the old capital of the Counts of Champagne, with its historic centre shaped like a champagne cork, the half-timbered houses of the ruelle des Chats, the stained glass of the cathedral and the Cité du Vitrail, and andouillette with Chaource
Troyes is the capital of the Aube, in southern Champagne, a hundred and forty kilometres from Paris: a town of sixty thousand people on the Seine whose historic centre, seen from above, has the shape of a champagne cork. In the Middle Ages it was the capital of the Counts of Champagne and one of the towns of the Champagne fairs, where twice a year merchants arrived from Flanders and Italy; at the court of Count Henry the Liberal wrote Chrétien de Troyes, the author of the first romances of the Round Table. In the cathedral, on 21 May 1420, the Treaty of Troyes was sworn, which made the King of England heir to the crown of France. After the great fire of 1524 the town was rebuilt with the half-timbered houses that can still be seen, narrow and colourful, around the ruelle des Chats; then it became the French capital of knitwear, and today it is known for its magasins d'usine, the factory outlets of the big brands. You can see it on foot in a day: the cathedral and the churches with their sixteenth century stained glass, the Cité du Vitrail, the modern art museum and the tool museum. When it gets dark early in winter, the Cœur, the sculpture on the canal, lights up red. For those travelling by motorhome there is the municipal stopover of Pont-Sainte-Marie, open all year, half an hour's walk from the cathedral.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
In Troyes there is only one stopover for motorhomes, the municipal one at Pont-Sainte-Marie, on the north-eastern edge of the town: 37 pitches with electricity, open all year, half an hour's walk from the cathedral or a quarter of an hour by bus. In December it is the only place with water, emptying and electricity. On the Lac d'Orient, half an hour's drive away, the free car park of Mesnil-Saint-Père stays open all year; the lake campsites and the one at Clérey close between the end of September and mid November.
Area camper di Troyes
7 rue Roger Salengro, 10150 Pont-Sainte-Marie
the stopover took the place of the old municipal campsite, in a tree-lined park next to the Stade de l'Aube: rebuilt by the town, it has been open since 14 April 2023 and is run by the tourist office. You enter and pay at an automatic terminal, day and night, by card. The pitches are large, from 100 to 184 square metres, each with its own socket, and there is a playground. There are no toilets or showers. Motorhomes only, no tents or caravans, and seven nights at most. On foot it is 2.2 kilometres to the cathedral, about half an hour; bus 1 stops two hundred metres away, at the Stade Aube Camping stop, and in eleven minutes takes you to the 14 Juillet stop, six hundred metres from the cathedral, but it does not run on Sundays. The Le Marcel bicycles have a station at the Stade de l'Aube, five hundred metres away. The A26 and A5 motorways are less than ten minutes away
37 motorhome pitches
ElectricityWaterGrey waterChemical toiletWaste
With the price list in force from 1 January 2026 the pitch costs 14 euros for 24 hours from October to the end of March and 16 euros from April to the end of September, with electricity, water and emptying included. On top there is the tourist tax, 0.55 euros per adult per night: two adults spend 15.10 euros a night in winter and 17.10 in summer. A lost ticket costs 30 euros · +33 6 30 61 32 26 · campingcar-troyes.com
the motorhome car park of the village on the Lac d'Orient, the largest of the lakes of the Forêt d'Orient, half an hour from Troyes on the D619. Seventy places on firm ground, with water filling and emptying of grey and black water; there is no electricity. The walk along the lake starts from here. The tourist office gives it as open throughout 2026, but the département's listing carries the words "opening not confirmed"
70 motorhome pitches
WaterGrey water
Free, water and emptying included, according to the tourist office, which does not say what year the information refers to · +33 3 25 41 28 30
the four-star campsite of Mesnil-Saint-Père, 250 metres from the Lac d'Orient beach, with an indoor pool, an outdoor pool with slides, a restaurant and a shop; in summer the kids' club and evening entertainment. All pitches have electricity. For motorhomes passing through there are Stop&Go places, with electricity but without water or emptying, which cannot be booked. In 2027 it opens from 9 April to 26 September; from October to March it is closed
ElectricityToiletsShowerLaundryWi-Fi
The operator does not publish the pitch price list and refers you to online booking; the tourist tax in 2026 is 0.50 euros per person per night · +33 3 25 40 61 85 · camping-lacdorient.com
the campsite of Géraudot, on the north shore of the Lac d'Orient: 190 pitches on three hectares, a small shop with bread and croissants, a snack kiosk, a laundry and a playground. The pitch is available from 14:00 and must be left by 12:00. In 2026 it is open until 15 November: in December it is closed
ElectricityLaundryWi-Fi
The 2026 price list has a package for one or two people with the motorhome and electricity · +33 3 25 41 24 36 · campingauxrivesdulac.com
a small two-star campsite on the D671, the road to Bar-sur-Seine and the Côte des Bar, twenty minutes from Troyes: 32 pitches on grass, with a motorhome service point. You arrive between 12:00 and 20:00 (in September by 19:00) and leave by noon. It is handy for those heading for the vineyards, but only in summer
Troyes is seen on foot: the historic centre lies entirely inside the "cork" of the boulevards, and the electric shuttle that runs round it is free. The motorhome stays at the Pont-Sainte-Marie stopover, linked to the centre by bus 1 and by bicycle; for the lakes and the Côte des Bar you take the motorhome, for Paris the train.
