Vezelay and the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine

Vezelay is one long street climbing a ridge, and everything on it leads to the basilica at the top. The church was built in the twelfth century over an earlier abbey, and its great carved portal inside the narthex shows Christ sending out the apostles, rays running from his hands towards figures from the edges of the known world. Beyond it the nave is built in alternating light and dark stone that bands every arch, under high pale vaults. Viollet-le-Duc rebuilt much of the fabric in the 1840s, when the building was close to collapse. It remains a departure point for walkers heading south towards Santiago de Compostela.

What you actually see

• The narthex tympanum - Christ and the apostles, carved in the 1120s.
• The banded nave - alternating pale and dark stone on every arch.
• The solstice light - pools of midday sun down the nave axis in high summer.
• The terrace behind the church - the Cure valley and vineyards below.

When to go

April to October suits the hill and the walk up. Come early: the nave is at its best in the first hours, and coaches arrive mid-morning. Around the summer solstice the midday sun falls in a line of pools along the nave floor, which draws a crowd of its own. Winter is cold on the ridge and almost empty.

Honest expectations

The village is a single steep street of shops and the climb from the lower car parks is real work in heat. Much of what you see is nineteenth-century restoration rather than medieval fabric, which bothers some visitors. Service times close parts of the church, the interior is dim on grey days, and Vezelay is awkward to reach without a car.

Nearby

The Cure valley, the Morvan hills and the wine villages around Chablis to the north.