Things to do in Reims
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Reims
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best overall, warm enough for terraces and towpaths, vines green or turning, everything open.
Spring budburst and blossom, prices below summer, March thin crowds, Easter weekends book fast.
Summer fullest programme with Regalia main season, August some smaller houses and restaurants close.
Harvest usually lands in September, growers busy, October golden vines and balloon season, calmest good weather window.
Winter Christmas market in December, January and February best prices and empty cellars but reduced opening and damp cold.
Worst as a Sunday to Monday in late January with nothing booked, when half the places worth going are closed.
What's on
- Fêtes Johanniques June
Joan of Arc celebrations with parades, concerts and re-enactment around the cathedral.
- Les Flâneries Musicales mid-June into July
Dozens of classical and jazz concerts, many free, in heritage venues, cellars and parks.
- Route du Champagne en Fête a July weekend
Grower cellars open across a rotating village in festival mode, go early in the day.
- Les Relais du Goût mid-September
Gastronomic festival at Esplanade Porte de Mars, chef lunches and dinners with Champagne pairings.
- Reims Christmas Market through December
Christmas market around the cathedral, smaller and less overwhelming than Strasbourg.
- Habits de Lumière a December weekend
In Épernay, light installations, parades and fireworks on the Avenue de Champagne, train in from Reims.
Best things to do in Reims
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims
Coronation cathedral of French kings with dense Gothic sculpture and Chagall windows at the back.
Maison Ruinart
Oldest Champagne house, with vast classified chalk cellars, contemporary art and a Chardonnay led tasting.
Champagne Taittinger
Best all round big house visit, cellars layered over Gallo-Roman quarries and a ruined abbey.
Veuve Clicquot
Handsome crayeres and the story of Madame Clicquot, best in the richer multi cuvee tasting formats.
Champagne Pommery
Extravagant estate whose huge carved cellars double as a changing contemporary art venue.
Villa Demoiselle
Belle Epoque and Art Deco mansion across from Pommery, visited with a glass of Vranken cuvee.
Palais du Tau
Palace beside the cathedral holding the coronation treasury and great sculptures removed from the facade.
Basilique Saint-Remi
Immense abbey church holding Saint Remi tomb, nearly as large as the cathedral and usually near empty.
Where to stay in Reims
Centre-Ville / Place Drouet d'Erlon and the Cathedral Quarter
first trip, all-round base
Everything walkable, cathedral in minutes, station and tram close, the densest choice of restaurants and bars.
Boulingrin
food and drink trips
The food quarter around the covered market, lived in and residential, still an easy walk to the cathedral.
Saint-Remi / the Crayères hill
celebration and splurge trips
Palace hotels in parkland by the basilica and great houses, quieter, with a walk or ride into the centre.
Clairmarais / the Gare
one-night stops and early trains
Unbeatable station logistics and good value hotels, a short walk from Erlon, less charming at night.
Tinqueux
gastronomic sleepover, with a car
Worth staying in only for L'Assiette Champenoise, dinner there and bed upstairs, not as a Reims base.
Think twice about
- Croix-Rouge
Sensitive peripheral priority district named in local sources, with reported insecurity and no reason for a visitor to base there.
- Wilson
Sensitive peripheral priority district named in local sources, with reported insecurity and no reason for a visitor to base there.
- Orgeval
Sensitive peripheral priority district named in local sources, with reported insecurity and no reason for a visitor to base there.
- Pont de Witry
Sensitive peripheral priority district named in local sources, with reported insecurity and no reason for a visitor to base there.
Best restaurants in Reims
L'Assiette Champenoise
Three stars under Arnaud Lallement, modern French cooking and a legendary Champagne list.
Le Parc
Two star dining room in the Crayères chateau, the classic grand occasion lunch over the park terrace.
Brasserie Le Jardin
Relaxed brasserie in the Crayères grounds, refined classics at a fraction of Le Parc prices.
Racine
Two star Japanese French fusion from Kazuyuki Tanaka, small calm room and the hottest ticket in town.
Le Millénaire
Long established one star modern French fixture in the centre, a step below the top tier prices.
Le Foch
Locals fine dining value pick, family run and long starred, weekday lunch a great euro per star deal.
Brasserie du Boulingrin
1925 Art Deco brasserie by the market halls, oysters, steak frites and Champagne, a Reims institution.
Au Cul de Poule
Joyful neighbourhood room where locals go, steak tartare several ways and fairly priced grower Champagne.
