33 Best Sights in Champagne Country, France

Unlike most of the area's Champagne tours, at Castellane you get a chance to see the bottling, corking, and labeling plant. During the 45-minute guided tour of the underground chalk cellars, every step of the Champagne-making process is carefully explained. The visit culminates with a glass of Castellane Brut. Above the cellars, there's a museum with an intriguing display of old tools, bottles, labels, and posters. A climb to the top of the iconic 200-foot tower rewards you with a great view over Épernay and the surrounding Marne vineyards.

Constructed between 1150 and 1230, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame is a superb example of early Gothic architecture. The light interior gives the impression of order and immense length, and the first flourishing of Gothic design is reflected in the harmony of the four-tier nave: from the bottom up, observe the wide arcades, the double windows of the tribune, the squat windows of the triforium, and, finally, the upper windows of the clerestory. Medieval stained glass includes the rose window dedicated to the liberal arts in the left transept, and the windows in the flat east end, an unusual feature for France although common in England. The majestic towers can be explored during guided visits; these depart from the tourist office, which occupies a 12th-century hospital on the cathedral square. Audio guides can be rented for €5, although they don't include the towers.

By far the largest church in France, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame d'Amiens could enclose Paris's Notre-Dame twice. It may lack the stained glass of Chartres or the sculpture of Reims, but for architectural harmony, engineering proficiency, and sheer size, it's incomparable. The soaring, asymmetrical facade has a notable Flamboyant Gothic rose window and is brought to life on summer evenings when a sophisticated 45-minute light show re-creates its original color scheme. Inside, there's no stylistic disunity to mar the perspective, creating an overwhelming sensation of pure space. Construction took place between 1220 and 1264, a remarkably short period in cathedral-building terms. One of the highlights of a visit here is hidden from the eye, at least until you lift up some of the 110 choir-stall seats and admire the humorous, skillful misericord seat carvings executed between 1508 and 1518 (access with guide only). Audio guides can be rented from the tourist office.

Recently restored for its 800th birthday, this magnificent Gothic cathedral provided the setting for the coronations of French kings. The great historical saga began with Clovis, king of the Franks, who was baptized in an early structure on this site at the end of the 5th century; Joan of Arc led her recalcitrant Dauphin here to be crowned King Charles VII; Charles X's coronation, in 1825, was the last. The east-end windows have stained glass by Marc Chagall and Imi Knoebel. Admire the vista toward the west end, with an interplay of narrow pointed arches. The glory of Reims's cathedral is its facade: it's so skillfully proportioned that initially you have little idea of its monumental size. Above the north (left) door hovers the Laughing Angel, a delightful statue whose famous smile threatens to melt into an acid-rain scowl now that pollution has succeeded war as the ravager of the building's fabric. With the exception of the 15th-century towers, most of the original building went up in the 100 years after 1211. You can climb to the top of the towers and peek inside the breathtaking timber-and-concrete roof (reconstructed in the 1920s with Rockefeller money) for €8. A stroll around the outside reinforces the impression of harmony, discipline, and decorative richness. The east end presents an idyllic sight across well-tended lawns.

Soaring above the town center is the tallest cathedral in France: the Cathédrale St-Pierre. You may have an attack of vertigo just gazing up at its vaults, 153 feet above the ground. Despite its grandeur, the cathedral has a shaky past. The choir collapsed in 1284, shortly after completion, and was rebuilt with extra pillars. This engineering fiasco, paid for by the riches of Beauvais's wool industry, proved so costly that the transept was not attempted until the 16th century. It was worth the wait: an outstanding example of Flamboyant Gothic, with ornate rose windows flanked by pinnacles and turrets. However, a megalomaniacal 450-foot spire erected at the same time came crashing down after just four years, and Beauvais's dream of having the largest church in Christendom vanished forever. Now the cathedral is starting to lean, and cracks have appeared in the choir vaults because of shifting water levels in the soil. No such problems bedevil the Basse Oeuvre (lower edifice; closed to the public), which juts out impertinently where the nave should have been; it has been there for 1,000 years. Fittingly donated to the cathedral by the canon Étienne Musique, the oldest surviving chiming clock in the world—a 1302 model with a 15th-century painted wooden face and most of its original clockwork—is built into the wall of the cathedral. Perhaps Auguste Vérité drew his inspiration from this humbler timepiece when, in 1868, he made a gift to his hometown of the gilded, templelike astrological clock (€5; displays at 10:30, 11:30, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30 with additional displays at 12:30 and 1:30 from April to September), which features animated religious figurines representing the Last Judgment.

