Champagne-Ardenne Things to Do

  Chagal windows
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  • Chagal windows
      Chagal windows
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  • Welcome desk at Mercier
      Welcome desk at Mercier
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  • Now that's a big barrel - 200,000 bottles.
      Now that's a big barrel - 200,000...
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  • Tasting Room
      Tasting Room
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  • Mill'Bulles, Little Tourist Train
      Mill'Bulles, Little Tourist Train
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Most Viewed Things to Do in Champagne-Ardenne

76.

Cathédrale Notre Dame   Reims

Cathédrale Notre Dame, Reims

 43 Reviews  The site of the coronation of France's kings for centuries, la Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims is among the most important in French history. It is also considered a masterpiece of Gothic architecture,... 

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77.

Champagne Tasting and Tours   Reims

Champagne Tasting and Tours, Reims

 28 Reviews  This wonderful museum has 200 vehicles on show, some 160 cars and some 40 motor-cyles and also numerous very special and extraordinary vehicles. You can also admire some 4,000 miniature cars, enamel... 

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78.

Basilique Saint Rémi   Reims

Basilique Saint Rémi, Reims

 14 Reviews  Maybe my favourite church in Reims. While less impressive than the cathedral, the basilique Saint Rémi is a superb example of gothic over roman style. The outside, too many times renovated (sometimes... 

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79.

Palais du Tau   Reims

Palais du Tau, Reims

 8 Reviews  Right beside the Cathedral downtown, the Palace du Tau is a museum that still contains remnants of its 13th century origins. It was redesigned in the 17th century by Mansart and Cotte. The Tau Room... 

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80.

Mumm Champagne House   Reims

Mumm Champagne House, Reims

 10 Reviews  It was founded by three brothers, Jacobus, Gottlieb and Phillip Mumm, German winemakers from the Rhine valley and G. Heuser and Friedrich Giesler on March 1, 1827 as P. A. Mumm Giesler et C°. P.A.... 

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81.

Moet & Chandon   Reims

Moet & Chandon, Reims

 4 Reviews  Visit the Moët et Chandon winery in Epernay including the caves and Champagne sampling. Unique Qualities: My personal preference over Pommery and Momms. They produce the Don Perignon which remains an... 

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82.

Musée-Abbaye Saint-Rémi   Reims

Musée-Abbaye Saint-Rémi, Reims

 3 Reviews  Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the adjacent Basilica, this complex was once the Abbey of Saint-Rémi, where the Holy Ampulla, used for the coronations of French kings, was held.... 

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83.

Hôtel le Vergeur   Reims

Hôtel le Vergeur, Reims

 3 Reviews  This "speciality" is situated at the Place du Forum. This large individual house is basically an example of Renaissance Style, although it also has a 13th Century GOTHIC hall. But first and foremost... 

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84.

Place Drouet   Reims

Place Drouet, Reims

 3 Reviews  The most animated part of Reims, Place Drouet-d'Erlon is the cultural heart of the city. Although referred to as a square ("place"), it is in fact a long, tree-lined, pedestrianised avenue with... 

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85.

Salle de Reddition   Reims

Salle de Reddition, Reims

 3 Reviews  During the last part of World War II, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, General Eisenhower, set up his headquarters here in Reims. He chose a former schoolhouse near the railroad... 

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86.

Cryptoportique   Reims

Cryptoportique, Reims

 3 Reviews  What was once the Roman Forum of Durocortorum (Roman Reims), remained a square full of commercial activity to the present day. Below ground level at the centre of the square is an archaeological site,... 

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87.

Église Saint Jacques   Reims

Église Saint Jacques, Reims

 2 Reviews  One of the oldest surviving churches in Reims, Église Saint-Jacques is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. Its construction began around 1190 and continued until 1270. Some remodelling occurred... 

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88.

Musée des Beaux-Arts   Reims

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Reims

 2 Reviews  Housed in the old monastery of Saint-Denis, le Musée des Beaux-Arts is considered one of the most important regional fine arts museums in France. It was founded in 1794 and was originally located... 

