Travel Guide
Only 1 Hour From Paris! This Medieval French City Has Less Crowds & Cheaper Prices
Mar
A twinkling Eiffel at midnight, romantic strolls around the cobble-paved Montmartre, and an elegant soirée attending the opera at Palais Garnier… there’s many a reason why Paris has earned the nickname City of Love.
It truly is quite the beautiful setting, however, it is not without flaw—you’ll be dealing with a fair amount of scammers, rat-infested neighborhood parks, and depending on where you are in the city, a level of crowding you couldn’t have imagined in your worst claustrophobic nightmares.
Did we mention prices yet?
According to Budget Your Trip, the average overnight in Paris will set you back by a whopping $326, and let us tell you, that’s not a luxurious 5-star off the Champs Elysées that awaits you—think more mid-range, and more a run-down Montparnasse-way.
No, m’am. This year, we’re doing it differently.
Instead of Paris, you should hop on the nearest TGV train—the French love those!—and hop off only 1 hour later in a medieval gem that’s equally-pretty, yet far less crowded:
Skip Paris: Explore Reims Instead!
Expedia has tipped us off on the best detour from Paris this year: the charming cathedral city of Reims, in the historical region of Champagne.
According to their Horizons ’25 trends report, the northeastern municipality at the heart of a wine-growing province should be on travelers’ radars this year, and if you’re asking us, we’re inclined to wholeheartedly agree.
What we’re trying to say is, this is not another ‘lesser-known‘, bordering-on-anonymous small town with not much to offer other than a couple of postcardy cobbled streets and a main square: it stands proudly alongside Paris as one of France’s most culturally-significant hubs!
It traces its origins back to a Gaulic settlement, and later a Roman colony, and as a result, it is littered with millennia-year-old landmarks, including a 3rd-century Porte de Mars, built in Roman times.
Reims would evolve to play a prominent role throughout French History, as many French kings were ceremoniously crowned at the local Notre-Dame cathedral, a Gothic marvel dating back to the 12th century with colorful rose windows, intricately carved portals, and soaring ceilings.
It is today a UNESCO World Heritage Site, alongside its adjacent Palace of Tau, historically the home of the Archbishop of Reims, and now a museum displaying reliquaries and religious art, as well as the nearby, 6th-century Abbey of Saint-Remi.
If you’re wondering why this abbey is important enough to be granted UNESCO-listed status, it keeps the relics of Saint Remigius, the original Bishop who converted the Frankish king Clovis I to Christianity in the 5th-century, kicking off a new era for France following the decline of the Roman civilization.
Can We Talk About The Champagne And All That Delicious Food?
Historical relevance aside, Reims is probably the top city to visit in France if you’re secretly a champagne buff (don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone).
A host of world-renowned champagne houses like Veuve Clicquot, Pommery and Taittinger hold cellars here, and they offer tastings and guided tours into the process of making and bottling champagne.
Additionally, Reims is well-advertised all around France for its delectable cuisine:
You can’t leave town without trying the local Reims ham, prepared with herbs and spices—pop round to any street corner patisserie and they’re bound to have fresh-out-the-oven jambon pastries ready for consumption.
Dijon may be the French capital of mustard, but Reims trails right behind them, so if you happen to order burgers with fries in an Old Town bistrot, do ask if they have a jar of Clovis mustard available as dip.
For the pesky little souris among us, you’ll be glad to know Reims is the ancestral home of Chaource and Langres cheeses, and you foodies in general, make sure you pay our friends at Les Cocottes a visit to sample Reims’ magnum opus of a dish, the hearty stew known as potée champenoise.
In general, restaurant orders here should set you back by a reasonable $21-25 for a main dish and a glass of wine—and remember, ordering a carafe d’eau in France is always free.
So How Affordable Is Reims In Comparison To The City Of Love?
Speaking of prices, it’s needless to say Reims is a lot more affordable than the French capital.
There’s none of the usual crowds of Instagrammers wearing beret hats and posing awkwardly for pictures with giant-sized croissants down by Champs de Mars, you know what we mean?
Tourism here isn’t on that Paris level of crazy, so naturally, prices tend to be less absurd.
The average hotel overnight here, for instance, is a much-cheaper $143, against Paris’ wallet-wiping $326, and you’re expected to pay around $75 on meals per day, or around $25 per meal if you’re visiting 3 eateries in a day.
Oh, just in case you’ve been wondering, one-way Standard Class tickets from Paris to Reims start from around $17 one-way when booked in advance, and the entire journey itself takes between only 46 minutes and 1h04, depending on which train you take.
Check local train operator SNCF for more detailed information.
Reims is also much more compact than Paris, with a population of only 178,000+ inhabitants, and covering a much smaller surface area, and as all the main historic sights are mostly grouped in the very-walkable historic center, your expenses with transportation will be minimal.
The Cherry On Top Is That Reims Is Safer
Finally, you may be wondering how safe Reims is considering France’s surprising, or perhaps unsurprising, safety downturn of recent years, given all the border crises and rise in urban criminality.
In 2023, local media L’internaute classed it as France’s 3,375th most dangerous city, with a total of 11,647 crimes for that year, a steady increase over the previous years, but nowhere near the top 1,000, let alone 100, much less 50 or 10.
This is corroborated by Numbeo, which defines crime levels in the city as being ‘moderate’, whereas Paris’, Marseille’s, and Lyon’s are all ‘high’.
In other words, do keep your wits about you, and don’t leave items unattended as you wouldn’t anywhere in France, but there’s no need to keep in a state of a high alert constantly, especially in central areas.
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Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
