Why Reims needs a local guide
The cathedral is where Clovis was baptized and where Joan of Arc brought Charles VII. Underneath the city, kilometers of chalk tunnels store millions of bottles of champagne. Reims was flattened in WWI and rebuilt in Art Deco — it looks like no other French city.
Reims sits forty-five minutes from Paris by TGV, and that proximity funnels a constant stream of day-trippers who come for two things: the cathedral and champagne. Around three million visitors pass through annually. Most visit one grande maison — Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot, Pommery — walk the cathedral, and head back to Gare de l'Est. What they miss is the Art Deco city that rose from the rubble of World War I, when Reims was shelled almost continuously for four years and then rebuilt in a style that makes it look like no other city in France. To become a tour guide in Reims means connecting the coronation cathedral where thirty-three French kings were crowned to the chalk cellars underneath the city where millions of bottles age in Roman-era tunnels. The Halles du Boulingrin, the Carnegie Library, the Basilique Saint-Remi — these are stops that turn a champagne trip into a full cultural day. Becoming a tour guide in Reims also opens the grower-champagne circuit: small producers in Ambonnay, Ay, and Bouzy who make wines that have nothing to do with the big brands. If you become a tour guide in Reims, the market is defined by a simple fact — people will always want champagne, and someone needs to explain it properly.