Founded by Charles Moët in 1743, the world's largest Champagne producer is a must-see if you're in the region. Foreign royalty from Czar Alexandre I and Emperor Napoléon I to Queen Elizabeth II have visited these prestigious chalk-cellar galleries, which run for a mind-blowing 27 km (17 miles). During the tour, which lasts over an hour and takes place on foot, a savvy guide explains in detail the Champagne-making process. There are three sommelier-guided tasting choices, with the high-end option including a glass of Grand Vintage and Grand Vintage Rosé. Reserve a visit online.

When fire destroyed Lille's opera house in 1903, a new, grander edifice began to rise after more than 10 years of construction. Unfortunately, the outbreak of World War I set everything several steps back; after the war, more renovation was required, but the theater eventually opened in 1923. As impressive as the Belle Époque facade is on the outside, it's the sumptuous grande salle on the inside that truly dazzles, with its gilding, marble, chandeliers, and massive dome. The space suffers no dearth of activity today; the stage teams with operas, concerts, and dance performances.

Restored in the 1990s as part of the revitalization of the city, this museum now ranks among the best in France. It takes special pride in its prized Flemish and Dutch collection, with works by Van Dyck, Rubens, and Brueghel. There are also equally impressive paintings, sculptures, and ceramics by Monet, Goya, and Delacroix. The prints and drawings room alone holds 30 pieces by Raphael. Originally established by decree by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1801, the museum moved into its current Belle Époque--style building in the late 19th century.

Founded back in 1729, just a year after Louis XV's decision to allow wine to be transported by bottle (previously it could only be moved by cask), Ruinart effectively kick-started the Champagne industry. Nicolas Ruinart established the high-end Champagne house in Reims, realizing the dreams of his uncle Dom Thierry Ruinart, who was a close friend of Dom Pérignon himself. Four of its huge, church-size chalk galleries (24 in all, over three levels) are listed as historic monuments. The two-hour guided tour starts with a view of the high-tech production line behind a glass wall, and then takes you through the warren of chalk-hewn caves stacked with Champagne bottles undergoing various stages of maturation. This is the costliest visit in the area; if you're willing to shell out €75, you can taste a cuvée premium and a vintage cuvée prestige Champagne, either a Blanc de Blancs or a rosé, in the stylish tasting room. Visits need to be reserved online, at least two weeks in advance.

Cavernous chalk cellars, first used by monks for wine storage, house 15 million bottles and partly occupy the crypt of the 13th-century abbey that used to stand on this spot. Inside, you can also see a model of the abbey and its elegant church, both demolished during the French Revolution. The 1½-hour guided tour starts with a short film, then continues with a walk through the 4th-century Gallo-Roman cellars and 13th-century vaults of St-Nicaise Abbey, and ends in a huge cave where locals were once sheltered from the Germans. The visit is topped off with a tasting. There are seven categories of tastings; the top-end choice, L'Instant de Grâce (€77), offers three Champagnes, including Taittinger's finest cuvée, the Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs. Tours in English happen just about every hour—check online for times. No appointment is necessary. Due to major restorations Taittinger's cellars will be closed until 2025.

Tiny L'Épine is dominated by its twin-tower church, the Flamboyant Gothic Basilique de Notre-Dame de l'Épine. Decorated with a multitude of leering gargoyles, the facade is a magnificent creation of intricate patterns and spires. The interior, conversely, exudes elegance and restraint; note the sculptures depicting the Entombment of Christ and the stone rood screen, carved in the late 15th century.

