to documents and other memorabilia to do with his personal, political and poetic lives. Nearby, on the corner of place des Herbes where a summertime fruit and veg market is held, stands the town's main tourist curiosity, an elaborate wooden house built around 1500 and known as the Maison du Bois Doré, with a wonderful bar/café downstairs that serves cocktails until 2 or 3am. the town also has a medieval art and Gallo-Roman archeological museum, the Musée des Ursulines, at 5 rue des Ursulines (Tues–Sat 10am–noon & 2–6pm, Sun 2–6pm; €2.30), housed in a seventeenth-century convent.

The most enjoyable way to bone up on the Mâcon, Beaujolais and Chalonnais wines is to head off on one of the much-signposted wine roads, which extend north into the Maconnais, and south into the Beaujolais, sampling as you go. If you don't have a car or a bike, however, you'll have to fall back on tasting with your meal. Alternatively, the Maison Mâconnaise des Vins, 484 av Lattre-de-Tassigny (daily 9am–7pm), can be found where the N6 comes into town along the riverside from Chalon – a ten-minute walk from the centre of town. It's little more than an outlet for a big producer, but they will arrange tastings of four wines for around €3.