Vézelay
Member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France
Pilgrims have climbed this hill above the Cure valley since the 11th century, drawn by relics of Mary Magdalene, and here in 1146 Bernard of Clairvaux preached the Second Crusade. The Romanesque basilica at the summit and the hill itself are UNESCO World Heritage, and the village is still a starting point of the Via Lemovicensis to Santiago.
Highlights
- The Romanesque basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, former abbey church
- Musée Zervos, with works by Picasso, Calder, Miró and Giacometti (FR)
- The 12th-century town walls, about 1.9 km around
- A walk down the GR 654 to Saint-Père and its church of Notre-Dame
- Vézelay wines, local cheese and ham
Text adapted from Wikipedia (Vézelay (FR), Vézelay (EN)), Wikivoyage (Vézelay). Available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Population: 476
Things to see
Events through the year
- Rencontres Musicales de Vézelay
Dates follow the traditional patterns in our sources: check locally before you travel.
Translated and adapted from open data: Panorama des festivals, Ministère de la Culture, updated 2025-08-27 (Licence Ouverte 2.0).
Local food & wine
Adapted from Wikipedia (Vézelay). Available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where to sleep
14 places to stay within 3 km
- Hotels 6
- B&Bs and guest houses 3
- Hostels 3
- Campsites 2
Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Nearby member villages
- Montréal en Bourgogne · 23 km
- Noyers · 32 km
- Flavigny-sur-Ozerain · 59 km
- Sancerre · 70 km
- Châteauneuf · 73 km