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89.

Porte Mars   Reims

Porte Mars, Reims

 2 Reviews  Named after a nearby non-extant Temple of Mars, this Roman-period structure was a triumphal arch built in the 3rd century AD. It once led into the cardo maximus, the road which cut through the city of... 

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Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

A very special museum in Stenay (2)

by kokoryko

I have to write a second tip about this museum and post a few pictures in a travelogue. From outside the museum does not look impressive (Main picture), and it is difficult to have an overview of the building; on the second picture is a building located next to, in the same style, to give an idea of the setting of this museum.This museum not only displays spectacular items, it is also very pedagogic, has lots of explanatory boards, a few video displays, some quizzes for the kids (I am a kid!), and some pieces are displayed like works of art, like the bottle collection on the third picture picture.I like a lot history and maps, and the one on the fourth picture tells where the “beer culture” was developed in 1910 France! (Alsace and Lorraine were not part of France at the time of the map!)And finally do not miss the little garden located at the back of the museum; few trees, grass and...

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A very special museum in Stenay !

by kokoryko

When we arrived in Stenay we noticed direction signs to a beer museum; I was very curious to visit it and my muslim friend was very interested to learn about the European sinners! What you see on the Main picture is now a Jewish star, but the star of the brewers: this star appeared in breweries in the 18th century and its alchemical sense seems to symbolise the four main elements present in brewing art: Earth for raw material, water for malting and saccharinizing, air for germination and fermentation, and fire for cooking and malt drying. The museum displays another explanation involving Nature, Taste, Technique, Culture. I am wondering what the two last branches of the star represent.The museum is located in a former storehouse of the Stenay citadel (this old building has by the way a beautiful wooden framing), which was converted into a maltings in the 17th century; the museum opened...

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A stop in Stenay

by kokoryko

Stenay is located 9 km inside the Lorraine region, east of the Champagne Ardennes border, on the Meuse valley. Let us first have a walk in the small city and tour the market (Friday morning), then we will go to a very special museum (next tip).Like in every medium to big size city in France, there is a “mairie” or “Hotel de ville”, both meaning city hall or town hall; to you who read English, read the inscription on the main picture, (inset on the upper left corner is an enlargement of the figure on the fronton) pronounce it loudly. . . . . yes! Hotel Devil. Just for fun. . . . be wary of words. . . . here it applies. By the way, Hotel de ville is city hall and not a hotel as I have read in a VTpage about a big city in a former French colony (I suggested the author to “correct” his page, but he ignored. . . . Ignorance! (me too I am not devoid of it, but I tend to reckon. . . )).Back to...

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You can’t miss this church

by kokoryko

Driving North East, beginning to look for an accommodation, we passed the little town of Vouziers, in the Ardennes Departement; I just made a stop to have a look at the church you cannot miss as it is on the main road, visible from quite far.So Church St Maurille of Vouziers is on VT! My trip was not planned, I had no guide, (in fact I could defy you to find this church mentioned on a guide. . . . !!), I just was wandering in the countryside.So you enter the village from West on D946, and at the end of the road, before a sharp turn left you arrive in front of this Renaissance Roman style church (Main picture). What you see first is the ugly belfry, you are just thinking of driving past and. . . . ooops, the façade looks interesting. . . . let’s have a look. . . . What bothered me was the “hanging statues” you can see on the Second picture, a strange feature I have never seen before; only...

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A short visit to the cathedral of Reims (2)

by kokoryko

The famous smiling angel was hidden under the tarpaulins of the renovation works; I wonder how it will reappear; it is of course very important to renovate and maintain historical buildings but I am sometimes scared by this sort of “aesthetic surgery”, as the people who renovate the buildings and works of art not always keep the spirit of the original work, their main objective being often to make them “new”; sometimes, keeping the old, even in bad shape is better in my opinion.Well, there are other smiling statues in Reims, and the one on the main picture is located on the right side of the middle entrance of the cathedral; his smile look to me as enigmatic and beautiful as Mona Lisa’s smile. . . Oh, notice there is paint on his wings and other part. . . In the Middle Age, most of the statues were painted, they were not as they appear to us today; not only shapes, these were also works...