From Italy you come through the Mont Blanc tunnel and then on the A40 to Mâcon, the A6 to Beaune, the A31 to Langres and the A5 to Troyes; from the Fréjus you go via Lyon and take the A6 at Villefranche; from Switzerland, via Basel and Mulhouse, the A36 to Besançon and then towards Dijon. With the APRR price list of February 2026 a class 2 motorhome pays 60 euros from Bellegarde to Troyes Sud (Saint-Thibault), 54.50 euros from Villefranche-Limas, 32.70 euros from Beaune Nord, 39.50 euros from Besançon Est to Thennelières. The Mont Blanc tunnel and the motorway as far as Bellegarde are paid separately
Low emission zone: Troyes does not have one. Lyon, Dijon and Reims do, and anyone leaving the motorway in those cities must have the Crit'Air sticker, which for a vehicle registered abroad can only be ordered online, on certificat-air.gouv.fr
Bus 1 stops two hundred metres from the motorhome stopover (Stade Aube Camping stop) and reaches the 14 Juillet stop, near the cathedral, in eleven minutes, and the station (Gare Voltaire) in sixteen. In the October 2026 timetable it runs Monday to Saturday, from 6:00 to 20:50, about every quarter of an hour, and it does not run on Sundays. A ticket is valid for one hour and costs 1.35 euros, the 24 hour ticket 4.20 euros, a book of ten 11.50 euros; children under four travel free. This is the 2019 price list, which TCAT still publishes
The Cœur de Troyes shuttle (line N) is free: an electric loop with sixteen stops in the historic centre, from les Halles to the cathedral, every 8 minutes Monday to Saturday from 7:00 to 20:00, every half hour on Sundays and public holidays from 9:30 to 19:30
The Le Marcel bicycles are electric-assisted, at about thirty stations open day and night, one at the Stade de l'Aube and one near the cathedral. In 2026 they cost 0.05 euros a minute, or 4 euros for a one-week pass, with the first twenty minutes of every ride free; you need a credit card, with a 170 euro deposit that is not charged, and they can be used from age 14
The lakes of the Forêt d'Orient are half an hour to the east, on the D619 and then the D43. By bicycle there is the Vélovoie Troyes-Lacs, 42 kilometres from Saint-Julien-les-Villas, on the southern edge of Troyes, to Port-Dienville on the Lac d'Amance
The Côte des Bar is to the south-east, on the D671: Bar-sur-Seine forty minutes away, Les Riceys an hour, leaving the D671 for the D452
The train to Paris: from the station, twenty minutes' walk from the cathedral, direct regional trains reach Paris-Est in an hour and a half, with seventeen return services a day
Seeing
Sights
The centre is the "bouchon de Champagne", the champagne cork, and you walk all of it. The tourist office's audio-guided tour is four kilometres long, takes three hours, and starts and ends at the office, next to the town hall square. From place Alexandre-Israël you go to les Halles and the canal, where the Cœur marks the border between the "body" of the cork and the "head"; across the canal are the Cité du Vitrail and the Apothicairerie, the Saint-Loup museum, the cathedral and the modern art museum. You come back west by Saint-Urbain, rue Champeaux and the ruelle des Chats, the Madeleine, and go down to Saint-Nicolas, the Hôtel de Vauluisant and Saint-Pantaléon; the Maison de l'Outil and Saint-Jean-au-Marché close the tour a few steps from the square. Under 26 you get into the town museums and the Cité du Vitrail free, and on the first Sunday of the month everyone does. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Place Alexandre-Israël and the town hall
Square · free entry · 48.29722, 4.07446
place Alexandre-Israël, 10000 Troyes
the pedestrian town hall square, surrounded by half-timbered houses, and the starting point of the tour: the tourist office is a hundred metres away, on rue Aristide-Briand. The town hall is the only Louis XIII style building in the Aube: the first stone was laid on 8 July 1624, work stopped around 1640 and the building was finished in 1672. In the niche on the façade stands a helmeted Minerva, in place of the statue of Louis XIV destroyed in the Revolution, and above the doorway the revolutionary motto has survived intact, "Unité, Indivisibilité de la République, Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité ou la Mort", one of the few in France. In December the square hosts the Christmas market.
