Any suggestions for things to see and do in Reims and Paris, France?

Question

I'm going to France in the end of March for 10 days. I will be staying in Reims and will visit Paris hopefully more than one day. I know there are all the usual touristy sites and activities but does anyone have any other good suggestions for things to see or do?

Answer 1

My husband works in Reims and we live quite close so I can help you :

Things to see in Reims:

The cathedral : it's one of the most beautiful French cathedrals.  Joan of Arch brought a king to be crowned there. All kings of France have been crowned there and there's a nice museum close to the cathedral called Palais du Tau where you can see jewels, crowns, and crowning gowns and such stuff.

Champagne cellars : I strongly suggest Pommery, Veuve Cliquot and Piper Heidsieck which are quite closed.

Close to Reims (45 minutes of train or drive) there's a lovely region called Les Ardennes and if you like nature you'll be on for a ride. It's lovely, full of hills and valleys, forests, legends. Charleville-Mézières is a great little city full of history, international capital of puppetry and there's the world puppetry festival there every 2 years (next one is in September 2008). It is also the birth place of Arthur Rimbaud (famous French poet) and he's burried there.

There's a city called Sedan which hosts the largest castle of Europe.

Once you're there Belgium isn't that far with nice cities such as Dinant and Bouillon.

Then on the other side of Reims is Epernay which also is famous for it's champagne (actually Epernay's champagne is even better than Reims's).

And depending on how long you'll be staying, Paris isn't that far. Just a 2 hours drive.

Disneyland Paris is closer than Paris : 1 ticket for an adult is 54€ if you wish to visit both parks (Disneyland which is the same than Magic Kingdom) and Disney Studios which is the same than Disney MGM Studios in Florida. 1 day/1 park is cheaper. If you buy your place on their website, at least 30 days prior your visit, you'll get a 40% discount. BUT you cannot get any refund or change the day of your visit so be very carreful. March 2008 is their 15th anniversary so I guess you'll have good deals. At the moment, for 1 adult ticket you get a free ticket of 1 kid.

Have a good trip and welcome in my region :) I hope you'll have a wonderful time there!

Answer 2

I have heard that Reims has little to see except champagne cellars.  WW2 in Europe ended in Reims when Germany signed a surrender document there.  I would think that the school house where they signed it would have some kind of marker there.  Local ppl could give you a better idea of what to see.  Paris is like NY in that you could spend 2 weeks there and still have more things to do.  You might like to take a bus tour of the whole city (English language tours avail) and then decide what you really want to see.  I wouldn't poo poo tourist attractions too much.  Many tourist attractions are tourist attractions bc they are interesting.  I would be wary of eating at restaurants that are very close to tourist attractions (eg Eifel Tower, etc.).  Those restaurants figure that ppl will always eat there bc the restaurants are so close to the attractions-- thus you might be disappointed with high prices for mediocre food.