Reims

Most French kings were crowned in this Gothic church, with the Smiling Angel at its left portal. German shells set it ablaze in 1914 before restoration, and the chapel behind the altar has Chagall glass. Summer nights bring a light show on the facade.

A small chapel that the Japanese-born painter Tsuguharu Foujita designed and frescoed himself after being baptised in Reims, and where he lies buried. In one corner of the murals he painted his own face. It is closed in winter.

A Romanesque church holding the tomb of Saint Remi, who baptised Clovis, and nearly as long as the cathedral. It stands apart in the south of town, so visitors are few and the interior is hushed. Near sunset the light through the choir windows is at its best.

Funnel-shaped pits quarried for chalk since Roman times now serve Champagne houses as cellars, and hillsides and cellars alike are UNESCO-listed. Each house runs set-time tours with a tasting, and they need booking. It stays cool underground, so take a jacket.

A museum in the school where German forces signed their surrender to the Allies on 7 May 1945, the room left as it was. Operations maps pinned up by Eisenhower's headquarters still hang on the walls. It is a small building, and an hour covers it.

A 3rd-century Roman triumphal arch with three openings side by side. It spent the Middle Ages buried inside the town walls and re-emerged when they came down. Under the vaults, reliefs of farm work through the twelve months survive, so look up from below.

A lighthouse far from any sea, standing in the Montagne de Reims vineyards and now a wine-growing museum. The top looks over villages ringed by vines on every side. Reims is about twenty minutes away by car, and public transport makes it awkward.

Epernay's grand avenue, thirty-odd minutes from Reims by train, lined with Champagne house mansions. Cellar tunnels reportedly run for dozens of kilometres beneath it. House tours run on booking, while small growers' shops let you walk in and try a glass.

A vineyard village on the hill above Epernay, where the abbey church Dom Perignon served in holds his tomb. Wrought-iron signs showing trades hang from house after house to read as you stroll. A lookout above takes in the Marne valley vineyards.

An Art Deco market hall under a 1920s concrete arched roof, abandoned for years before being restored and reopened. Butchers and cheesemongers trade beneath the vault, and Saturday morning is busiest. Some stalls inside serve oysters with a glass of Champagne.

In the Montagne de Reims forest south of the city, hundreds of beeches grow with trunks and branches twisted like umbrellas. Why they grow this way is still not fully understood. Fences and a boardwalk now protect them.

A fort on a rise southeast of Reims that French troops held from autumn 1914 until the armistice, shielding the city. Now a museum, it keeps trenches and shell scars, plus hundreds of German helmets. Without a car it is hard to reach, so call a taxi.

A long pedestrian square running south from the station, with cafe and restaurant terraces down either side. In the middle stands the Sube fountain, topped by a gilded Victory. Every evening the terraces fill with people holding Champagne glasses.

An Art Deco library the Carnegie foundation built to help war-shattered Reims, opened in 1928. The entrance mosaic floor, glass chandelier and wooden reading room survive untouched. It still serves as the city library, so look round quietly.

Built by the Marquis de Polignac of Pommery champagne for the firm's workers, this English-style park opened in 1913. France's first physical-education college began here. Now city-run and free, its playgrounds and lawns suit a break between cellar tours.