Champillon: a five-star Champagne hotel above Épernay

Champillon, a balcony over Épernay

Champillon lies in the Marne, inside the Montagne de Reims Regional Natural Park, designated in 1976 over some 50,000 hectares. Surrounded by vineyards, it is known as one of the finest viewpoints over Épernay and the Marne valley, and it sits on the road between Épernay and Reims, about 5 km from the first and 20 km from the second as the crow flies. The commune covers 1.46 square kilometres and had 510 inhabitants in 2023; its parish church was built in 1684.

The hotel stands in the hamlet of Bellevue, on the site of a former coaching inn where, in the MICHELIN Guide's words, Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have stopped off. The hotel keeps the connection: its gastronomic dining room pays homage to the women who marked Napoleon's life, and two of its suites are named Joséphine and Marie-Louise.

The UNESCO-listed Champagne hillsides, houses and cellars

In 2015 UNESCO inscribed the Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars, the places where the method of making sparkling wine through a second fermentation in the bottle was developed, from the 17th century to its early industrialisation in the 19th. The property has three parts: the historic vineyards of Hautvillers, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ; Saint-Nicaise Hill in Reims; and the Avenue de Champagne and Fort Chabrol in Épernay. Together they show the whole process, from the hillside vines to the underground cellars and the Champagne Houses that sell the wine.

Hautvillers, which the hotel counts among its neighbouring villages, belongs to the listed hillsides. Its Abbey of Saint-Pierre was the home of Dom Pérignon, the Benedictine monk whose work in wine-making helped to develop champagne, and its underground cellars, built in the late 17th century, are among the first dedicated to storing it. Across the appellation, small vineyard huts called loges de vigne once sheltered tools and growers; some have been restored, and some now host Champagne tastings.

The Champagne appellation in figures

In its figures for 2023, the Comité Champagne counts 34,200 hectares of vines, about 4% of France's vineyard area, in 319 crus, the communes or villages of the appellation. Some 16,200 growers manage 90% of the vines, 370 Champagne Houses ship more than two-thirds of the volume, and more than 100,000 seasonal workers join the harvest. According to the Épernay tourist office, Pinot Noir covers 38% of the vineyard, Meunier 32% and Chardonnay 30%. The cellars, the Comité adds, stretch over several hundred kilometres and hold more than a billion bottles.

Le Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa

Le Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa is registered with Atout France at 9 Rue de la République, with 47 rooms and a five-star classification dated 29 November 2023. It is the only hotel in the eastern group of the official Palace list updated on 2 June 2026; our guide to Palace hotels in France explains the distinction. The MICHELIN Guide describes a sort of modern-day amphitheatre of light-coloured stone that hugs the Champagne hillsides.

All 47 rooms and suites look over the vineyards. The junior suites measure about 44 square metres (474 sq ft), with a terrace or a balcony depending on the category, and the Joséphine Suite, at 110 square metres, faces the Marne valley through panoramic windows. For a group, the hotel also offers the Art Deco Villa Les Trois Clochers, designed in 1924, which sleeps ten in five suites and has its own heated pool.

Le Royal holds one MICHELIN star (as of 2026). Executive Chef Christophe Raoux, Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 2015, serves dinner from Tuesday to Saturday under a gilded ceiling hung with a chandelier of 36 blown-glass bubbles. Le Bellevue, the brasserie, overlooks the Épernay and Marne valleys from breakfast to dinner every day. The spa covers more than 1,500 square metres at the foot of the vines, with nine treatment cabins, indoor and outdoor pools, a steam room, a sauna, jacuzzis and a yoga studio.

Épernay, Reims and the champagne houses

Épernay, below the village, had 22,174 inhabitants in 2023 and stands on the left bank of the Marne. Its Avenue de Champagne, five minutes' walk from the station, runs for about 1.5 km past the seats of houses such as Moët et Chandon, Mercier and De Castellane, and the tourist office counts some 200 million bottles in the chalk cellars beneath it. The Museum of Champagne Wine and Regional Archaeology occupies Château Perrier, and the Pierre Cheval belvedere on Mont Bernon looks across to the avenue and the listed hillsides from Hautvillers to Mareuil-sur-Aÿ.

Reims is about 20 minutes from the hotel. Its Cathedral of Notre-Dame, the former Abbey of Saint-Rémi and the Palace of Tau were inscribed by UNESCO in 1991; Saint Rémi, whose remains lie in the abbey, instituted the holy anointing of the kings of France. Houses such as Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot are in Reims, and the hotel's Guest Experience Makers arrange private cellar tours there and in Épernay, as well as visits to family growers.

Getting to Champillon from Paris and the airports

Paris Gare de l'Est is about 40 minutes by TGV from Champagne-Ardenne TGV station at Bezannes, south of Reims, and the hotel adds a 15-minute car transfer. The station also has direct TGVs from Charles de Gaulle Airport and from Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy, the station of Disneyland Paris in Chessy, about 30 minutes each, so Champagne combines easily with Paris or the parks by train. Épernay's own station is about 1 hour 20 minutes from Paris-Est, and TER trains link Reims and Épernay about every 30 minutes.

By road, the hotel gives about 1 hour 30 minutes from Charles de Gaulle Airport and 2 hours from central Paris, and the A4 and A26 motorways pass on the outskirts of Épernay. The hotel also has its own helipad.

When to go: Saint-Vincent, summer and Habits de Lumière

Around 22 January, the confraternities of the Champagne villages gather to thank Saint Vincent for the past harvest, and on 14 July the Soirée Blanche brings an evening of celebration to the Avenue de Champagne. The year ends with Les Habits de Lumière on the second weekend of December, whose 2025 edition was billed as the 25th: two evenings of video mapping, champagne bars and fireworks on the avenue, cooking demonstrations by MICHELIN-starred chefs on the Saturday and a vintage car parade on the Sunday.

In between, the hotel offers hot-air balloon flights over the Montagne de Reims, boat trips on the Marne, horse riding and electric-bike rides to Hautvillers.