Most people come to Reims for the champagne. They arrive on the 45-minute TGV from Paris Gare de l'Est, tour a cellar, drink a glass of something expensive, and leave before the city shows its other face. This is a mistake. Reims is the coronation city of France, the place where thirty-three kings were crowned between 1027 and 1825, where Clovis was baptised in 496, and where a Gothic cathedral so important to French identity that it was shelled nearly to ruin in 1914 and restored with American money. The champagne is excellent. But the history is the reason to stay.
The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims dominates the centre. It is free to enter and opens daily at 7:30 AM, closing at 7:30 PM (7:15 PM on Sundays and religious holidays). Morning mass runs from 9 AM to noon on Sundays, during which visitors are not admitted. The facade is enormous, covered in sculpture that tells biblical stories across three portals and two towers. Construction began in 1211 after the previous cathedral burned, and the final stone was laid in 1515. The intended spires were never built. What you see is Rayonnant Gothic at its most confident: the west front alone contains over 2,300 statues and figures.
Inside, the nave rises 38 metres. The 13th-century stained glass in the upper sections survived the Revolution and two world wars. The north transept rose window, depicting the Creation of the World, dates from the same period. The more famous windows are newer. In 1974, Marc Chagall designed three axial chapel windows in deep blues and reds: the Tree of Jesse, the two testaments, and what he called the finest hours of Reims. They sit among medieval glass without apology, and they work. The cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.
If you want to climb the towers, guided tours run from the Centre des Monuments Nationaux. From February 15 to November 15, tours operate Tuesday through Saturday at 10 AM, 11 AM, 2 PM, 3 PM and 4 PM, with extra 5 PM tours from May 6 to September 8. Sundays have afternoon tours only. The tower climb costs around €9 to €11 depending on the season. The cathedral itself closes entirely from November 16 to February 14 except for the two Mondays of Easter and Pentecost. The towers are not accessible during this winter closure.
Five hundred metres south, the Basilica of Saint-Remi is smaller and older. The present building mixes Romanesque and Gothic architecture from the 11th to 15th centuries. It houses the tomb of Saint Remigius, the bishop who baptised Clovis, King of the Franks, in a ceremony that established the link between French monarchy and the Catholic Church. The Holy Ampulla, the vial of chrism used in coronations, was kept here until the Revolution destroyed it. The basilica is part of the same UNESCO inscription as the cathedral and the adjacent Palace of Tau. Entry is free. The palace, formerly the archbishop's residence, now displays coronation regalia, tapestries, and the chariot that carried Charles X to his coronation in 1825. Admission is €8, or €12 combined with the Saint-Remi museum next door.
The Roman layer is still visible. The Porte de Mars, a third-century triumphal arch, stands near the train station on Place de la République. It is 33 metres wide and 13 metres high, with reliefs of Romulus and Remus, Leda and the Swan, and Castor and Pollux. You can walk around it in two minutes. It is free and never closed, which means it is also never staffed and occasionally tagged with graffiti. The city cleans it, but the location on a busy roundabout means it feels more like a traffic island than a monument. It is worth seeing because it is genuinely Roman, not a reconstruction, but keep your expectations modest.
The champagne houses are the reason most visitors come, and they are genuinely impressive. The chalk cellars beneath Reims were dug by Gallo-Romans and later expanded by monks and merchants. Some extend 30 metres underground and remain at a constant 11 degrees Celsius year-round. Temperatures in the cellars do not change, so bring a jacket even in July.
Pommery, in the Saint-Nicaise district south of the centre, runs tours daily from €30. The house commissioned its Elizabethan-style buildings in the 19th century and installed contemporary art in the cellars. Taittinger, also in Saint-Nicaise, occupies cellars that were originally part of a 13th-century abbey. Tours start at around €25 and include one or two glasses. Veuve Clicquot, founded in 1772, charges from €35 for a standard visit and requires advance booking, particularly in summer. G.H. Mumm, closer to the train station, offers three experiences: the Cordon Rouge tour at €30, the Pinot Noir Celebration at €42, and the Vintage Grand Cru at €60. Ruinart, the oldest house, founded in 1729, starts at €35. Most houses operate Thursday through Monday in low season and daily from May through October. Book online. Walk-in availability exists in winter but not on summer weekends.
The city has other sites that most visitors miss. The Hôtel Le Vergeur, a Renaissance mansion at 36 Rue du Marc, contains period rooms and a courtyard. The Carnegie Library on Place Carnegie, built in the 1920s with American funding, combines Art Deco and Art Nouveau in a single building and is free to enter. The Foujita Chapel, decorated by the Japanese-French artist Tsuguharu Foujita in the 1960s, sits in the Montparnasse district and combines Japanese ink techniques with Christian iconography. It is open by appointment or on scheduled afternoons; check the current timetable at the tourist office because hours shift seasonally.
Reims carries the scars of 1914. On September 19 of that year, twenty-five German shells hit the cathedral. The building burned. The roof collapsed. The lead melted and poured through the interior. The event turned the cathedral into a symbol of German destruction and triggered a wave of international donations, most notably one million dollars from John D. Rockefeller in 1924. The restoration took years and incorporated new stained glass and structural repairs. President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer celebrated Franco-German reconciliation here on July 8, 1962. Pope John Paul II visited in 1996 for the 1,500th anniversary of Clovis's baptism. The cathedral is fully restored, but if you look at the facade closely, you can still spot the difference between original 13th-century sculpture and 20th-century replacement work.
The city has honest downsides. It is not pretty in the way that Paris or Lyon are pretty. The centre was rebuilt after heavy bombing in both world wars, and the reconstruction is functional rather than charming. The area around the train station is particularly plain. The champagne houses are expensive. A tour and tasting at two houses will cost you €60 to €100. The restaurants in the immediate cathedral quarter cater to day-trippers and are overpriced for the quality. Walk ten minutes south to Rue de Vesle or Rue de Mars for better bistros at lower prices.
Reims is compact. You can walk from the train station to the cathedral in fifteen minutes, and from the cathedral to the Saint-Nicaise champagne district in another twenty. The tram system is efficient but unnecessary for a day visit. If you are arriving from Paris, the TGV departs from Gare de l'Est every hour and takes 45 minutes. Book tickets in advance; prices range from €15 to €50 depending on how early you buy.
For timing, avoid the Christmas market period if you dislike crowds. The market draws over 500,000 visitors and occupies the entire cathedral square. The sound-and-light show, Rêves de Couleurs, projects onto the cathedral facade each evening. It is impressive the first time and impossible to escape the second. June and September are the best months: warm enough for walking, no market crowds, and the champagne houses run full schedules.
If you do one thing after the cathedral, make it the Saint-Remi basilica. It is quieter, older, and carries the weight of the Clovis baptism that started everything. The cathedral is the famous one. The basilica is the honest one. Go there second, when you are ready to look more carefully.
By Elena Vasquez
Cultural anthropologist and culinary storyteller. Elena spent a decade documenting traditional cooking methods across Latin America and the Mediterranean. She holds a PhD in Ethnography from Barcelona University and believes the best way to understand a place is through its kitchens and ancient streets.