Golf guide • France • Champagne

Golf in Reims: fairways, chalk cellars and the city of coronations

Reims, the capital of champagne forty-five minutes from Paris by TGV, lends itself to a short golf break: Golf de Reims, founded in 1928 around a château at Gueux, a dozen kilometres to the west, and Golf de Champagne, designed by Jean-Claude Cornillot near Dormans. Golfers come to pair two parkland courses with the coronation cathedral, the chalk cellars of the great houses and Michelin-starred tables. The season runs from April to October.

Plan this tripUpdated 11 October 2026

Some thirty kings of France were crowned in Reims, from Louis the Pious in 816 to Charles X in 1825. The city has kept from that history a UNESCO-listed Gothic cathedral and, beneath its streets, kilometres of galleries cut into the chalk where the bottles of the great houses age. Partly rebuilt after the Great War, it mixes Art Deco façades, lively brasseries and cellars open to visitors.

For golfers, Reims is not a region of great courses one after another; it is a two-course destination. Golf de Reims, at Gueux, spreads around a château linked to the house of Roederer and counts the great champagne houses among its partners. Some forty minutes away, Golf de Champagne unfolds its wooded valleys just beyond the Marne border, on the Aisne side.

Two to four nights are enough: one course a day, ideally in the morning, then the afternoon in the chalk cellars of the Saint-Nicaise hill or along the Montagne de Reims road, and the evening at table, from the Art Deco brasserie to the three-star house at Tinqueux. The city is easily explored on foot, and the Golf de Reims is only a quarter of an hour's drive from the centre: a rhythm that suits a long weekend with friends as well as a stop on the road east.

The courses

Green fringed by reeds and a pond, a white-sand bunker, oaks and poplars in autumn colours

Golf de Reims

Opened 1928
18 holes

Founded in 1928 with nine holes, Golf de Reims was extended to eighteen in 1973, to a design by Michael Fenn, thanks to the support of Henry Heidsieck, then the club's president. The course, about 6,000 metres from the back tees, winds through a wooded park of gentle contours, with fairways that often slope sideways, small, well-defended greens and a few ponds. It asks for placement more than power. The clubhouse occupies the Château des Dames de France, where the terrace of the restaurant Le 1928 looks out over a lake.

Signature hole. The 12th, a par 3 of 139 metres from the white tees, plays over water: aim for the right side of the green, as the ball tends to run off towards the bunker.

Official website

Golf de Champagne

Architect: Jean-Claude Cornillot
Opened 1987
18 holes
Par 72

A family business opened in 1987 at Villers-Agron, a minute from the Dormans exit of the A4 motorway, Golf de Champagne occupies 70 hectares of valleys and flatter ground crossed by streams and bordered by oak, ash and pine. Jean-Claude Cornillot's layout, eighteen holes, par 72, over 5,760 metres, makes use of the rolling terrain while remaining approachable. Shorter and more relaxed than Gueux, it suits every level and has an 18-bay driving range, five of them covered, and a putting green.

Official website

Where to stay

La Caserne Chanzy Hôtel & Spa

A former fire station opened in 1926, this Art Deco building faces the cathedral and has enjoyed a second life as a five-star hotel since 2019. The Cathedral rooms open onto the Gothic façade, the spa of more than 450 m² offers a water circuit, sauna, hammam and five treatment rooms, and the brasserie La Grande Georgette completes the picture. The ideal address for doing everything in town on foot.

Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa

At Champillon, above Épernay, this former coaching inn on the coronation road, where Napoleon stopped, has been extended with a contemporary amphitheatre-shaped wing facing the Marne valley. All 47 rooms and suites look over the vines: ask for a Royal Junior Suite, whose balcony looks down the valley. A spa with two pools, Le Royal, chef Christophe Raoux's Michelin-starred table, and Golf de Champagne some forty minutes away.

Domaine Ployez-Jacquemart

In Ludes, on the Montagne de Reims, the champagne house founded in 1930 by Marcel Ployez and Yvonne Jacquemart is run by their granddaughter Laurence, its cellar master. Its villa has five themed rooms, and the house shows guests round its cellars. Breakfast is served only between 8.30 and 9.30am: at Golf de Reims, half an hour away, book a late-morning tee time.

