Hey guys !
I hope the summer treats you right wherever your reading from me ! I am back with a little daytrip for you all. In the midst of my 3 month studying for my big ECN exam ( which happened actually last june ^^) I really wanted a break from all of it. I did not wanted to take a whole week-end so we looked for places to day trip from paris ! There are several options, but we decided on Reims :
- it’s 1h40 by car
- There is a lot of champagne involved 🙂
- We did not wanted a beach day because for the first beautiful weekend of the season it sure as hell would be crowded, the road to the sea also .. we did not wanted to be involved in any kind of traffic :).
So Reims it was.
Reims is the capital city of the region Champagne Ardennes, it’s located 144km northwest of Paris and is easily accessed by car (1h40), train ( 45 min :o) or Bus ( 2 to 2h30 trip). It is very well known for it’s beautiful cathedral where the ancient french kings would be crowned. It’s also the capital city of the Champagne production with a lot of champagne houses and cellars to visit inside the city ( no car needed !).
It’s the 12th city of France by it’s population. Like all the provincial cities of France it has old buildings, and Reims being a very old city it has constructions that come from way back to ancient rome. a lot to see :))) . If you want more info
As I was in the middle of my study period I decided that a day trip would be sufficient. We wanted to visit the cathedral at first, so we thought of being there around 10 o’clock so we could do the guided tour ; but it was supposed to be a nice and relaxing day so we went off a little later and arrived around 11h30 in Reims.
The city
We started with a little exploring with no idea where we wanted to go. We had booked a champagne cellar visit to attend at 2PM so we decided to go around a little before finding a place to eat.
We passed next to nice buildings
the hotel de ville
a nice little plaza with roman ruins in the middle
and then, the cathedral.
It’s huge, and pretty beautiful indeed 🙂
We decided on going inside on our own because we were way to late for a guided tour. But the museum next to it offers guided tours in french/english and also tours of the towers which must be nice, maybe next time
After that , instead of finding a place to eat next to the cathedral, I decide it’s best to go near the champagne cellars and find a place there. Guys, this is no Paris, restaurants aren’t everywhere 😀 so check restaurants before going, or ask a local.
We ended up finding something okay next to the Saint remi basilica , which is located near to a lot of the champagne cellars.
Visit of the champagne cellars
At 3PM we had a visit of the Pommery champagne cellars on the plan. If you want to visit champagne cellars I greatly encourage you to book the tour in advance. It costs around 20€ to 30€ ,and it often includes a 1hour tour with one or two glasses of champagne.
We decided to visit the Pommery champagne cellars, one of the oldest and biggest champagne houses.
The buildings where gorgeous, look at those !! it looks like a disney princess castle don’t you think ?
The waiting hall was huge and very luxuous too. After a little waiting down we went for exploring. The “caves” are actually built on roman ” crayeres” which where plaster careers from the roman times. Galleries have been constructed to link the crayeres between each others which makes for several Km of galleries.
The tour starts with going down into the crayeres which is very impressive with the big stairs. Downstairs the temperatures are pretty cool (10°) all year long, which makes it a great place to store some champagne.
During the tour we learned about how Champagne is made and the different types of champagne that exist.Did you know that it takes 3 years to make one bottle of champagne ??
We walked in the galleries and our guide stopped at some interesting points to highlight facts about the Pommery Champagne House and Champagne’s history. I really recommend the tour, the caves are gorgeous and it’s interesting
-> champagne production how it is made
-> the big bottles
-> some nice wall designs
After the tour , a glass of champagne is included. All you have to do is enjoy !! Can you tell I love Champagne ?
If you want to visit other champagne houses here are some suggestions.
After the tour we went back to the city center and finished the day by a nice waffle.
All in all it was a really nice day ! I loved going around and how the city is really walkable , I really enjoyed visiting Reims and I think it could be a nice Daytrip to plan outside of Paris If you want to do something different or if you want to visit France in more details.
If you want more infos on Reims visit chelsea’s post about her 2 days spent in Reims during her european trip
The end
Did you visit a city for a day trip recently ?