Opening hours the square is always open; the town hall cannot be visited · +33 3 25 42 33 33 · ville-troyes.fr
the central market, also called Saint-Rémy, in iron, cast iron and glass on the model of Baltard's Halles in Paris: it was designed by the town architect Edmond Bailly and opened on 1 March 1874. Inside there are 35 food stalls: fruit and vegetables, cheeses, Troyes andouillette, champagne. On the forecourt, redone in 2019, stands the Feuille, the large steel leaf by the same artists as the Cœur, which lights up blue on winter nights. It is the place to shop for the motorhome and for a quick lunch, and Saturday is the liveliest day.
Opening hours Monday 8:00-13:00; Tuesday to Thursday 8:00-13:00 and 15:30-19:00; Friday and Saturday 7:00-19:00 without a break; Sundays and public holidays 9:00-13:00. The outdoor market around it on Wednesday and Friday 8:00-17:00, Saturday 8:00-14:00. Closures at Christmas and New Year are not published · +33 3 25 73 59 80 · ville-troyes.fr
the Haute-Seine canal, begun in 1805 on Napoleon's orders and opened on 25 October 1846, has been closed to navigation since 1974; inside the town it marks the border between the "body" and the "head" of the cork, and its banks are a promenade. Halfway along, on the quai des Comtes de Champagne, stands the Cœur, a heart of steel lace by Michèle and Thierry Kayo-Houël, two artists from the Aube: more than two hundred welded pieces, 4 metres wide, 3.5 high and 2 deep. At sunset it lights up red, and when you get close it beats faster: with children, in winter, when it gets dark early, it is the stop to make at the end of the day.
Opening hours always visible; it lights up at sunset · troyeslachampagne.com
Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte, 31 quai des Comtes de Champagne, 10000 Troyes
the Aube département's centre devoted to stained glass, opened in December 2022 in the Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte, the hospital founded in the twelfth century by the Counts of Champagne next to their palace, rebuilt in the eighteenth century and still a hospital until 1988: you go in through the great wrought iron gate. The route, on four floors, puts stained glass from the twelfth to the twenty-first century at eye level, glass that in a church sits twenty metres up: the Aube is the département with the most stained glass in France. For children, free at the desk, there is stained glass hide and seek for ages 3-5 and 6-10, an activity booklet for ages 6-12, a table for colouring in stained glass designs and the audio story of Silicien, an apprentice master glazier.
Opening hours from 1 November to 31 March Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-17:00, from 1 April to 31 October until 18:00; closed on Mondays. The ticket office closes half an hour earlier. Closed on 25 December and 1 January, as well as 1 May and 1 and 11 November. From 3 to 8 November 2026 the chapel is closed while the exhibition is taken down · 7 euros, and the ticket is valid all day for the Apothicairerie as well. Free under 26 with ID, and for everyone on the first Sunday of the month. The guided tour costs 3 euros extra. The operator does not give the year of the price list · +33 3 25 42 52 87 · cite-vitrail.fr · reservation.citeduvitrail@aube.fr
Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte, 31 quai des Comtes de Champagne, 10000 Troyes
the hospital pharmacy, kept as it was in the eighteenth century: medicines were prepared here until 1961. In the main room there are 319 painted wooden boxes from the eighteenth century, each with the picture and the name of the remedy, a set unmatched in France, and almost three hundred white and blue faience jars. In the laboratory the "Apothicaire en herbe" corner is made for children: games on the three kingdoms, animal, vegetable and mineral, a smells workshop, drawings to colour and a tablet app in which you earn your apothecary's diploma. It takes half an hour, after the Cité du Vitrail.
Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday, closed on Mondays. The town museums website gives 10:00-18:00 without distinguishing seasons; the tourist office and the Cité du Vitrail, through which you enter, give 10:00-17:00 from 1 November to 31 March. Closed on 25 December, 1 January, 1 May, 1 and 11 November, and from 4 January to 20 February 2027 for woodworm treatment · you enter with the Cité du Vitrail ticket, 7 euros for both; for the Apothicairerie alone the 2025 price list of the town museums gives 7 euros and the tourist office 5. Free under 26 and for everyone on the first Sunday of the month · +33 3 25 42 52 87 · musees-troyes.com · musart@ville-troyes.fr
two museums in the old abbey of Saint-Loup, behind the cathedral: the museum opened in 1831 and the natural history cabinet in 1833. The natural history museum is the one for children, with stuffed animals and skeletons. The fine arts museum has French, Italian and Flemish painting from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, with two Watteaus and some twenty canvases by Natoire; the archaeology section has the Pouan treasure, the gold and garnets of a fifth century princely tomb, which is currently in the closed rooms. On Mondays, when the other museums are closed, these two are open.
Opening hours Wednesday to Monday 10:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00, closed on Tuesdays, according to the museums website; the tourist office gives until 17:00 from 1 November to 31 March. Closed on 25 December, 1 January, 1 May, 1 and 11 November. The archaeology rooms are closed for a few days, and the website does not say until when · with the 2025 price list, 7 euros for the fine arts and archaeology museum and 7 euros for the natural history museum; the 13 euro 48 hour Pass covers three town museums. Free under 26 and for everyone on the first Sunday of the month · +33 3 25 42 20 09 · musees-troyes.com · museum@ville-troyes.fr
begun around 1200 with the choir and never finished: the façade is sixteenth century, the Saint Peter tower was completed in 1634 and the Saint Paul tower was never built, which is why from outside it seems to have only one eye. Inside it is 114 metres long, and it has more than 1,500 square metres of stained glass from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century, one of the largest collections in France: in the choir the thirteenth century windows, in the nave the Tree of Jesse and Linard Gonthier's Mystic Wine Press, of 1625, with Christ under the press and the blood turning into wine. Here, on 21 May 1420, the Treaty of Troyes was sworn. The treasury, with the reliquary of Saint Bernard and a Byzantine ivory casket brought from Constantinople in 1204, is closed until November 2026, and the reopening date has not been announced. For children the cathedral has its own character, Zorobabel, the bat who tells the story of the windows.
Opening hours every day of the year. From 1 November to 31 March 9:30-12:30 and 14:00-17:00, in summer until 18:00; on Sunday mornings for Mass only, visits from 14:00. Christmas opening hours are not published · free. The treasury is closed until November 2026, and its price is not published · +33 3 25 76 98 18 · cathedraledetroyes.com
the museum born of the gift of Pierre and Denise Lévy, Troyes knitwear industrialists, who in 1976 gave their collection to the State; it opened in 1982 in the old bishop's palace next to the cathedral, with its chequered façade of brick and stone. Closed in 2018 for works, it reopened in April 2024. The collection runs from Courbet and Degas to Seurat, Bonnard and Vuillard, the Fauves, with one of the largest collections of Derain in the world, Braque, Vlaminck and Dufy, then Modigliani, Soutine, Balthus, de Staël and Buffet; more than 140 Art Deco glass pieces by Maurice Marinot, and sculpture, with Degas's bronzes. There is a sculpture garden. Allow an hour and a half.
Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday, closed on Mondays. The museums website gives 10:00-18:00 without seasons, the tourist office 10:00-17:00 from 1 November to 31 March. Closed on 25 December, 1 January, 1 May, 1 and 11 November · with the 2025 price list, 8 euros for the collection, 10 euros with the temporary exhibition. Free under 26 and for everyone on the first Sunday of the month; the 13 euro 48 hour museums Pass is valid · +33 3 25 76 26 80 · musees-troyes.com · musart@ville-troyes.fr
the church that Pope Urban IV, Jacques Pantaléon, son of a Troyes shoemaker, had built from 1262 on the site of his father's workshop. The nuns of Notre-Dame-aux-Nonnains, who did not want a papal church on their land, sent armed men to wreck the building site, and the abbess was excommunicated in 1268. It was consecrated in 1389 while still unfinished, and the nave was completed only in 1905. It is the model of "Rayonnant" Gothic, all glass, and it is called the Parthenon of Champagne: the choir windows are the original ones, from around 1270, and in the south chapel is the Vierge aux Raisins, the Virgin with the grapes, from the sixteenth century. Outside, the gargoyles.
Opening hours from 1 November to 31 March Monday to Saturday 9:30-12:30 and 14:00-17:00, Sunday 14:00-17:00; from 1 April to 31 October until 18:00. Christmas opening hours are not published
the pedestrian street at the heart of the quarter rebuilt after the fire of 1524. The richest rebuilt in stone, the others remade the houses they had before, in oak, with vertical, horizontal and diagonal beams on show and coloured plaster: that is why the Renaissance houses look medieval. After the war many were demolished as unhealthy, and since the 1960s they have been restored. This is where you turn into the ruelle des Chats.