Indoor pool beneath a pale stone vault, brass Art Deco lamps and loungers with folded towels

Where to dine

L'Assiette Champenoise

Founded in 1975 by Jean-Pierre and Colette Lallement and based since 1987 at the Château de la Muire in Tinqueux, the family house won its third Michelin star in 2014. Arnaud Lallement is in the kitchen, his wife Magali runs the dining room and his sister Mélanie the hotel. Order the blue lobster, 'Hommage à mon Papa', served with a jus made from the heads. There are rooms too, ten minutes from Golf de Reims.

Café du Palais

On the Place Myron-Herrick, the same family has run this café since 1930, when Louis and Jeanne Millet took over what was then the Café du Grand Théâtre; Isabelle and Louis Vogt carry it on today. Look up: the Art Deco glass roof by Jacques Simon, dated 1928, once graced a jeweller's on the Rue de Talleyrand before being bought in 1991. Bistro cooking and a long champagne list; closed Sundays and Mondays.

Brasserie du Boulingrin

Opened in 1925 opposite the Boulingrin covered market, the brasserie has moved almost directly across the street, to 31 rue de Mars, into a building of the same 1920s vintage where the owner reinstalled the bar and part of the grape-harvest frescoes. Locals come for the oysters, marinated herring with warm potatoes, tête de veau ravigote or andouillette. Open Monday to Saturday, lunch and dinner.

Beyond golf

The coronation cathedral

Listed by UNESCO in 1991 together with the former Abbey of Saint-Remi and the Palace of Tau, Notre-Dame de Reims witnessed the coronation of some thirty kings. Its façades carry around 2,300 statues, including the famous Smiling Angel, and its Marc Chagall windows light the apse. Shelled from September 1914, it was restored by the architect Henri Deneux, who replaced the burnt timber roof frame with a reinforced-concrete structure.

The chalk cellars of Saint-Nicaise

Since 2015, the hillsides, houses and cellars of Champagne have been listed by UNESCO, including the Saint-Nicaise hill in Reims and its crayères, former chalk quarries dating back to Gallo-Roman times. At Taittinger, the tour descends eighteen metres underground, among the remains of the Abbey of Saint-Nicaise, before a tasting. The cellars of Pommery, Ruinart and Veuve Clicquot are part of the same listing.

The Gueux circuit

A few kilometres from the golf course, the Reims-Gueux circuit hosted motor races from 1926 to 1969, including several French Grands Prix. The grandstands, pits and advertising hoardings have been preserved along the road: a stop of a few minutes, worth making on the way back from the course.

Cellar gallery cut into white chalk, champagne bottles lying on wooden racks

When to go

The golf season runs from April to October. Spring brings the parkland courses and the vines of the Montagne de Reims back to green; summer brings long days, ideal for an early tee time and a cellar visit in the afternoon. September and October are the time of the grape harvest, then of autumn colour in the woods of Gueux and Villers-Agron. Winter remains playable on dry days, though the days are short.

Getting there

The TGV links Paris-Est with Reims station in about 45 minutes, and Champagne-Ardenne TGV station is half an hour from Marne-la-Vallée. Paris-Charles de Gaulle, 130 km away, is the most convenient airport, about an hour and a half by road; Vatry is 79 km away. A car, or a driver, is still needed to reach Gueux and Villers-Agron.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best golf course near Reims?

Golf de Reims, at Gueux, is the region's historic course: founded in 1928 and extended to eighteen holes in 1973, it is played in a wooded park around a château, about ten kilometres from the city.

How many golf courses are there around Reims?

Two eighteen-hole courses lend themselves to a golf break: Golf de Reims at Gueux, a quarter of an hour from the centre, and Golf de Champagne at Villers-Agron, some forty minutes away along the A4 motorway.

When is the best time to play golf in Champagne?

From April to October. September adds the bustle of the grape harvest, and Golf de Reims stays open all year, except between Christmas and New Year's Day.

How do I get from Paris to Reims for a golf trip?

The TGV links Paris-Est with Reims in about 45 minutes; by car, allow 140 km via the A4. From Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, it is about an hour and a half by road.

Can you combine golf with champagne cellar tours in Reims?

Yes. Golf de Reims partners with several champagne houses on wine-tourism packages, and the Taittinger cellars can be visited by reservation, in the afternoon after an early tee time.

Tailor-made

Your golf trip: Reims

Tee times, suites, transfers and tables: your concierge replies within 24 hours with a proposal shaped around you.

Hillside green above a turquoise lake beneath limestone cliffs, a village and chalets on the shore, late-afternoon light

Haute-Savoie