Grand Est. In Épernay, on the Champs-Élysées of Champagne

A Russian Instagrammer with re-enhanced lips who strikes lascivious poses in front of each private mansion, American journalists from New York who go from tasting to tasting: you come across everything on the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay. "In high season, it welcomes up to 70% foreigners. It's the Champs-Élysées of Champagne," summarizes Laurence Prévot, the director of the tourist office . And like in the Jo Dassin song, we stroll along this prestigious row of stone private mansions with our hearts open to the stranger, with the desire to say hello to anyone.

Its chalky subsoil, the proximity of the Marne and the Paris-Strasbourg railway line, and the fact that it was once located on the royal road from Paris to Germany, explains why the great Champagne houses settled there, creating a wealthy and straight commercial and residential avenue 1,800 meters long. Today, around fifteen of them proudly display themselves there. This earns it the title of the richest avenue in the world. A source of pride in this small provincial town of only 23,000 inhabitants . The tourism professional obviously does not refute this reputation: "Walking along it is like walking on 200 million bottles aging there in the cellars. And then there is all this real estate heritage."

Solange Lane Garreau leads the guided tour from the street: "Of course, we find the Champagne architecture with the brick framing of the openings. But what is very interesting is the wide variety of styles. At Moët & Chandon, we find the relationship to art deco with the roof terrace, the geometric patterns or the industrial bricks . The Orangerie is reminiscent of the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Further on, buildings are neo-Gothic, in the Return from Egypt style or inspired by the Empire or downright contemporary like the latest glass and steel building by Pol Roger. So many breathtaking facades.

The town hall of Épernay took up residence there in 1919 by purchasing a building with flamboyant salons from the Moët family, transforming the gardens behind it into a public park. Also ceded to the town, Château Perrier now houses the Champagne Wine and Regional Archaeology Museum , magnificently renovated in 2021. A major spot also allowing you to taste the elegance of the interiors. But to grasp the scale of this avenue, you also have to go underground. Several houses offer tours of their cellars: "Their network totals 110 km, the distance that separates us from Paris."

But the Avenue de Champagne isn't just an open-air museum. It's also a place to live: "Since it was listed by UNESCO ten years ago, it has been transformed. You can now do everything there: stroll, have a drink in the wine bars, snack, eat, and even sleep." And events keep happening there. Enough to make you want to stroll there with an open heart to the unknown.