Short stay in Reims Champagne

Make the most of a short stay in Reims, the effervescent city where the Kings of France were once crowned but where Champagne now rules!

Medieval Reims, the capital of Champagne, is the home to many of the big-name producers of the world’s favourite sparkling alcohol – champagne. So if you only have 24 hours in this sparkling city, the one thing you must do is visit a cellar for a tasting.

Short stay in Reims – Champagne visits

There’s tons of choice with around 155 miles of cellars in Reims, and everyone has their favourite maison de Champagne. I love the cathedral-like Ruinart cellars on the outskirts of the city, the oldest Champagne house still working. Then there’s Vranken-Pommery with its 11 miles of cellars including galleries carved out of the chalk by the Romans. Taitinger, Lanson, Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin and GH Martel, and several more.

Some Champagne house visits are by appointment only, most are closed on Sundays but if that’s the day you’re there, GH Mumm (www.mumm.com), a 15-minute walk from the city centre, offer cellar tours, a fascinating museum, and tastings from 10am to 5.30pm. They keep a staggering 35 million bottles of Cordon Rouge and other labels underneath their headquarters in the Rue du Champ-de-Mars.

Champagne is almost a religion here. I reckon you could stop just about anyone in the street, a man walking a dog, a couple out for a stroll, a woman on her way to the market with a trolley, and they would all have an opinion about Champagne – the best producer, whether it should be Brut or not, Blanc de Noirs or Blanc de Blancs. But, I recommend you head to the tourist office for heaps of information on Champagne visits and everything else in Reims. You’ll find details of cellar visit times and a variety of tours (including tours in English), on the Tourist Office website at the end of the article.

Where to pair food with bubbles!

All those bubbles are bound to make you feel a bit peckish and since Reims is a gastronomic city, you won’t find it hard to find somewhere scrumptious. The perfect lunch for me is at Le Bistrot des Anges (www.bistrotdesanges.com) where the locals go, not posh fare but delicious hearty food like ‘bangers and mash’, ‘fish and chips’- and they don’t sound very French, but I promise you, they go perfectly with a glass of chilled Champagne!

And restaurant la Grande Georgette (www.lacasernechanzy.com), opposite Reims Cathedral offers truly excellent food with a classic menu that’s also innovative – the King crab with asparagus cream and yuzu foam is mouth-wateringly delicious. Whatever you do don’t miss the Ratafia de Champagne, a rich liqueur dripped into your glass via a giant pipette from a huge bottle, it’s pure theatre, and utterly delectable.

What to see in Reims

There’s plenty to do in the town which is small enough to wander, though there’s an excellent tram service if you want to save time, and plenty of bike lanes for those who fancy cycling the city streets and even out into the surrounding countryside. Reims features a mix of architectural styles from Renaissance to art deco, and contemporary.

There are great shopping facilities, including a super Saturday morning market in Rue de Mars, the perfect place to pick up some pink biscuits, les biscuits roses, a Reims speciality and traditionally dipped in Champagne. They were invented in 1690, and served at King Louis XVI at his coronation in the city in 1775 – he loved them and had them supplied to the Palace of Versailles!

Several museums will please culture vultures including the fabulous Tau Palace, the former home of the Bishops of Reims. This is also where the Kings stayed while awaiting their coronation in the Cathedral next door, including 12-year-old Louis XV, the first king to drink Champagne. Tau Palace now hosts an exceptional collection of religious artefacts including the Coronation chalice.

You’ll also spot Roman remains as you wander – Reims was an important city in Roman Gaul, called Durocortorum, and the monumental 30m high Mars Gate, originally one of four triumphal arches, is one of the largest known porticos of the Roman world.

Reims Cathedral

The absolute must-see in Reims is one of the world’s most famous churches – the great Gothic Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Listening to the sonorous bells of this working church is mesmerising, and the incredible facade is mind-bogglingly beautiful as you enter under the gaze of a stone angel seemingly beaming with pleasure at church goers.

Inside, as the light shines through the dazzling rose window, kids run up and down the nave, mums and dads ‘shush’ them, tourists from around the globe ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ at the beauty of this building and its stained-glass windows. The coronations of a mind-boggling 37 Kings of France took place here, beginning with Charlemagne’s son, Louis the Pious in 816, and ending with Charles X in 1825. Charles VII, with Joan of Arc at his side, was crowned here in 1429.

Built over the foundations of a 4^th century church, the Cathedral was begun in 1211 and took almost 100 years to complete. It was shelled by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and again in World War I, when its dazzling stained-glass windows were destroyed, but rose again to its former glory. The restored cathedral was reopened in 1938 and miraculously avoided the destruction suffered by much of the rest of Reims in World War II.

A truly divine must-see in Reims, a city that sparkles from start to finish.

Get there: You can reach Reims in just 46 minutes by train from Gare de l’Est, Paris.

Stay: Hôtel La Caserne Chanzy (www.lacasernechanzy.com) A former fire station converted into a 5-star spa hotel offers lovely, luxurious rooms and great service (including valet-parking, a real bonus in a city where parking isn’t always easy). There’s also a fabulously glamorous and elegant Champagne bar. And for extra wow factor, ask for a room with a balcony overlooking the Cathedral opposite.

Useful websites: reims-tourisme.com/en; tourisme-en-champagne.co.uk

Janine Marsh is the author of several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life. Find all books on her website janinemarsh.com