Reims - Walkable city? Some of us want to do Museum tours others Champagne Tours

Reims is a very walkable city. You can walk to the Cathedral and Museum of the Surrender very easily. There is an walkway that goes underneath the train station that will eliminate a good bit of the walk to the Museum. We went to Martel for a champagne tour via a short bus ride from in front of the train station. If you return from Martel and stay on the bus you can ride it to within a block or so of the museum and walk back via the tunnel. If you plan this as a day trip, get an early start, take the fast train, and plan on an early evening return. Oh, almost forgot. Research going to Martel -- seems to me they might be temporarily closed to repair some safety problems.

The tram is also useful to get around, especially to the Museum which is the opposite side of the town. I enjoyed the basilica at least as much as the cathedral. Consider taking at least one tour, since they are more about seeing the caves and the history of each house than the actual tastings.

I loved Reims, but if you do a champagne tour, make sure it's. Good one, not the TI bargain.

Zoe,
The TI one is that Tattinger? I think my sister's might pick multiple ones? Is there a tour that does more than one?
Thanks

Do your sisters want to just go to a champagne house and do a tour of their cellars and have a glass of champagne or are they interested in seeing the actual vineyards? If they just want to see a house, then they can pretty much pick 1 or 2 of them for a day trip and do that on their own and walk or taxi between the locations. To see the vineyards, those aren't in walking distance or part of the city, so they need to get a tour bus that will take them out that way.

We did Reims as a day trip last summer from Paris. Took the train in, walked over to Mumm's for a morning tour, had a sit down lunch after we left there and checked out the Cathedral and Musee des Beaux-Arts in the afternoon. We could have done another champagne house had we just got lunch on the go, but figured if you've seen one huge cellar full of dusty champagne bottles and big dark tunnels, you've pretty much seen them all. The Cathedral was great. Look for the smiling angel statue on the outside.

Sorry to be the negative one here about Reims but we didn't enjoy our visit there 3 mos ago. I walk 10 + mi a day in Paris but did not find Reims to be very walkable, and it had absolutely no charm imo.
The cathedral was fantastic though., and we really enjoyed The Museum of the Surrender (we believe my Dad was there when it was Eisenhower's headquarters so it had a personal connection for us) but it's tiny and takes 45 min- 1hr tops.
We walked to Mumm's which seemed like an endless march, and although I love their champagne, was not impressed with the place or the tour.
There are so many wonderful, charming day trips from Paris that we enjoy, we were sorry we spent a day and our $$ (took a train) going to Reims.

Stacy, if you haven't already, I strongly recommend that you read Mike Beebee's "Special Reims edition" in the Trip Reports forum..

cgichard, thanks for the reference to Mike's post and opinion of Reims. Interesting to see he agrees with my impression, I thought I was the only one on this forum that did not like Reims.

I was just there Friday. If you're a good walker, I think you can walk to everything. I walked from the train station to my hotel, then to the cathedral, then to Mumms, then to the Roman ruins. I probably could have walked to St. Remi but I ran out of daylight. The museum of the surrender isn't too far from the train station (as I recall, I didn't go). Some of the champagne houses are further out, but there are at least a few that are walkable. There are city buses to get to places if walking seems too far.

You might try different champagnes. It's wine, there are different sweetness, color and tastes depending on the maker.

If you want to try more than one champagne house, just give yourself time to visit and get to the next. I had my hotel make a reservation for me and I think that's the best way to plan.

Some places in France have been decimated by war so the quaint old center no longer exists. That's true of Reims. I think of walkable more as a question of distance and difficulty. Reims sights are fairly close and the area is pretty flat. By French standards, Reims isn't one of the most charming places. The champagne houses in the city are legitimate. Mumms, according to my French girlfriend, makes the best champagne (it's redundant to say in France). Reims cathedral has been very significant in French history for centuries.

Personally, I wouldn't plan a long visit in Reims but I think it is worth a short visit.