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A short visit to the cathedral of Reims

by kokoryko

Visiting Champagne Ardennes without visiting this emblematic gothic monument would not have been a true visit to the area, so I took my muslim friend (after long talks about wine. . . ) to the cradle of Christian France, as it was here that Clovis, king of the Francs has been baptised by St Remi on Christmas day 495 (or 496?) and became king of France in (the name of France comes from his German tribe the Francs, history has so strange links and tortuous ways. . . ), the Catholic France, “elder daughter of the Church”.The cathedral has been built later and Reims was not anymore a paramount city of France but it remained the place for crowning of the French kings until the revolution and even after, during the “Restauration” (period of monarchy after the revolution; Charles X was crowned here).The cathedral of Reims, built between 1211 and 1275 (quite fast, comparing to ND de Paris) has...

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Pommery Champagne Estate

by savvygirl

The Pommery Estate (Pommery Champagne) in Champagne, France is one of the most visited Champagne cellars because not only because its prestigious stature in the champagne world but because of its extravagant building and entrance . To enter the cellars, you have to descend 116 steps down this staircase to tour the vaults of the Pommery estate. There are 29 million bottles of Champagne in cellar and it is encompasses by dozens of vaults, links by a maze of tunnel, all of which, are named after countries or major cities. This place is a must see if you are in Reims, France!!!

A Great Visit to Martel Champagne

by ctorres1979

Making our visit to the Champagne Region of France was not very well planned but when we arrived in Reims we found the tourist office that by the way is right next to the Notre Dame Cathedral. At the office they advised us which places we could go to without reservations.We went to see Martel Champagne that was just minutes from the tourist office. It was great, the tour of the caves was amazing and was about a half hour long then we went to taste!

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Visit Louis Casters

by Scarlie

The house was founded in 1899 and is much bigger that the Lorio-Pagel we visited in Festigny. What they make in size, however, they lack in warmth. The lady of the house was downright rude - she did her best to pretend we didn't exist. Her husband was much nicer though, so this is why I'm writing this piece.Louis Casters produce a much wider selection of wines, incl ratafia (the sweet dessert /appetizer champagne, which is not bad at all!). In the interest of fairness, I should point out that in a blind tasting experiment, their Cuvée Eugène came tops of 9 brands, incl. big guns like Moët & Chandon, Piper-Heidsieck, Veuve Cliquot-Ponsardin, Pierre Moncuit, etc.So my advise, go there but avoid the mistress! ;-)

Visit Loriot-Pagel

by Scarlie

What a great way to start a day! We arrived shortly after 9, and Mme Pagel took us around the premises and explained the production process. Learnt a lot of little things, like what determines the size of the bubbles, what to do with flat champagne leftovers (I didn't know there was such a thing as champagne leftovers!!), and even that there are a lot of Chinese apprentices in Champagne production houses these days!!We tried four different champagnes (Blanc de Blancs, Carte d'Or, Cuvée de Réserve & Rosé) and they were absolutely delicious. It takes 6 years to bring Bubbly to the market, but the wait is worth it.

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Top 3 Hotels in Champagne-Ardenne

Chateau Les Crayeres  Reims

 2 Reviews and 118 Opinions  This hotel is housed in one of the most beautiful chateaux in eastern France. The hotel is... 

 Hotels in Reims

Mercure Troyes Centre  Troyes

 146 Opinions

 Hotels in Troyes

La Villa Eugene  Épernay

 115 Opinions

 Hotels in Épernay

Questions and Answers

lindanne profile photo

Q:  Does anyone know what this town is like? Thinking of staying there for one night to break up journey driving from Alsace (near... 

aurelien85 profile photo

A: Avoid !!! My parents live 45 minutes drive from there, so I've been there a few times on the road to summer holidays. Vitry le François is a small city with nearly... 

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