Point of interest · free entry · 48.29672, 4.07222
ruelle des Chats, fra rue Champeaux e rue Charbonnet, 10000 Troyes
the alley of the cats, so narrow that the half-timbered houses, jutting out one floor above the other, almost touch at the top and are held apart by props: it is said that a cat can cross from one roof to the other without jumping. It used to be called ruelle Maillard, it was rebuilt after the fire of 1524, in 1783 it became "rue des Chats", and today's name has been official since 1962. The paving with the gutter down the middle is that of thirteenth century streets. Ask children to find the cat's head carved on a beam; halfway along the alley opens the cour du Mortier d'Or. It is the postcard view of Troyes.
the oldest church in Troyes, from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with the choir rebuilt around 1500 and the tower of 1525. You come for the jubé, the stone rood screen between the nave and the choir, one of the very few left in France: it was carved by Jean Gailde between 1508 and 1517, a Gothic lacework with an arch hanging in mid air and pendants that seem to rest on nothing; Gailde wished to be buried beneath it. The choir windows, from the early sixteenth century, are of the Troyes school: the Tree of Jesse, Genesis, the life of Saint Eligius with the goldsmith's workshop. Next to the entrance is the gateway of the old cemetery, today the jardin des Innocents.
Opening hours from 1 November to 31 March Monday to Saturday 9:30-12:30 and 14:00-17:00, Sunday 14:00-17:00; from 1 April to 31 October until 18:00. Christmas opening hours are not published · free; the audio guide 2 euros, twenty minutes, in four languages that the source does not list · +33 3 25 73 82 90
rebuilt in stone after the fire of 1524 and set against the town walls: that is why it was entered from the side, and today's doorway, of 1840, was added when the walls were pulled down. Above the entrance is the Calvary chapel, a gallery reached by a monumental staircase inside the church, with Christ bending under the cross, an anonymous sixteenth century Troyes masterpiece. In the first bay on the left is the Holy Sepulchre, a copy of the tomb in Jerusalem. With its short opening hours, it fits in late in the afternoon.
Opening hours in 2026 only Tuesday to Friday, 16:00-19:00
a Renaissance mansion rebuilt after 1524, with its façade between two towers, owned by the town since 1932. It houses two museums. The Musée de la Maille, the knitwear museum, tells the story of the trade that made Troyes, from wooden frames to the machines of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with stockings, socks, swimsuits and underpants; children like the machines. The Musée de la Renaissance en Champagne has the sculpture and painting of sixteenth century Troyes, the town's golden age, and pieces of demolished half-timbered houses.
Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-13:00 and 14:00-18:00 according to the museums website; the tourist office gives until 17:00 from 1 November to 31 March. Closed on Mondays, 25 December, 1 January, 1 May, 1 and 11 November · with the 2025 price list, 5 euros for each of the two museums; the 13 euro 48 hour Pass covers three museums. Free under 26 and for everyone on the first Sunday of the month · +33 3 25 43 43 20 · musees-troyes.com · musart@ville-troyes.fr
opposite the Hôtel de Vauluisant, rebuilt after the fire of 1524, with a classical eighteenth century façade. Inside, the nave is narrow and very tall, under a wooden vault 28 metres high, and two rows of statues stand on the pillars: after the Revolution the sculptures saved from other churches were brought here, and today it is a museum of sixteenth century Troyes statuary, some sixty statues, including those of Domenico del Barbiere, "the Florentine". The grisaille windows are sixteenth century.
Opening hours from 1 November to 31 March Tuesday to Saturday 9:30-12:30 and 14:00-17:00, Sunday 14:00-17:00; closed on Mondays. From 1 April to 31 October until 18:00 · +33 3 25 71 68 00
hôtel de Mauroy, 7 rue de la Trinité, 10000 Troyes
12,000 hand tools from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in 65 display cases, divided among the trades of wood, iron, animals and stone, collected by the Jesuit Father Paul Feller and looked after since 1969 by the Compagnons du Devoir, the brotherhood of craftsmen who do the tour de France. It is housed in the hôtel de Mauroy, a half-timbered Renaissance mansion with an inner courtyard, from the mid sixteenth century. The technical library has 32,000 volumes, including the first edition of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie. For children there are two free booklets, for ages 8-12 and 12-16. It is the right museum for a rainy afternoon with older children.