Outdoor things to do in Reims
E-Bike Champagne Day
Full e-bike day through Grand Cru villages to Hautvillers, then a cellar visit, tasting and domaine lunch.
Avenue de Champagne
One street of great house mansions over vast cellars, 25 minutes by train, best walked with one tour at most.
Hautvillers
Hill village with Dom Perignon abbey church and tomb and the classic viewpoint over the Marne valley.
Parc naturel régional de la Montagne de Reims
Forested plateau above famous Pinot Noir slopes with over 300 km of marked footpaths and bike routes.
Faux de Verzy
Forest of dwarf beech trees twisted into umbrella shapes, a protected botanical mystery on marked loops.
Phare de Verzenay
1909 Champagne lighthouse folly in the vines, now an ecomuseum with a climbable tower and wide panorama.
Golf de Reims
Mature tree lined 18 holes beside the old Reims-Gueux Grand Prix circuit, each hole named for a house.
UGolf Reims-Bezannes
Modern playable 18 holes near the TGV station with strong practice facilities, easy for visiting groups.
Best hotels in Reims
Domaine Les Crayères
Chateau hotel in seven hectares of parkland on the Crayères hill, the definitive Reims splurge.
L'Assiette Champenoise
Family maison built around a three star restaurant, made for dinner with pairing and bed upstairs.
La Caserne Chanzy Hôtel & Spa, Autograph Collection
Converted 1920s fire station facing the cathedral, with spa, pool and cathedral view rooms.
Résidence Eisenhower
Discreet sumptuous small mansion hotel on Boulevard Lundy, a house party feel over a hotel machine.
Best Western Premier Hôtel de la Paix
Mid range benchmark just off Place Drouet d'Erlon, contemporary, family run, with pool and courtyard.
Grand Hôtel des Templiers
Handsome small boutique hotel in a 19th century mansion in the centre, with an indoor pool.
Hôtel Azur
Small family run hotel on a quiet central street, simple and warm, so the money goes to dinner.
B&B Hôtel Reims Centre Erlon
Functional central budget hotel by Erlon, rational for a one night tasting raid.
Is Reims expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €100 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €200 a person |
| Splurge | €450 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Maison Ruinart: weeks ahead
- Champagne Taittinger: weeks ahead
- Veuve Clicquot: weeks ahead
- Champagne Pommery: a few days ahead
- Villa Demoiselle: a few days ahead
- Champagne Yves Couvreur: a few days ahead
- Champagne G.H. Martel & Co.: a few days ahead
- E-Bike Champagne Day: a few days ahead
- Champagne houses book direct online as soon as dates are fixed, Ruinart weeks ahead, Taittinger and Veuve a week plus in season.
- One grande marque per day, plus at most one grower visit.
- Racine and L'Assiette Champenoise book at the same horizon as the houses, and accommodation first on Regalia and festival weekends.
- Many houses and restaurants close Sunday and Monday, and some reduce visits in deep winter and at harvest, check the specific calendar.
Is Reims safe?
- Watch bags in cathedral crowds and at Regalia, and be alert for station area pickpocketing, emergency number 112.
- Place Drouet d'Erlon gets lively late rather than threatening, and the central quarters carry no severe street conditions warning.
- Cellars stay 10 to 12 degrees year round, bring a real layer and shoes that handle damp chalk floors and stairs.
- French drink drive limits are strict, drive the Route du Champagne only with a designated driver who is not tasting.
Reims travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Reseller private tours bundling a house visit you can book direct for far less.
- Touring three big houses in a day, by the third the cellars blur into one cold tasting.
- Eating on the immediate cathedral square when Café du Palais and Boulingrin are minutes away.
- Buying Champagne at cellar door full price without checking the grower bars and specialist shops first.
- Treating Épernay as a second full day of big house tours, or Reims as a Paris day trip when the overnight version is better.
Getting around Reims: public transport and more
- TGV from Paris Gare de l'Est to Reims-Centre takes about 45 minutes, book to Reims-Centre not Champagne-Ardenne TGV.
- No car needed, the centre is walkable and two tram lines plus buses cover the rest, taxis do not cruise so book them.
- A car helps only for the Montagne villages, the Route du Champagne and golf, rent by the day and pre-book central parking.
Who Reims suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Reims your trip
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