Pouilly-en-Auxois is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France.

It is the start of the Canal of Burgundy, which passes in a tunnel under the town. The Canal de Bourgogne (English: Canal of Burgundy or Burgundy Canal) is a canal in the Burgundy historical region in east-central France. It connects the Yonne at Migennes with the Saône at Saint-Jean-de-Losne. Construction began in 1775 and was completed in 1832. The canal completes the link between the English Channel and the Mediterranean Sea, via the rivers Seine and the Yonne to the Saône and Rhône.

The canal is 242 km (150 mi) long, with 189 locks. There were originally 191 lock basins, but the double staircase locks at Migennes and Germigny had the uppermost set of gates removed and the lower chamber raised to form single locks, but they are twice as deep as a standard lock (5.13 m and 5.14 m instead of the usual 2.5 to 3 m).

The canal passes through the departments of Yonne and Côte-d'Or. Its summit level is at Pouilly-en-Auxois, 378 m above sea level, when the canal passes through a tunnel 3.3 km long. The lowest point is at the junction with the Yonne at 79 m (259 ft) above sea level.

The town was originally sited on the St Pierre hilltop surrounding a (now vanished) castle and walls built by the Dukes of Burgundy and the 13th/14th century Chapelle de Notre Dame Trouvée (Chapel of Our Lady Found). Beginning in the 16th century the town was rebuilt further down in the valley and in 1868 the new St Pierre church was built in what is now the city centre.

The town features an unusual tower called "The Dove Cote", dating from the fifteenth century, the interior walls of which contain 1200 pigeon holes.

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