An Essential Guide to Champagne, France—the Birthplace of French Sparkling Wine

The best things to do in Champagne for Domaine spas, live hip hop, and riverboat tastings—plus where to eat and stay.Domaine Les Crayères/Hostellerie Briqueterie/Yvan MoreauA labyrinth of ancient chalk cellars stretches for miles beneath the surface of the Saint-Nicaise Hill, forming a subterranean city of sorts below Reims, France’s coronation capital where 33 kings were crowned as far back as 816 AD. The former quarries, underground cathedrals soaring as high as a hundred feet, were the precursor to Champagne’s cellars—and in fact, these pitch-black, naturally temperature-controlled crayères (chalk quarries) are where some of the leading maisons (Champagne houses) in Reims, including Ruinart and Taittinger, age and store tens of millions of bottles of bubbles today.In the decade since UNESCO placed the region’s vineyard-blanketed hillsides, champagne houses, and cellars—which include les crayères—on its World Heritage List, Reims has become more than a day trip from Paris. Overnight stays have risen by 60 percent, now reaching more than 1.8 million, thanks to the influx of plush new hotels, restaurants, and champagne houses and smaller domaines offering experiences that go beyond a typical tasting.“The region has now become a lot more open than it used to be,” says Mathieu Roland-Billecart, CEO and seventh-generation owner of Champagne Billecart-Salmon, which recently transformed part of the family’s historic home into an elegant salon and tasting room to welcome guests. “We have two great cities, Reims and Épernay, and they’re nice, but they’re not where the wine is made—if you want to get a real feel for Champagne, rent a car or get a driver. You’ll get a good combination of history and feel of what the winemaking region is all about—and that’s the villages around these cities.”Here’s where to sip, stay, and dine whether you’re a Champagne novice or connoisseur who has tasted their way around already and is ready to discover more in the region's next act.Mathieu Roland-Billecart, CEO and seventh-generation owner of Champagne Billecart-Salmon, recently transformed part of his family’s historic home into an elegant salon and tasting room to welcome guests. Leif CarlssonThe best things to do in Champagne: Art tours, tastings, and cruises on the Marne RiverLocals joke that it’s quicker to reach Champagne from the Charles de Gaulle Paris airport than it is to reach the Paris city center, and that’s true—it’s around a 30-minute direct, high-speed TGV INOUI train ride to the Champagne-Ardenne station. Belmond is also enticing travelers to sit back and let the scenery of the Marne Valley soak by onboard its barge Coquelicot, designed as a floating villa that slowly glides past riverside châteaux and banks teeming with vines, pausing to visit Reims’s landmark, 800-year-old Gothic cathedral and the Hautvillers Abbey, dubbed the birthplace of Champagne since it’s where cellar master Dom Pérignon spent nearly 50 years perfecting the craft of champagne.“Champagne is all about diversity,” says Roland-Billecart, who recommends visiting three producers: a large one that’ll have a state-of-the-art visitor’s center; a super small producer, which will show you a distinct set of principles and philosophies from owners who run the show; and somewhere in between, like Champagne Billecart-Salmon, which he calls a “grown-up grower,” since you can see working winemaking facilities, vineyards, and cellars.As for the large producer, the world’s oldest champagne house, Ruinart, offers everything from visits to its chalk cathedrals, which house both bottles and works of contemporary art, to tours of the historic maison and art-filled gardens surrounding the new visitor’s center, the Nicolas Ruinart Pavilion, where the latest artist-in-residence, Tadashi Kawamata, constructed his signature wooden tree houses and bird nests. In Épernay, Moët & Chandon leads vineyard visits followed by tastings of vintage champagnes, as well as cellar tours where you can watch a demonstration of à la volée disgorgement, a traditional technique done by hand.For a crash course on the region, its terroir, and what’s causing the bubbles in your glass, start at Pressoria, an interactive, sensory-focused journey that takes place in Pommery’s former pressing center that also ends with a tasting. For a deeper dive into Champagne, Burgundy-based boutique travel planning company Hautes Côtes organizes curated, terroir-oriented trips with tastings at collector-worthy domaines and grower champagnes (where bottles are produced by the same family growing the grapes), plus private local chef-led meals and château dinners.Pop et Hip Hop features live performances by emerging DJs and hip hop artists. JeremiaszThe annual champagne-tasting event is held on the grounds of 16th-century abbey. JeremiaszIn early summer, Hautes Côtes also premiered a first of its kind for Champagne: Pop et Hip Hop, an annual event with live hip-hop performances and champagne tastings led by growers and some of the region’s greats, like Champagne Krug, Armand de Brignac, Champagne Etienne Calsac, and Champagne Elise Bougy—held on the grounds of 11th-century abbey Prieuré de Binson.