Provins, the town of the Champagne fairs, an hour and a half from Paris by train.

Provins was in the 12th and 13th centuries one of the towns of the Champagne fairs, where merchants from Italy, Flanders and half the continent bought and sold cloth, spices and money. From that wealth there remain a rampart of more than a kilometre, an octagonal keep, merchants' houses with vaulted cellars and kilometres of galleries underground. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. Today it is a day trip from Paris, by train and without a car.

How do you get there from Paris?

By train, on Transilien line P, which leaves from the Gare de l'Est and ends at Provins. The direct journey takes between an hour and twenty minutes and an hour and a half, and the ordinary Metro-Train-RER ticket is valid, €2.55 in 2026. On leaving the station, on the left, there is an information point that sells the Pass Provins. Some weekends the line closes for works: check the Transilien notice before going. The alternative is the RER A to Marne-la-Vallée and bus 7705 to the Ville Haute stop.

By car it is about 90 km to the south-east, an hour and a quarter. Park at Villecran, next to the tourist office and the Saint-Jean gate: on high-season weekends it costs €4 a day and the rest of the year it is free.

If you fly from Spain, you land at Charles de Gaulle or Orly. From Charles de Gaulle, the RER B drops you at the Gare du Nord, five minutes' walk from the Gare de l'Est.

Upper town and lower town

Provins has two parts. The upper town, on the spur, is the medieval one: the ramparts and the Saint-Jean gate, place du Châtel, the Caesar Tower, the collegiate church of Saint-Quiriace, the tithe barn and the shows. The lower town, beside the river and the station, is where people live: shops, the market, the church of Sainte-Croix, the priory of Saint-Ayoul and the Rose Garden. From the station to the upper town it is about twenty minutes' walk, uphill. Within the upper town, the little train serves as a shuttle with an all-day ticket.

Which ticket do I buy?

The Pass Provins gives access to the five paid monuments (the Caesar Tower, the tithe barn, the underground passages, the priory of Saint-Ayoul and the Provins museum) and discounts on the shows, the little train and the Rose Garden on the same day. It costs €16 online and €17 at the ticket office; €9.50 for children aged 4 to 12; the family one, for two adults and up to five children, €49 online. It is valid for a year, in case you don't have time for everything. Each monument can be paid for separately: €5 for the tower and the barn, €6 for the underground passages, which can only be visited with a guide.

The ramparts are free and always open. Pets may not enter the monuments or the shows.

When to go and for how long?

From late March to early November is when Provins is complete: monuments open daily and two shows, La Légende des Chevaliers, with jousts and siege engines, and Les Aigles des Remparts, with birds of prey in flight. The timetables of the two are designed so that you can see them on the same day, one in the early afternoon and the other mid-afternoon. Roses flower from May to July. In June, the Médiévales fill the town with costumes and no passes are sold.

In winter almost everything opens at weekends and during school holidays, without shows. The weekend of the medieval Christmas market, on 12 and 13 December 2026, is the one that attracts the most people.

One day is enough for the essentials: train first thing, ramparts, barn and tower in the morning, lunch in the upper town, the two shows in the afternoon and the underground passages if a slot is left. Sleeping a night gives you the lit-up ramparts and the town without day trippers.

Where to eat and sleep?

In the upper town, the Bistrot Aux Vieux Remparts opens every day at midday and in the evening. In the lower town, Rosalie cooks home-style menus from €19.90 and opens on Sunday at midday, and L'Instant, on the same square, mixes French and Asian cooking.

To sleep, Aux Vieux Remparts is inside the upper town, with a spa and free parking; Le César Hôtel, a four-star, near the station; and La Demeure des Vieux Bains is a guesthouse in buildings from the 12th to the 18th centuries.