Top Reasons to Go

Champagne—what else!: Drink it, see the vineyards, visit the cavernous chalk cellars where bottles are stored by the million.

Gothic Glory: No fewer than 10 Gothic cathedrals dot the region—check out the rivalry between the biggest of them (Amiens) and the tallest (neighboring Beauvais).

Tiny L'Épine: Set on the Route du Champagne, this cozy village has the superlative Aux Armes de Champagne restaurant, set across from its pretty stone-lacework church.

Laon, "Crowned Mountain": With its cathedral towers patrolling the hilly horizon, Laon has a site whose grandeur rivals Mont-St-Michel (and just as exciting up close, with mighty stone oxen guarding the church towers).

The Capital of Bubbly: Drink now, pray later in Reims, the "Champagne City" and also home to France's great coronation cathedral.