This 11th-century Romanesque-Gothic basilica honors the 5th-century saint who gave his name to the city and baptized Clovis (the first king of France) in 498. The interior seems to stretch into the endless distance, an impression created by its relative murk and lowness. The airy four-story Gothic choir contains some fine stained glass from the 12th century. The holy phial used in the crowning of monarchs was formerly kept alongside the basilica in the Abbaye Royale; today that building houses an interesting museum that highlights the history of the abbey, the Gallo-Roman history of the town, and the military history of the region.

Rodin famously declared that "there are no hours in this cathedral, but rather eternity." The Gothic interior, with its pure lines and restrained ornamentation, creates a more harmonious impression than the asymmetrical, one-tower facade. The most remarkable feature, however, is the rounded four-story southern transept, an element more frequently found in the German Rhineland than in France. Rubens's Adoration of the Shepherds hangs on the other side of the transept. Guided tours of the cathedral and towers take place on Sunday afternoons.

The 13th-century Cathédrale St-Étienne is a harmonious structure with large nave windows and tidy flying buttresses; the exterior effect is marred only by the bulky 17th-century Baroque west front.

A Gallo-Roman underground gallery and crypt, now a semi-subterranean venue for municipal expositions, was initially constructed around AD 200 beneath the forum of Reims's predecessor, the Roman town of Durocortorum.

To understand how the region's still wine became sparkling Champagne, head across the Marne to Hautvillers. Here Dom Pérignon (1638–1715)—a blind monk who was reputedly blessed with exceptional taste buds and a heightened sense of smell—invented Champagne as everyone knows it by using corks for stoppers and blending wines from different vineyards. Legend has it that upon his first sip he cried out, "Come quickly, I am drinking the stars." Dom Pérignon's simple tomb, in a damp, dreary Benedictine abbey church (now owned by Moët et Chandon), is a forlorn memorial to the man behind one of the world's most exalted libations.

Situated on the east side of town, the Hortillonnages are commercial water gardens—covering more than 700 acres—where vegetables have been cultivated since Roman times. Every Saturday the products grown here are sold at the water market in the St-Leu district. There's a 45-minute boat tour of these aquatic jewels.

One of the best examples of late medieval and early Renaissance architecture in Reims was built during the 13th century. Originally overlooking the historic linen-and-wheat market in the center of town, this noble town house changed hands between aristocrats and Champagne traders before being acquired in 1910 by Hugues Kraft—a man whose sole passion was preserving the city's historic buildings. It was completely restored after the WWI bombings and today houses an impressive collection of historical prints, paintings, and furnishings from the region, as well as an original, complete series of 15th-century Albert Dürer prints of the "Apocalypse" and "Large Passion." Guided tours, included in the ticket price, at are 10 am, 11 am, and every 30 minutes from 2 pm to 5 pm.

Jules Verne (1828–1905) spent his last 35 years in Amiens, and his former home contains some 15,000 documents about his life as well as original furniture and a reconstruction of the writing studio where he created his science-fiction classics. If you're a true Jules Verne fan, you might also want to visit his final resting place in the Cimetière de la Madeleine ( 2 rue de la Poudrière), where he is melodramatically portrayed pushing up his tombstone as if enacting his own sci-fi resurrection.

A tour here will take you for a 20-minute ride on a laser-guided electric train with commentary provided by an audio guide that gives insight into the Champagne-making process. Admire the giant 200,000-bottle oak barrel it took 24 oxen three weeks to cart to the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889, and the decorative wall sculptures by Gustave Navlet. A panoramic elevator down to (and up from) the cellars is a welcome plus. A chilled glass of bubbly awaits at the end of the tour. There is a choice of three different tastings, and one of the options includes a Blanc de Noirs (made using only black-skinned grapes).

