Cathedral of Notre Dame Former Abbey of Saint R Mi and Palace of Tau Reims

Guide to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Rémi, and Palace of Tau in Reims, France

If you’re planning to visit the Palace of Tau specifically to see the coronation relics, stop and check first: it has been closed for renovation and is not scheduled to reopen until 2027. Plenty of older guides to Reims still list it as an open attraction with entry fees and hours. It is not currently open, and that single fact should reshape how you plan a Reims day trip right now.

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims

Construction ran from 1211 into the following century, and this is the building where French kings were crowned, a tradition tied to Clovis I’s baptism here by Bishop Remigius around 498 AD and continued through most of the monarchy’s history. The cathedral itself is free to enter and open daily, roughly 7:30 to 19:30 on weekdays and until about 19:15 on Sundays and holidays, so it is the one component of this UNESCO trio you can walk into on any visit without planning around opening hours or ticket queues.

Inside, the west facade’s rose window and the sculptural programme across its three portals are the standard draw, but the detail everyone actually stops for is the Smiling Angel, a thirteenth-century carving on the north facade rather than the south as older write-ups sometimes claim, whose gentle expression became an unofficial emblem of the cathedral and, after German shelling badly damaged the building in the First World War, a symbol of its restoration. The cathedral still holds real treasures connected to the coronation tradition, including the Holy Ampulla used to anoint kings and the so-called Talisman of Charlemagne, though for the fuller relic collection you would normally head to the Palace of Tau, which, again, is currently shut.

Former Abbey of Saint-Rémi

A short walk or tram ride from the cathedral, this former Benedictine abbey houses Saint Rémi’s tomb and today functions as the Musée Saint-Remi, not a “Queen’s Tapestry Museum,” a name that does not correspond to any actual institution here. The genuine collection covers Roman-era Reims, Merovingian archaeology, and the abbey’s own religious and architectural history, a useful complement to the cathedral’s coronation focus since it tells the earlier, foundational story of Clovis’s baptism that the cathedral’s later coronation tradition builds on. The museum runs daily, roughly 10:00 to 18:00, with standard admission around 5 euros and reduced rates for students, seniors, and larger groups; under-18s and eligible students go free.

Palace of Tau, and the closure that changes your itinerary

Under normal circumstances, the Palace of Tau, the former archbishop’s palace where kings stayed before their coronations, is the place to see the actual regalia: the Holy Ampulla, Charlemagne’s talisman, ceremonial robes, and Saint-Remi’s chalice, alongside original cathedral statuary moved indoors for preservation. It is currently closed for renovation with a stated reopening in 2027, so do not build a Reims itinerary around it for a 2026 trip. Check the palace’s own site before you travel in case the timeline shifts, but plan your day assuming it stays shut, and prioritise the cathedral and the Saint-Remi museum instead, both of which remain fully open and between them cover a good deal of the same history the Tau’s relic collection would otherwise tell.

Getting there

The TGV from Paris Gare de l’Est reaches Reims in as little as 45 minutes, with fares starting around 44 euros and trains running roughly hourly, making this a genuinely easy day trip from Paris rather than requiring an overnight stay. From Reims TGV station, tram lines A or B connect to the city centre in about ten minutes, or it is a comfortable ten to fifteen minute walk if you’d rather see the streets on the way in.

A pairing that makes the trip worthwhile even with Tau closed

Reims sits at the centre of Champagne country, and the closure of the Palace of Tau is, honestly, a reasonable excuse to redirect that freed-up time into a cellar visit. Houses including Taittinger, whose cellars run through repurposed Roman-era chalk quarries, and Veuve Clicquot offer tours and tastings a short walk or taxi ride from the cathedral. Booking ahead is worth doing in peak season, spring through early autumn, since walk-in slots at the better-known houses fill fast on weekends.

A logistics note

Because Tau’s closure is relatively recent, some third-party ticket sites and tour bundlers still sell combined cathedral-and-palace packages or “skip the line” Tau tickets that cannot actually be honoured. Buy tickets only for the Saint-Remi museum and any champagne house tours directly, and be skeptical of any site still offering Palace of Tau admission for a 2026 date.

Check the Palace of Tau’s official reopening status again close to your travel date before finalising plans, since a two-day trip built around a still-closed building is the easiest way to waste half your time in Reims.