Opening hours every day 9:00-12:00 and 14:00-18:00; from October to March closed on Tuesdays. Closed over the holidays: according to the tourist office it is open until 21 December 2026 and reopens on 2 January 2027 · 8 euros; reduced 4 euros for ages 12 to 18 and students; free under 12. Audio guide 1 euro extra. The operator does not give the year of the price list · +33 3 25 73 28 26 · mopo3.com · contact@mopo3.com
rue Mignard, place du Marché-au-Pain, 10000 Troyes
the church of the Champagne fairs, which were held around it, in the merchants' quarter. Here, on 2 June 1420, Henry V of England married Catherine of Valois, after the Treaty of Troyes. Its choir and transept were rebuilt after the fire of 1524, and the bell tower collapsed in 1911. Inside are the great altarpiece of 1667 with paintings by Pierre Mignard, born in Troyes, the tabernacle by François Girardon and the sixteenth century windows, including the Judgement of Solomon. We are a hundred metres from the town hall square: the tour is complete.
Opening hours from 1 November to 31 March Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 9:30-12:30 and 14:00-17:00, Sunday 14:00-17:00; closed Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. From 1 April to 31 October until 18:00 · +33 3 25 71 68 00
Autumn in Troyes is the season of books and songs: in early October the children's book festival, in the second half of the month the Nuits de Champagne, with hundreds of choir singers. In December the Christmas market is back in front of the town hall, where it had been missing from 2006 until 2024. In the villages of the Côte des Bar the year follows the vines: village fairs in spring, and in summer the open cellars of the Route du Champagne en fête, which moves to different villages every year.
Next: Nuits de Champagne · 17-24 Octtomorrow
17-24Oct
Nuits de Champagne
in the second half of October
the French song festival, eight days of concerts in the halls of central Troyes and the surrounding towns: in 2026, the thirty-ninth edition, 47 concerts in 13 venues. Its heart is the Grand Choral, hundreds of amateur choir singers performing the repertoire of one artist, in 2026 Daniel Balavoine, at the Espace Argence, with tickets from 33 euros. Reductions apply to students and under 20s. The box office is at the Maison du Boulanger, on rue Paillot-de-Montabert
tomorrow
7-9Nov
Salon de la Gastronomie
in early November
three days of food producers and artisans at Le Cube, the Troyes exhibition centre, with tastings and sales of regional specialities. In 2026 open from 10:00 to 21:00, on the last day until 18:00; the admission price is not published
5-6Dec
Noël en Fête
in early December
the Christmas concert of the Orchestre Symphonique de l'Aube in the auditorium of the conference centre, on place de la Libération: in 2026 Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker and English Christmas music, on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, for an hour and a half. Tickets cost 23 euros, 15 for under 25s and over 60s, 5 for students and under 18s
6May
Journée des Plantes
Ascension Thursday
in Bergères, near Bar-sur-Aube, the garden day: more than 140 exhibitors, nurserymen, market gardeners, craftspeople and artists, the potters' market and a large market of local produce. In 2026 it was open from 10:00 to 20:00
to be confirmed
31 Jul › 1Aug
Route du Champagne en fête
at the end of July or in early August
the champagne festival of the Aube, since 1995: for one weekend the winegrowers of one area of the Côte des Bar open their cellars, and the area changes every year. In 2025 it was in Les Riceys, in 2026 on 1 and 2 August in ten villages of the Aube valley around Bar-sur-Aube, with 22 cellars. You buy a pass with a glass and a booklet, which gives you one tasting in each cellar; between 25,000 and 40,000 people come
This year's dates are not out yet
Festival Troyes Mille Pages
in early October
the children's book festival, born as the Salon du Livre pour la Jeunesse and reaching its fortieth edition in 2026: four days at the Espace Argence, on boulevard Gambetta, with authors and illustrators signing books, meetings, shows and exhibitions, for little ones, for teenagers and for adults. Admission is free
Marché de Noël de Troyes
from late November to late December
the Christmas market on the forum in front of the town hall, in place Alexandre-Israël, back in 2024 after eighteen years: wooden chalets with craftspeople, local produce and street food, roast chestnuts and mulled wine. For children the carousel and, in 2024, animated chalets with Father Christmas's post office; in town the lights, a twelve metre fir tree in front of the town hall and a self-guided trail game to discover the lights. Admission is free. On 9 October 2026 the town had not yet published the dates
Foire concours agricole et viticole
a weekend in April
the agricultural and wine fair of Bar-sur-Seine, with the competition, a funfair and entertainment in the village. In 2024 it turned one hundred
Randonnée gourmande in Celles-sur-Ource
a Sunday in May
a walk of about ten kilometres through the vineyards of Celles-sur-Ource, with the courses of a lunch, from aperitif to main dish, served at stops along the way by the village's volunteer winegrowers, and a glass of champagne at every stop. It starts at 10:00; it is organised by the brotherhood of Saint Vincent