Now the third-largest Champagne producer in the world, Mumm's distinctive Cordon Rouge label with the red slash is proudly held up at every Formula 1 winner's podium. These may not be the most spectacular cellars in the region, but it's a practical option if you don't have much time; you can walk here from the cathedral and the train station. Mumm was confiscated by the French state in World War I because it had always remained under German ownership. Later the state sold it to Dubonnet, and today Pernod Ricard is the proud owner. The 1½-hour visit starts with a short film and then takes you on a journey into the cavernous cellars. A guide leads the way (English tours need to be reserved in advance online) explaining the Champagne-making process step by step. There is also a small museum showcasing ancient tools, machines, and barrels. The tour ends with your choice of three dégustations: a glass of Cordon Rouge (€28), a guided blind tasting of a vintage cuvée (€35), or a Grand Cru tasting of two special cuvées (€50).

Laon's art and archaeology museum has a collection of Mediterranean finds from the Bronze Age through the Gallo-Roman era that is second in importance only to that at the Louvre. Other highlights include fine 17th- and 18th-century paintings by celebrated local artists Mathieu Le Nain and Jean-Simon Berthélemy, as well as the chilling effigy of Guillaume de Harcigny, doctor to the insane Charles VI. The Chapelle des Templiers (closed for restoration until 2024) in the garden—a small, octagonal, 12th-century chapel topped by a shallow dome—houses fragments of the cathedral's gable.

One of the few remaining testaments to Beauvais's glorious past, the old Bishop's Palace is now the Musée de l'Oise. Don't miss Thomas Couture's epic canvas depicting the French Revolution, the 14th-century frescoes of instrument-playing sirens on a section of the palace's vaults, or the 1st-century brass Guerrier Gaulois (Gallic Warrior).

Also known as the Salle du 8-Mai-1945 or the "little red school house," this museum is a well-preserved map-covered room used by General Eisenhower as Allied headquarters at the end of World War II. It was here that General Alfred Jodl signed the German surrender at 2:41 am on May 7, 1945. Fighting officially ceased at midnight the next day. The museum also presents a collection of local photos, documents, uniforms, and artifacts recounting the fighting, occupation, and liberation of Reims. Guided tours begin with a short film in English and French.

Behind an opulent columned facade, the Musée de Picardie, built 1855–67, looks like a pompous offering from the Second Empire. Initial impressions are hardly challenged by the grand staircase lined with marouflaged murals by local-born Puvis de Chavannes, or the Grand Salon hung with huge canvases like Gérôme's 1855 Siècle d'Auguste and Maignan's 1892 La Mort de Carpeaux. One step beyond, though, and you're in a rotunda painted top to bottom in modern minimalist fashion by Sol LeWitt. The basement, notable for its masterly brick vaulting, is filled with subtly lighted archaeological finds and Egyptian artifacts. The ground floor houses 18th- and 19th-century paintings by artists such as Fragonard and Boucher. 

Partly housed in the medieval abbey of St-Léger, the town museum has a varied collection of local archaeological finds and paintings, with fine 19th-century works by Gustave Courbet and Eugène Boudin.

Two blocks southwest of Reims's massive cathedral, this noted museum has an outstanding collection of paintings, which includes no fewer than 27 Corots, as well as Jacques-Louis David's unforgettable Death of Marat (the portrait shows the revolutionary polemicist Jean-Paul Marat stabbed to death in his bath—a deed committed by Charlotte Corday in 1793). It also houses a significant collection of 20th-century art featuring Art Deco, surrealist, and post-1945 abstract pieces. Due to major restorations, the museum will be closed to the public until 2025.

Recently restored, the 16th-century mansion where La Fontaine was born and lived until 1676 is now a museum, furnished in the style of the 17th century. It contains La Fontaine's bust, portrait, and baptism certificate, plus editions of his fables magnificently illustrated by Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1755) and Gustave Doré (1868). It's currently closed for renovations until 2025.

With its twin spires, Romanesque nave, and early Gothic choir and vaults, the church of Notre-Dame-en-Vaux is one of the most imposing in Champagne. The small museum beside the excavated cloister contains outstanding medieval statuary.

Formerly the Archbishop's Palace, this UNESCO World Heritage List museum has an impressive display of tapestries and coronation robes of 32 French kings, as well as several statues rescued from the facade of the Notre-Dame de Reims. The second-floor views of the cathedral, which stands alongside it, are terrific. Due to major restorations, the Palais du Tau is currently closed to the public until 2025.