“It’s an exciting time in Champagne—there are so many incredible growers and next-generation makers at historic houses experimenting and deepening their age-old craft,” says Hautes Côtes co-founder Milena Berman. “The community is dynamic, with big houses and small projects sharing common ground in reaching across disciplines to invite in new audiences, connecting with culture at large.”Cuisine is prepared at Hostellerie Briqueterie's Michelin-starred Alcôve. Jean-Lionel Dias/Courtesy Hostellerie BriqueterieA mod dining area at Hostellerie Briqueterie Hostellerie BriqueterieWhere to dine in ChampagneOne of the first restaurants that comes to most people’s lips when asked where to dine in Champagne is L’Assiette Champenoise, three Michelin-starred chef Arnaud Lallement’s ode to the region, where he works with local products and some of France’s top harvesters, fishers, and producers to craft plates that are pure works of art—and have earned the lauded chef a place on the same pedestal as France’s finest. The brick-clad mansion is a family affair his parents began 40 years ago, and now, along with his wife and sister, they manage a hotel of 25 spacious, stone-and-wood-lined rooms with an indoor swimming pool.“The growth of wine tourism has gone hand-in-hand with a spectacular upscaling of the region's hospitality and dining offer between Reims and Épernay, which together now boast one of the highest concentrations of luxury establishments in France,” explains Céline Agrain, sales and marketing manager of Hostellerie Briqueterie & Spa, Relais & Châteaux, adding that the region’s Michelin count has grown to 13 stars at eight restaurants in Reims and near Épernay.Lodging option Hostellerie Briqueterie also has fabulous fine dining options. Hostellerie BriqueterieTwo-starred Racine by Japanese chef Kazuyuki Tanaka has long been a favorite for both chefs and sommeliers in the region, and now his wife, Marine, has opened up izakaya-inspired Yumemi Saké et Bulles, which serves sharing-style Japanese plates and regularly rotating by-the-glass champagne (the space is small and often full, so be sure to reserve). Nearby in Reims, the starred spot drawing the most buzz at the moment is Philippe Mille’s Arbane, housed in a two-floor, 19th-century mansion, which offers an affordable three-course lunch menu revolving around daily market finds.Former artisanal épicerie Au Bon Manger has been rechristened as ATOME, a 10-seat private dining experience (80 euros, not including wine) where wife-and-husband duo Aline and Eric Serva continue using their expertise in sourcing some of France’s top-notch fromage and other ingredients to curate a constantly changing menu while a vintage HiFi system streams music as subtly as a Japanese listening bar. The concept still includes a cave à vin of carefully sourced wines (mostly eastern and central European) and grower champagnes, which the couple can select by the glass during meals. While you’re there, be sure to sip Aline’s own collection of limited-edition series she’s crafting with a selection of winemakers like Olivier Horiot and Vincent Charlot, each less than 1,000 bottles.In the village of Avize, Domaine Jacques Selosse features a 10-room hotel in a neo-classical mansion designed to feel like you’re sleeping in a family home. There’s also a restaurant with outdoor terrace seating that offers seasonal, daily shifting menus of bistro-style cuisine for lunch and more gastronomic fare for dinner. At barnyard-chic Le Garde Champêtre, Japanese chef Kazuya Miyashita weaves the organic vegetable garden’s produce into farm-to-table plates minus the fuss—simply smoked and cooked around the fire.After a spin around Marc Chagall’s stained-glass windows in the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims, whose facade is embellished with more than 2,000 carved figures, head across the street for lunch at La Grande Georgette. If you’re in town on a Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday morning, step into the arched, Art Deco Halles Boulingrin covered market, a historic monument dating back to the 1920s where you can browse local specialties or sip a glass of champagne. A short stroll away, take a seat at micro-roaster Moklair for craft coffee (they even have a duo of cold brew on tap, a rarity in France) or make your way to locally loved Sacré Burger, whose expansive champagne list alone is worth the jaunt.When you’re ready for a nightcap (or a drink to start the evening), head to newish bar à vins La Vertu, opened by winemaker Aude Henon and run by a quippy young team in the heart of Reims, for a glass of European wine or champagne from