Champagne Party
in early July
two days around Bar-sur-Aube with the cellars of about ten houses open: visits, tastings, food pairings, walks in the vineyard. You book cellar by cellar; in 2026 it was on 4 and 5 July
Othe-Armance Festival
in early July
the open-air music festival in the Parc des Fontaines at Aix-en-Othe, about thirty kilometres west of Troyes: two evenings of concerts, since 1991
Foire aux bulles et gastronomie
a weekend in September
the bubbles and food fair of Bar-sur-Aube: exhibitors in the streets, the champagne village and entertainment all weekend
Remember
Useful tips
Arrive early at the motorhome stopover: it has 37 places and is the only motorhome stopover in town with services. It has no toilets or showers, and keep the ticket: losing it costs 30 euros
On Sundays bus 1 does not run: from the stopover to the centre you walk, about half an hour, or take a Le Marcel bicycle from the Stade de l'Aube; in the centre the free shuttle runs on Sundays too, every half hour
For water and emptying there is also the service area at the Intermarché in Creney, eight minutes from the stopover, with toilets and a free laundry, during the supermarket's opening hours; whether you can stay the night is not stated. Those spending the day at the McArthurGlen factory outlets have a motorhome car park with an entry code, which you ask for at the reception desk; there too nothing is said about the night
In winter only the Mesnil-Saint-Père car park stays open on the lake: the Mesnil campsite closes at the end of September, the Géraudot one in mid November; the one at Clérey, on the road to the Côte des Bar, also closes at the end of September
With children and teenagers the museums cost little: the town museums and the Cité du Vitrail are free under 26 with ID, and on the first Sunday of the month they are free for everyone. For adults the 13 euro 48 hour Pass covers three town museums
Choose carefully on Monday and Tuesday: on Mondays the modern art museum, the Apothicairerie, the Hôtel de Vauluisant and the Cité du Vitrail are closed, but the Saint-Loup museum and the Maison de l'Outil are open; on Tuesdays it is the other way round for Saint-Loup and, from October to March, for the Maison de l'Outil
Between Christmas and winter: the museums and the Cité du Vitrail are closed on 25 December and 1 January, the Maison de l'Outil from 22 December to 1 January, the Apothicairerie from 4 January to 20 February 2027
Saint-Nicolas opens only in the late afternoon, Tuesday to Friday from 16:00 to 19:00, and Saint-Jean-au-Marché in winter only on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday afternoon: it is worth building the tour around these two timetables
Buy andouillette at les Halles and, right next door, at the Charcuterie des Halles of Patrick Maury, on rue du Général de Gaulle; outside the centre, convenient by motorhome, the shop of AT France, the Lemelle firm, in the Écrevolles industrial zone. The name alone guarantees nothing: look for the AAAAA diploma on display
If you don't like offal don't force yourself: andouillette is intestines and stomach, and you can taste it. Have Chaource, hot or cold, Aube lamb, or poultry with lentillons de Champagne, the region's small pink lentils. A dish "with Chaource" on a Troyes menu is often andouillette itself: it is worth asking
The Christmas market does not yet have its 2026 dates: in 2024 it ran from 29 November to 29 December. With children it goes well with the self-guided trail game of the Christmas lights through the streets of the centre
The Route du Champagne en fête in 2026 had a motorhome car park in every village, and in some an overnight area, free and without booking, with toilets and water, plus free shuttles between the villages: the villages change every year, and the map comes out on the festival website
For the champagne of the Côte des Bar, Renoir's villages and the cellars there is the Côte des Bar experience, to do as a day trip
Troyes · part two
and then?
What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Experiences from here
What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.
In Troyes you eat andouillette, and you eat it with Chaource. It is not a sausage: it is made only of pork, with the large intestine and the stomach cut into long strips, seasoned with onion, salt, pepper and herbs, pulled by hand into the casing and cooked slowly for five hours in an aromatic stock; one kilo of andouillette takes three kilos of raw material. It has neither PDO nor PGI: the sign to look for in the shop window is AAAAA, the "5A" of the Association Amicale des Amateurs d'Andouillette Authentique, a diploma awarded by a jury after blind tasting, and valid for two years. Chaource, the soft cheese of whole cow's milk named after a village thirty kilometres to the south, has been AOC since 1970 and PDO since 1996. In the glass, the champagne of the Aube, which comes almost entirely from the Côte des Bar, and rosé des Riceys, a still rosé protected since 1947. From the orchards of the pays d'Othe come cider and apple juice. You finish with prunelle de Troyes, the 40 degree liqueur of sloe stones distilled since 1840 at the Cellier Saint-Pierre, opposite the cathedral, to be drunk ice cold.
