Champagne-Ardenne Hotels France

Champagne-Ardenne Champagne-Ardenne is one of France’s 26 regions situated in the north east of the country next to the Belgium border. It borders Lorraine to the north east and east, Franche Comte to the south east, Bourgogne to the south, Ile-de-France (the Paris metropolitan region) to the south west and Picardie to the north west. It has four departments: Ardennes, Aube, Marne and Haute-Marne. The Champagne-Ardennes region is low lying with the highest point only 523m in Haute-Marne. Often imagined to be flat and lightly wooded, this is only so in the Champagne area proper with its chalk soils.

Within this limestone strata underground galleries have been created by excavating hundreds of miles of rock to rovide places to house and mature the special wine of the region. The rest of the region is thickly wooded: the Ardennes hills, Argonne, the Foret d’Orient and Haute –Marne have verdant landscapes and a range of flora and fauna. The Foret d’Orient park in the Aube department was one of the first French Regional Nature Parks, and its forest are known to be home to deer and eagles.

At the heart of the Foret d’Orient are 3 vast man-made lakes favourite stopping-off places for rare migrating birds such as black storks and ospreys. There are also many facilities for sailing, windsurfing and other watersports as well as a range of outdoor activities. Visitors are often drawn to the Champagne region because of its history and its world-famous wine.

They also discover a rich historical heritage such as Troyes and its wonderful half-timbered houses, Reims and its magnificent cathedral, Epernay, the home of Champagne with its grand houses and mansions lining the Avenue de Champagne, or visit the museum at Colombey-les-deux-Eglises where Charles de Gaulle is buried.