Champagne-Ardenne Voyage Tips and guide

Champagne-Ardenne is in the Grand Est region of France. Most visitors come to Champagne for its history, its vineyards and its cellars (including Champagne wine), but Champagne holds so many treasures: a rolling countryside, dotted medieval churches, timeless castles and villages along winding waterways, historic fortifications in the forested Ardennes, and vineyards as far as the eye can see between Reims and Epernay.

Map of Champagne-Ardenne

• 49.7019444.9402781 Sedan — home to the medieval Chateau Sedan and near the site of the Battle of Sedan of the Franco-Prussian War.
• 49.764.7194442 Charleville-Mézières — Charleville-Mézières is a French town in Champagne-Ardenne, the capital and largest town in the Ardennes department in terms of population.
• 49.26284.03473 Reims — site of the famous cathedral where the kings of France were once crowned, now heart of the Champagne region
• 49.04033.964 Épernay — town known for its Champagne production, the home of Moët et Chandon
• 48.9566674.3644445 Châlons-en-Champagne — known for its cathedral and stained glass windows
• 48.29974.07926 Troyes — timber-frame buildings surround a Gothic monster of a cathedral, noted for its exquisite stained glass

The home of champagne could only be welcoming. Accept its invitation and feast your eyes and taste buds! La Champagne department is the birthplace of le champagne wine, the world's most festive wine.

Champagne-Ardenne was an administrative region of France until 2016 when it was merged with Lorraine and Alsace to form the Grand Est region.

• Champagne-Ardenne tourism website

The A4 from Paris and Strasbourg serves the Reims metropolitan area. The A5 from Paris and Dijon serves Troyes and Chaumont. The A26 from Calais and Troyes serves Reims and Châlons-en-Champagne. The A34 from Reims and the Belgian border serves Charleville-Mézières

The rail network includes the Paris–Strasbourg line, which follows the Marne Valley and serves Épernay, Châlons-en-Champagne, and Vitry-le-François. The LGV Est TGV line also connecting Paris and Strasbourg opened in 2007 and serves Reims with a train station in the commune of Bezannes.

• Champagne and its famous vineyards
• Mémorial Charles de Gaulle, in Colombey-les-deux-églises
• In Troyes, its cathedral, its Museum of Modern Art, its House of Tools and Workers' Thought and its old houses,
• In Châlons-en-Champagne its cloister-museum, its cathedral, its collegiate church, its Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology and its waterways, the battlefields of Champagne, the ruins of the Abbey of Trois-Fontaines, the mill of the Battle of Valmy, Langres with its ramparts.
• In Épernay, its Avenue de Champagne and its cellars, the valleys of the Marne and the Meuse
• In Charleville-Mézières, its Place Ducale, its Rue de la République, its Rimbaud Museum, its Museum of the Ardennes and its basilica
• In Bogny-sur-Meuse, its Museum of Ardennes Metallurg
• In the village of Elan, Sedan and its fortified castle -historium, the Vendresse estate,
• In Monthermé, small capital of the loops of the Meuse
• In Mouzon, its abbey church and its Felt Museum
• In Juniville, its Verlaine Museum
• In Reims, its Palais du Tau, its old abbey-museum, its cathedral and its cellars, the Notre-Dame-de-l'Epine basilica, the Auberive Abbey,
• In Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, the Charles-de-Gaulle memorial

The diversity and number of stained glass windows is summed up by the maxim "80% of the world's stained glass windows are in France, 80% of French stained glass windows are located north of the Loire, 80% of the stained glass windows north of the Loire are in Champagne-Ardenne, and 80% of the stained glass windows in Champagne-Ardenne are found in the Aube department." The Marne region has the second largest number of stained glass windows, with approximately 15% of the region's stained glass windows. Notable cities include Reims, Châlons-en-Champagne, and Épernay. The Ardennes region has the remaining 5% of the region's stained glass windows. Charleville-Mézières and Sedan are the cities with the largest number of stained glass windows. The departments of Aube and Haute-Marne have developed visiting itineraries called "Stained Glass Route in Aube" and "Stained Glass Route in Haute-Ma

• Visit champagne cellars – take a trip to see the Moet and Chandon cellars in Epernay.
• The Montagne de Reims regional natural park  
• Charleville-Mézières, the World Capital of Puppetry, hosts a biennial festival.
• Nigloland amusement park is one of the most visited in France. It's in Dolancourt, near Bar-sur-Aube.
• The Pays du Der is a natural region belonging to the humid Champagne region where the route of half-timbered and stained-glass churches and the Pays de Der museum are located
• The Ardennes Regional Natural Park has two national nature reserves and seven Natura 2000 sites.
• The Champagne and Burgundy Forests National Natural Park is a forest massif shared between Haute-Marne and Côte d'Or.
• The Forêt d'Orient Regional Natural Park has large lakes, and attracts nature lovers, fishing enthusiasts, hikers, swimmers and water sports enthusiasts.
• Camp on the river Marne
• There are many tour operators that specialise in providing private individuals, couples and groups with wine tasting opportunities and wine vacations to the Champagne region.

• Jambon sec des Ardennes: A dry-cured ham rubbed with salt containing local flavorings (such as juniper berries) and sugar. Usually sold whole, halved, or sliced, but is easily sliceable and goes great on a sandwich.
• Boudin blanc de Rethel: a 17th century recipe of white pudding sausage made from cuts of pork, eggs, milk and a local blend of seasonings. It is traditionally produced in Rethel.
• Pave d'Auge: Local cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk. Aged from 2 to 4 months and pairs well with Fronsac wine.

• Andoullette
• Chaource
• Barberey

• Pain d’épices
• Biscuit rose de Reims
• Potée champenoise

• Caprice des Dieux
• Langres

• Croquignoles (cracknels)
• Coconut macaroons
• Bouchons de champagne (chocolate champagne corks)

• Sauerkraut
• Pied de cochon (pigs trotters)

• Champagne, of course!
• Local wines
• Beer
• Vodka