Question 1

Reims on Your Own

Accepted Answer

Seeing Reims independently from a river cruise means a long transfer, since the ships are on the Seine around Paris or on the Moselle; from Paris, a high-speed train takes about 45 minutes and is best booked in advance. Once there, the center is walkable, and a tram or bus covers the longer hops. The cathedral: Notre-Dame de Reims is open every day from 8 a.m. and entry is free. On Sundays, until noon, visitors can only enter the narthex while services take place. The surrender museum: The Musée de la Reddition, at 12 Rue Franklin Roosevelt, keeps the map room where Germany signed its surrender on May 7, 1945. It opens every day except Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is near the Schneiter tram stop. In 2026 adult admission was €5.50, so check before you go. Saint-Remi: The basilica, the largest Romanesque church in northern France, and the museum in the old abbey stand at Rue Simon, south of the center, reached by bus. The covered market: The Halles du Boulingrin, a concrete market hall built after the First World War near the Porte de Mars, holds its market on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Keep your tour's times: If you are with a coach excursion, the departure time and meeting point are what count, so be there early. If you come on your own by train, leave a wide margin for the return, because your ship posts its all-aboard time and will not wait for passengers touring on their own. Carry ID: In France you must be able to prove your identity when asked, on the spot or within four hours at a police station.

Question 2

Getting Around

Accepted Answer

Reims's center can be covered on foot, and the tram and buses reach the outlying sights. Taxis cannot be hailed in the street and must be booked ahead. The tram runs about 11 km through the city. Line A runs every five to six minutes, and line B continues to the Champagne-Ardenne TGV station at Bezannes. Around the cathedral the tram draws power from a rail in the ground, so there are no overhead wires in the historic center. High-speed trains from Paris arrive at the central station, while trains from other French cities use the Champagne-Ardenne TGV station outside the city, linked to the center by tram. Saint-Remi is served by bus lines U5 and U6, or by lines U1 and U2 to the Saint-Timothée stop, five minutes' walk away.

Question 3

Champagne and Food

Accepted Answer

Champagne drives Reims's economy, and many of the great champagne houses have their head offices here and age their wine in chalk cellars and tunnels deep underground, some of them dating back to the Roman period. Most houses offer guided cellar tours with a tasting at the end, usually by appointment, so book before you go. Houses with tours in Reims include G.H. Mumm, Taittinger, Pommery, Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart and Piper-Heidsieck. The pink biscuit of Reims, the biscuit rose, dates from around 1690 and is made by the Fossier company. Locals dip it in champagne or red wine. Place Drouet d'Erlon is the city's main street for restaurants and cafés.

Question 4

Tipping in France

Accepted Answer

French law requires the cost of service to be included in restaurant prices, so a tip is not expected, and the currency is the euro. A tip is a thank-you for service that was out of the ordinary. Service is always included in the bill. Most French people who do tip simply round the bill up to the next multiple of five euros.

Question 5

Culture and Local Life

Accepted Answer

Much of Reims was destroyed in the First World War and rebuilt in the 1920s, often in the Art Deco style, so the city mixes Gothic and Romanesque monuments with interwar architecture. Its cathedral glass ranges from the 13th century to modern windows. The cathedral has 13th-century glass in the high windows of the nave and choir, windows by Marc Chagall in the eastern chapel, and windows by the local artists Jacques and Brigitte Simon. One window by Jacques Simon, in the south transept, shows champagne-making themes, including a portrait of Dom Pérignon. The Carnegie Library, on Place Carnegie, is a public library in the Art Deco style. The Christmas fair fills Place Drouet d'Erlon with stalls. In 2015 the champagne hillsides, houses and cellars, including Saint-Nicaise Hill in Reims, were added to the World Heritage List.

Question 6

A Brief History

Accepted Answer

Reims was the capital of the Remi before Rome, a major Roman city, and for more than six centuries the place where France crowned its kings. In the 20th century it was shelled in one world war and saw the end of another. Durocortorum: The Remi made the town their capital around 80 BC and allied with Julius Caesar during his conquest of Gaul. The Roman city was called Durocortorum, and the Porte de Mars, a large Roman triumphal arch, still stands. The baptism of Clovis, 496: Bishop Remigius baptized Clovis, king of the Franks, at Reims, the event from which the city's role in crowning kings grew. The coronations: From Philip Augustus in 1179 to Charles X in 1825, the archbishops of Reims anointed the kings of France, with a few exceptions. The cathedral: The present cathedral was begun in the 13th century; its main structure was finished in 1275, and its upper west towers in the 1460s. Joan of Arc, 1429: Joan of Arc brought the dauphin to Reims, where he was crowned Charles VII on July 17, 1429. Flight, 1908 and 1909: Henri Farman made the first cross-country flight, from Châlons to Reims, in October 1908, and Reims hosted the first international aviation meeting in August 1909. The First World War: German shelling from September 1914 badly damaged the cathedral, and its restoration began in 1919, funded in large part by the Rockefeller Foundation. May 7, 1945: At 2:41 a.m., General Alfred Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of the German armed forces at Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims. Reconciliation, 1962: Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer sealed Franco-German reconciliation in July 1962 at the cathedral that German guns had shelled in 1914. To learn more ashore: The Musée Saint-Remi, at 53 Rue Simon, tells the history of Reims and its region from prehistory to the Renaissance in 17 rooms of the former abbey.

Question 7

Reims with Children

Accepted Answer

In Reims, families can combine two museums with the cathedral's carved façade. Keep each visit short and build in time at the cafés on Place Drouet d'Erlon. Younger children: In summer, local traders set up a free, supervised play area on Place Drouet d'Erlon. School age: At the Musée Saint-Remi, models and rebuilt rooms bring ancient and medieval Reims to life, and the military rooms hold arms, uniforms and ship models. Teenagers: At the Musée de la Reddition, the map room where the surrender was signed is kept as it was in May 1945, and a sound and light show recreates the night of the signing. Cathedral hunt: Outside the cathedral, look for the smiling angel among the carved figures; the one on the building today is a copy, and the original has been kept indoors since the late 1960s.

Question 8

Shopping

Accepted Answer

Champagne is the obvious souvenir from Reims, and it is sold in shops in the center as well as at the champagne houses. Shops around the cathedral square and on Place Drouet d'Erlon sell champagne. Rue de Vesle, which runs through Place Royale, is the main commercial street.

Reims

Good to know

Reaching Reims