the half-timbered houses painted red, yellow and pink on rue Émile-Zola, in the centre of TroyesPhoto: Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0rue Paillot-de-Montabert on the evening of 23 December, with lights strung between the half-timbered housesPhoto: Valentin F.R., Wikimedia Commons, CC0the Christmas village with the large illuminated bubbles in front of the town hall, in place Alexandre-IsraëlPhoto: G.Garitan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the half-timbered houses on the corner of rue Champeaux and rue Aristide-Briand, on an evening in late DecemberPhoto: Superjuju10, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the façade of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul with Christmas trees on the forecourtPhoto: Chabe01, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the carousel in place Alexandre-Israël in December, among the buildings of the squarePhoto: Chabe01, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Louis XIII style town hall on the pedestrian square of place Alexandre-IsraëlPhoto: troye owens, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the stalls of the covered market of les Halles seen from the gallery, under the iron and glass structurePhoto: G.Garitan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Haute-Seine canal in the centre of Troyes, between the tree-lined quays and the buildingsPhoto: DXR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the wrought iron and gold gate of the Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte, through which you enter the Cité du VitrailPhoto: Iain Cameron, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0a room in the Cité du Vitrail, with stained glass windows mounted on frames at eye levelPhoto: G.Garitan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a three-light window with the stories of Saint Giles, displayed close up at the Cité du VitrailPhoto: G.Garitan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the eighteenth century painted wooden boxes on the shelves of the Apothicairerie, each with a picture of the remedyPhoto: G.Garitan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the room of the Apothicairerie of the Hôtel-Dieu-le-Comte, with the painted boxes and the white and blue faience jarsPhoto: G.Garitan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a painting gallery in the Saint-Loup museum, with large old canvases on blue and pink wallsPhoto: G.Garitan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the façade of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul with the Saint Peter tower, the only one builtPhoto: Bruno Rijsman, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the nave of the cathedral looking towards the choir, with stained glass at the end and in the upper wallsPhoto: Marc Ryckaert, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Saint Maurice and Saint Catherine of Alexandria in the Flamboyant windows of the north transept of the cathedralPhoto: Vassil, Wikimedia Commons, pubblico dominiothe garden of the modern art museum in the old bishop's palace, with the cathedral tower behindPhoto: Musees de Troyes, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Gothic façade of the Basilica of Saint-Urbain, with its three red doorways under the spiresPhoto: Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the choir of the Basilica of Saint-Urbain, almost entirely glass, with the original thirteenth century windowsPhoto: Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the half-timbered houses of rue Champeaux with restaurant tables outsidePhoto: Bruno Rijsman, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the maison de l'Orfèvre with its scaled turret, among the half-timbered houses of rue ChampeauxPhoto: Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the entrance to the ruelle des Chats, with the beam between the houses and the gutter down the middle of the pavingPhoto: Chabe01, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the ruelle des Chats, so narrow that the half-timbered houses are held up with wooden propsPhoto: Superjuju10, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the cat's head carved on a beam in the ruelle des Chats, one to look for with childrenPhoto: Chabe01, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the cour du Mortier d'Or, the half-timbered courtyard that opens halfway along the ruelle des ChatsPhoto: Eponimm, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the jubé of the Madeleine, the openwork stone rood screen carved by Jean Gailde between the nave and the choirPhoto: GFreihalter, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the carved gateway of the old cemetery next to the Madeleine, which today leads to the jardin des InnocentsPhoto: GFreihalter, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the north side of the church of Saint-Nicolas, rebuilt in stone after the fire of 1524Photo: G.Garitan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Hôtel de Vauluisant with its two towers and horseshoe staircase, home of the knitwear museumPhoto: Rabbitslim, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the church of Saint-Pantaléon with its slate-covered bell tower, seen from the Hôtel de VauluisantPhoto: Patrick from Compiègne, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the half-timbered courtyard of the hôtel de Mauroy with its stair turret, home of the Maison de l'OutilPhoto: Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a pair of compasses, a saw and two axes hanging on the chequered brick and white stone wall of the hôtel de MauroyPhoto: Javelefran, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the west front of Saint-Jean-au-Marché, the church of the Champagne fairs, with the fountain in frontPhoto: ChBougui, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Chaource, the bloomy-rind cheese of the Aube, cut on a slate boardPhoto: Coyau, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