a list championing small producers.Hostellerie Briqueterie & Spa sits about a 10-minute drive from Épernay in a former brick factory. Hostellerie BriqueterieThe former industrial space has been beautifully renovated to feel like an immensely stylish country home. Xavier Ferrand/Courtesy Hostellerie BriqueterieWhere to stayIn Reims, Domaine Les Crayères has spent the past few decades as Champagne’s grande dame, but the esteemed estate was originally a residence dreamt up by Madame Pommery (she even enlisted Haussmann’s landscape architect—also behind the Tuileries Garden—to design the 17-acre park with Lebanese cedars and flowers). In the 1980s, French interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon helped transform the château-style property into the ornate, 20-room hotel it is today. Rooms are swathed in patterned wall coverings or lavish canopies that match the duvets (selected from the Pierre Frey historical archives), as well as furniture fit for royalty. Home to a thousand different champagnes, you can sip a glass in the luxury of chef Christophe Moret’s two Michelin-starred Le Parc, or join the locals on the terrace of Brasserie Le Jardin, which unfolds around an open kitchen.Le N3 by Champagne Thiénot features just 13 rooms and a suite designed in a minimalist, Scandinavian-chic aesthetic (herringbone floors, large bay windows), plus a spa outfitted with a hammam and sauna, sensory shower, and hydro-massage loungers. Courtesy Studio204One of the newest additions in the center of Reims, a short stroll from the cathedral, Le N3 by Champagne Thiénot unfolds in a period town house above the historic cellars of the namesake family maison (tours and tastings are also available). The rooftop champagne bar, whose terrace peers across the city and cathedral, still feels like something of a secret despite being within walking distance of Reims’s main attractions.Le N3 by Champagne Thiénot feels like something of a secret despite being within walking distance of Reims’s main attractions Courtesy Studio204In addition to sampling the full range of champagnes from Maison Thiénot, you can sip selections from a few other winemakers. Courtesy Studio204Closer to Épernay, Loisium Wine & Spa Hôtel Champagne’s 101 rooms and suites extend over a series of vines, with ceiling-high windows overlooking the nearby woods. The design-forward architecture feels Scandinavian, but as you curl up in a sun lounger near the outdoor pool or vines with a glass of bubbly, you’ll instantly be reminded you’re in Champagne. A couple of minutes’ drive away, ninth-generation Champagne Augustin is a laid-back alternative to the grand houses in Reims and Épernay, where you can sit and sample a selection of the family’s biodynamic cuvées during a tasting or over a seasonally-driven meal at onsite restaurant Amme.Stretching across the top of the Montagne de Reims, the Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa mirrors an amphitheater, displaying a panoramic shot of the Marne Valley from all 47 rooms and the spa, which you’ll want to carve out a full day to soak in the indoor and outdoor pools, peering across the vines from the edge. The design incorporates local and natural materials (double sinks carved from travertine stone, custom-crafted outdoor wooden furniture shaped like wine barrels), so while it still very much embraces a sense of place, it’s a design-forward take that’s less château than other hotels in the region.A member of Relais & Châteaux, the 41-room Hostellerie Briqueterie & Spa sits about a 10-minute drive from Épernay in a former brick factory that’s been beautifully renovated to feel like a country home (during my stay, I kept thinking I’d slipped away to the English Cotswolds). A palette of hunter green and heather grey adds just enough pop to the crisp white walls and pale wood furnishings that are minimally—but expertly—decorated with brass lighting and standing framed prints. Cuisine at Michelin-starred Alcôve is accented with herbs from the garden, which you can glance at from floor-to-ceiling windows. In the evenings, most guests gravitate toward the fireplace in the bar, aptly named Assemblage, or take their glasses of champagne to the wrought-iron tables scattered on the terrace to admire the sunset.Lane Nieset is a freelance travel writer from Miami who has lived in France for the past 10 years. From her current base in Paris, she covers a mix of lifestyle, wine, food, and fashion for a variety of publications, including Food & Wine, Afar, Travel + Leisure, Vogue.com, T: The ... Read MoreRecommended Among Paris’s five-star hotels, this is the literal palace to book for front-row seats to the Eiffel Tower.Read full reviewThe French debut for the Maybourne Hotel Group has redefined the sleepy village of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.Read full reviewView All France All of our best hotel, restaurant, and activity recommendations in one place.