We are planning a visit to the Champagne region in late June and woud like advice on places to go and things to see.
We are travelling with 1 teenager and 1 dog as well so are looking for interesting things to do that will suit us all. The plan is to rent a house for 1 week and do excursions from there. We will of course visit one or two of the champagne houses and like advice on which ones to choose, but we are also interested to get advice on other interesting sites and activities in the area. Our dog does not always have to come along but any advice on dog friendly museums or others sites would be very appreciated.
Out itinery is not finalised yet but we have thought to include Reims and also Verdun as we are all interested in WW1 history.
It would be great to hear from others who have toured the area

I like Reims, But to stay in the city for a number of days I would not recommend. Just is not enough to keep me occupied.
I Went because of the art deco. No need to enter buildings jsut wander around to see the details on the buildings.That may be a way of using up hours do walking and doing something touristy. The Boulingrin market is nice too.
I do not know which country you are from but I assume you are not French based and will be driving your own car. The city has a low emission zone. No matter what class of emissions you have to have to apply for a sticker to put in the windscreen. No french cars too.

You will, as VanAarle says, need a Crit'air sticker for you car, assuming you are not renting a French car.
You can get one here: https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/

I can't help with champagne houses, as I don't like champagne.
The last place we visited in the area was Dormans, which has a lovely park and a memorial church and Ossuary which sadly wasn't open when we were there. Also Commonwealth French and German WW1 graveyards. I am not sure it would be worth an excursion for you though.
Domrémy has the birthplace of Jeanne d'Arc which is interesting, and also a Roman Amphtheatre at Grand, just down the road. You can get a combined entrance ticket for both.
Sedan (the fort is spectacular) and Troyes are worth visiting, though the dog may disagree.
There are some good places to walk the dog though if you look, especially towards the French Ardennes.

I prefer Epernay to Reims, which is to the south past the "Montagne", a bit more approachable. An easy train ride and the montagne has good walking (wild boar). You can also cycle beside rivers and canal between the two and there is an adventure kids camp area along the way.

We spent a couple of days in Reims and a week near Verdun. We like champagne and enjoyed Reims but appreciated having more time for the WWI sights, partly because of a family connection to the Meuse offensive. There are many WWI sights in/around Verdun.

You might want to visit Vézelay not quite in Champagne but not far.

Just to echo Jean's comment about the area around Verdun, it is rich in Great War history. I visited the battlefields in 2007; this report still has some useful information about what you can see. I should mention that the photos are no longer available.

“… I fear’d to set my foot upon a dead man’s cheek” - Anselm in northern France

Anselm- thank you for this truly wonderful trip report. I have read it with great interest. We are finally starting to have an idea for our route and I know that the area around Verdun will be part of it. Our son, who is 16, is very interested in history and we visited Normandy with focus on WW2 last summer and this year we hope to combine our trip with visits to WW1 sites as well. I will probably post more questions once we have started to book accomodation in the area but I think we will try and book a house for 1 week around Reims and then do excursions from there, to Verdun and other places. Thanks again !

We were given a local recommendation for, and very much enjoyed, a visit to the Pommery champagne house in Reims. Pictures and commentary here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GiKCfgCGbL6PVvzT7.

Are you driving? The possibilities are endless if so.

A bit beyond Champagne are the Verdun battlefields, and they are extraordinary, as are the forts (Douaumont and Vaux) you can visit. If you go there, you should absolutely not miss the Mémorial de Verdun museum.

Mémorial de Verdun / WW1 Verdun museum (by kerouac2) | Any Port in a Storm (proboards.com)

Before you book a house for a week "around" Reims, check the driving distances to whatever WWI sights you choose to visit. You'll have to be very selective with the time you have.

It might make more sense to split the lodging nights between Reims and another town; otherwise, you could easily spend 3+ hours driving back and forth from Reims on each WWI sightseeing day. The drive between Reims and Verdun is about 90 minutes each way. Fort de Douaumont and the Ossuary are farther east. Different sights call for more/less time to visit, and you can string a few sights together with careful routing, but there is so, so much to see throughout eastern France. Perhaps you could task your history-loving teenager to work on the WWI sightseeing itinerary. If the priorities are centered around Verdun, I would spend a couple of nights in or near there.

Thank you for all the great advice.
We will be driving and will have a week to explore the area. We think the suggestion from Jean to divide up our week and stay 3-4 nights in two different towns/areas sounds good. Reims is possibly one option but which town should we choose closer to Verdun? We have read that Verdun itself is not a great place to stay but are there other pleasant historic towns near the WW1 sites?

That's the problem. Verdun itself is quite dismal for the simple reason that the entire region was totally pulverized in the Great War and never really bounced back, even more then 100 years later. The war to end all wars actually just ended the entire area. Metz is probably too far beyond where you want to go, so you might consider spending just one night in the area of Verdun and then perhaps looping up to Montmédy or Sédan. I know that basing yourself in just one or two places often seems like a good idea, but it doesn't always worK when you want to actually do things.

Another huge thumbs up for Verdun and the WWI sites. The Chemin des Dames formed a natural front during the War and has a lot of fascinating WWI sites including a cave occupied the French and the Germans at the same time (Caverne du Dragon), destroyed villages, trenches, and Coucy le Chateau, a fantasy Chateau also destroyed during the War.

Reims is certainly worth a visit, especially including the cathedral. I don't know of any dog-friendly museums and rather doubt that there are any, but locals might have have ideas for you. We enjoyed the tour and tasting at Mumms.

Drives in the countrywide are pleasant; on one we came across a small American cemetery maintained by a nearby town. Very moving.

We went through Reims and Verdun on our trip last May. Click on my profile to see my illustrated trip report.

In Reims, you will certainly want to see the cathedral and there are several champagne houses (we toured Taittinger), and we made a day trip from Reims to Epernay to tour Moet et Chandon. You probably don't want to overdose on champagne houses, so I would pick a couple and leave it at that. Epernay, and the Avenue de Champagne is more picturesque than Reims, so if you find a place in Epernay that you like, that would probably work as well, or maybe better, as a base for that part of your stay. There are some WWI sites not far from Reims, but we did our WWI stuff at Verdun. One thing that we didn't see was some well preserved or rebuilt trenches. I understand that the German trenches tend to be better preserved, as the Germans used concrete and more permanent defenses, while the Allies took the position that they were only there temporarily, and thus, didn't dig in quite so permanently. Like Keruoac suggests, you definitely want to see the Memorial museum outside Verdun. Being American, we made a point of detouring to see the St. Mihiel American Cemetery (which is not at the town of St. Mihiel, but rather, named for the offensive that led to most of the burials in this cemetery) on our way from Verdun to Colmar.

Verdun is not a lively town, but I wouldn't describe it as "dismal." The WWI monuments and sights in town are certainly sobering, as you would expect. The really dismal stuff is nearby but not in the town. And the dismal stuff is not limited to the Verdun area.

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/20...-war-i/561353/

FWIW, we stayed in a converted chateau south of Verdun. It was used as a hospital during WWI. Pets are allowed. We found the location perfect for exploring the Verdun area and specifically the American sights associated with the Meuse-Argonne offensive (the purpose of our trip). If your interests tend more to battles involving British and Commonwealth forces, you may want to stay north of Reims.

https://chateaudesmonthairons.fr/?lang=en