A day trip to Reims: champagne, shopping and stained glass!

Reims (pronounced ‘ranse’ – not ‘reems’ or ‘rem’ as I had thought previously!) is lovely. This pretty, walkable city is only a 45 minute train journey from Paris’ Gare de l’Est, and you can easily see the main sights in a day. 

Reims is situated in the Champagne region in France, and as you’ll have guessed, is home to a number of champagne producers. Some of these are easily accessible from the main centre of Reims and many offer tours, where you can both explore the champagne houses and try some of France’s finest along the way. You can find out more about the one we visited below. 

As well as champagne, Reims is also home to some stunning architecture, making it feel very much like a little Paris – without all the tourists.

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Getting around Reims

Reims is walkable but if you’re heading south to some of the champagne houses you’re best off taking a bus (you can get there on foot though – it takes about 40 mins from Centre-Ville). Reims is well served by public transport and it’s cheap, too. A single tram or bus ticket will cost you €1.95, although we bought a day pass at the tram stop at Opera-Cathedrale, which was €4.50 and made it much easier to get around. 

I found out afterwards that you can actually just pay with contactless when using the bus/ tram…ugh! If you do use your card for multiple journeys, it will cap your daily rate at €4.50 so you won’t pay any more than you would for a day pass.

Where to stay in Reims

Although you can easily do Reims in a day, we stayed overnight to take the hassle out of getting the train back to Paris. For ease, I would recommend staying in Centre-Ville, which is close to the majority of things to see and do. There are plenty of restaurants and bars along Rue de Mars and Rue de Temple, which is the area between the train station and Centre-Ville. We picked up some bakery items for breakfast but there are also plenty of brunch spots if you need something more substantial. I tried a gougères au comté, which is comté cheese inside choux pastry…it was SO good.

We actually stayed slightly out of Centre-Ville at the Radisson Hotel Reims, about a 12 minute walk from the station. Not only was it really reasonable (with gorgeous rooms and a rooftop terrace), but it was only a 15 minute walk to Centre-Ville.

Unlike a lot of cities, the area near Reims station has lots of green space and feels very safe. You can also catch the tram and bus from here which will take you around the city. If you are a history fan and are planning to visit the Museum of the Surrender, this is really close to the station.

Things to see and do in Reims

Start with champagne!

There are a number of champagne houses in Reims city centre, concentrated around the north near-ish the train station (Mumm, Charles de Cazanove, Krug) and in the south near the Basilica of Saint Remi (Vranken Pommery, Taittinger, Veuve Cliquot). We opted for Vranken Pommery, partially because of the self-guided tour option, and partially because this particular champagne house is home to some interesting artwork both inside and out! 

This champagne house was created in 1868 by Madame Pommery, following the death of her husband. You enter the grounds by passing through some black and gold wrought-iron doors into a beautifully manicured garden, home to some rather quirky sculptures! I liked the massive wellington boots – I wasn’t too much of a fan of the pumpkin-headed gardener and his pumpkin children though!

On the left hand side the buildings are painted a beautiful pale blue with white borders, whilst the entrance to the champagne house itself features some interesting twisted columns of white and brown brick.

To the right, across the road, you can also visit the Villa Demoiselle, built by Madame Pommery in the early 1900s and renovated in 2008. You can take a guided tour if you like – you can find ticket prices and options here.

Buying tickets for the tour

Heading past the Villa Demoiselle and in to the main building itself, you can buy tickets for the champagne cellar tour at a kiosk or at the ticket counter. It costs €30-34 for the self-guided tour (although guided tours are available), which includes a glass of champagne. I’m not a fan of dry wine/ champagne so I chose the Blue Sky variation, which is sweeter and is served over ice. You can get tickets here.

The tour begins!

We started by descending the grand staircase, which was lit in changing jewel-tone lighting. From there, there was a suggested route which took you through large square rooms, each connected by long corridors that stored hundreds of bottles in mini-‘dungeons’ on either side. 

The cavernous rooms were incredible – you realise just how far below the ground you are when you look up and see the tiny glass windows in the roof.

Some rooms had huge bas-reliefs carved into some of the walls, including one of Madame Pommery herself, and some of figures in Greek myth (featuring Bacchus of course). It felt rather surreal seeing this kind of artwork in such a place.

It was quite dark down there and if you’re on the self-guided experience, it can be a bit of a challenge to read the leaflet! My pro tip is to use the light from the numbered signposts (the light from your phone ruins the ambience a little).

Throughout the experience you can really smell the musty scent of fermenting champagne. As well as the various racks of champagne you can also see the little suspended baskets that carried bottles through the complex, which is cool. 

Given each of the rooms and corridors are pretty similar, what could have been quite a run-of-the-mill experience is very much the opposite as there is art throughout! Some of these included a golden inflating/ deflating lotus flower, a corridor with suspended glittering butterflies, and stomping wellington boots! (Actually the wellington boots were a bit creepy – we ran past that bit!)

Time to taste!

We rounded off our visit with our glass of champagne. It was delicious! You can purchase bottles of all their different varieties to take home, including some smaller, slightly cheaper bottles. 

If you are really into your champagne and have a bit more time available, you might want to consider a day trip to somewhere like Epernay, which is home to the Avenue de Champagne with its many champagne houses, with guided tours and tastings.  

Explore the Basilica of Saint-Remi

Just over a ten minute walk from Vranken Pommery is the Basilica of Saint-Remi, which is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. You don’t need to stay long here but it is worth popping in to see the amazing architecture and stained glass windows (it’s also free to enter). 

There’s also a small museum about Saint Remi (which I didn’t go in) and a park adjacent to the Basilica which is a pleasant place to relax.

From there, we took the bus up to the Notre Dame de Reims which takes 10 minutes, although you can walk there too. It only takes 20 minutes on foot.

Notre Dame de Reims / Reims Cathedral

Similar in architecture and style to its Paris counterpart, the Notre Dame de Reims is free to enter, although if you would like a guided tour this will cost €9 (under-18s go free). 

Having visited Notre Dame a few months prior (which is now painted white and is very light and airy since its renovation), it was interesting to see the similarities – and differences – between the two cathedrals.

I love stained glass, and there are stunning colours and patterns here, including some quite modern designs. If you can, visiting late afternoon on a sunny day will mean that the stained glass becomes a brilliant explosion of colour.

The Museum of Fine Arts (Musée des Beaux-Arts) and the Palace de Tau are next door to the Cathedral but are undergoing significant renovation work and will reopen in 2027.

 

Finish off the day with some shopping and food!

North-west of Notre Dame de Reims is the shopping area, which has plenty of clothing stores. I also really like Furet du Nord and FNAC. Whilst I only speak and read basic French (so the books are a no-go), I love looking around at all the art supplies and gifts in these stores! Nature et Decouvetes is also a lovely shop to look around, with plenty of gift ideas for those interested in travel, nature or general wellbeing. 

Close by, Place Droutet d’Erlon is a square with plenty of places to eat, with outdoor seating. It’s a great place to round off your day exploring Reims!

For more European destinations, you can check out my other blog posts here!