Skip Reims?

What are the interests in going to either place? What draws her to suggest Nancy? Why did you want to go to Reims? If you have no particular reasons for stopping in Reims or Nancy, why not a direct train to Paris from Strasbourg? Because of my interests in French Art Deco and French Art Nouveau, I wouldn't miss either.

I had to cut Reims from the last trip my wife and I made to France, and I was sorry to have to do so. My research suggested that it's well worth a visit. Verdun in on the way between Alsace and Reims, too, and I really regretted not being able to include a stop at the WWI sights. I have never been to either, but the cities of Epernay and Troyes look interesting based upon the images that come up on a Google search.

Hi,

In one way she is correct but I can think of pressing historical reasons to see Reims, Nancy, Troyes, which is on my day trip list this coming trip too. It all depends on your priorities. I would not skip Reims or Nancy.

I guess it depends on what you're interested in seeing, and how much you want to take her advice. Also, since you come to France relatively often, Reims is easy to get to on its own, without being involved in a trip (45 minutes by TGV from Paris).

Nancy is absolutely stunning, for what it's worth.

Another thing to consider is that there are TGV runs to Rheims, Nancy and Strasbourg. In fact, I think its a pretty direct route Paris to Rheims to Strasbourg. Some of the trains from Nancy to Strasbourg are direct and some run through Metz and add an extra hour. I am not sure about a TGV to Auxerre, Dijon, or Beaune. (I know there are TGVs to Lyon and Avignon which pass through without stopping).

I have driven from Auxerre to Paris and that was pretty boring but relatively fast on a big highway. Its really great to have a car in Provence, or (where I am planning to go myself) Alsace.

Rheims is not a bad place to visit at all. I was there less than 24 hours but saw a lot. There is the cathedral where the kings where crowned which rivals Notre Dame in Paris - which was used as a hospital by the Germans in WWI. Its free to enter, and there are quite a few historical photos exhibited. There is the Hemmingway cafe. There are some cool Roman ruins. I have seen a fair number of Roman ruins, and these were small but impressive in large park you can freely walk around. Near that park was a champagne tasting room - the room is sort of a warehouse space with tables, but the employees were very professional. I think it was 5 eu per glass. There is also a nice traffic circle with a historic column, and another area with carousel lit up at night. I stayed a very nice hotel at a good price.

Auxerre is not all that charming from what we could see. There are some narrow streets in the city center. We gave up trying to find a place to park but didn't see anything that interesting.

Another thing to consider is that there are TGV runs to Rheims, Nancy and Strasbourg. In fact, I think its a pretty direct route Paris to Rheims to Strasbourg. Some of the trains from Nancy to Strasbourg are direct and some run through Metz and add an extra hour. I am not sure about a TGV to Auxerre, Dijon, or Beaune. (I know there are TGVs to Lyon and Avignon which pass through without stopping).

I have driven from Auxerre to Paris and that was pretty boring but relatively fast on a big highway. Its really great to have a car in Provence, or (where I am planning to go myself) Alsace.

Rheims is not a bad place to visit at all. I was there less than 24 hours but saw a lot. There is the cathedral where the kings where crowned which rivals Notre Dame in Paris - which was used as a hospital by the Germans in WWI. Its free to enter, and there are quite a few historical photos exhibited. There is the Hemmingway cafe. There are some cool Roman ruins. I have seen a fair number of Roman ruins, and these were small but impressive in large park you can freely walk around. Near that park was a champagne tasting room - the room is sort of a warehouse space with tables, but the employees were very professional. I think it was 5 eu per glass. There is also a nice traffic circle with a historic column, and another area with carousel lit up at night. I stayed a very nice hotel at a good price.

Auxerre is not all that charming from what we could see. There are some narrow streets in the city center. We gave up trying to find a place to park but didn't see anything that interesting.

My reason for including Reims was to see the cathedral, a champagne house or two, and stay one night. I'm not really interested in modern warfare (really post 1500) so I had already decided not to visit Verdun (but was still considering Metz).

I can see the argument for going elsewhere in the Champagne region for champagne houses. If so, it becomes hard to justify a stop in Reims only to see the cathedral.

The core of this trip is Burgundy and Alsace with some more time in Paris at the start and end of the loop.

Brad, I see this as much as a relationship question as a skip-Reims question. Reims is nice but you can't see everything. So something has to be dropped. Do you want to just go along with your girlfriend? It's her country. Maybe you should just do what she wants. Not sure how strong her opinions are -- or how strong yours are. You can always visit Reims another time.

Or you could find out why she wants to do the new itinerary. Nancy is nice and it's a little more unusual to visit than Reims.

I like Reims. I've been there 3 times over the years, but I don't think you have to go there.

Will be in that area in a few weeks and was also debating between Reims and Nancy. If your GF lives in France, I think she probably had good reasons for choosing Nancy so which did you end up choosing and how did it go?

We did Reims as a day trip from Paris on our last trip -- which was about our 15th trip to Paris -- in recent years most of our trips have lasted a month at least; this last one was a quick 3 weeks. So it wasn't at the top of our list, but it was a very enjoyable day. The Cathedral, Basilica St. Remy, the war museum and the Champagne houses are all very interesting. It is only 45 minutes from Paris by TGV and if you buy tickets early Prems tickets are cheap.

You can't do everything; one question is what will it be hardest to do later. Perhaps Nancy is easier on this trip and you can always do Reims as a day trip from Paris if you contemplate a return to Paris.

I'm not Brad, but I went to both Reims and Nancy this summer. I much preferred Nancy from the standpoint of aesthetics. Reims' architecture was much less interesting to me.

Reims does have the champagne houses (I don't drink), the surrender museum (less interesting than the other WW II museums I visited, but worthwhile if you're not doing a lot of others), and the Palais du Tau (worth seeing).

In addition to a generally more attractive townscape, Nancy has art nouveau and art deco buildings to seek out and an excellent art nouveau museum, the Musee de l'Ecole de Nancy. The tourist office has a little brochure listing buildings of interest, or in some cases short streets full of early 20th century homes. The Musee des Beaux-Arts is good, too.

Both cities have nice cathedrals. Reims wins on the stained-glass front, for me.

Neither is a bad choice, but I'd definitely prefer to return to Nancy.

On our Champagne bike tour many years ago Reims was one of our overnight stops. As we approached town from the west, the almost-setting sun causing a lot of glare as we pedaled along (slower thn rental car or train), our tour leader promised a special surprise once we reached Reims. It turned out to be the cathedral facade, impressive as a carved building with sculptures and poignant bullet holes still showing, but not by any means the most impressive cathedral of all time. We had the day free but slept in (recovering from a hard day of riding the day before), and reached the Taittinger house 5 minutes after their last admission time of the day, so although they were "open," we had no choice but to leave. Our mistake, but not the end of the world. Our group dinner that nght had a truly unpleasant fish main course, not fresh and a real disappointment for any place in France, especially one selected by our bike tour company as one of the supposedly best restaurants of the week of our tour. Despite these setbacks, we were glad to have visited, but Reims was not the very highpoint of that week. Happy travels, whichever itinerary you choose!

Thanks for your replies. This was my May trip to France, I just returned from another trip to the south.

I ended up flying to Paris, training to Auxere, renting a car for Burgundy and Alsace (plus a couple days into Germany), then trained from Strasbourg to Reims, Reims to Paris and added a weekend in Le Havre, Normandie before flying home.