Booking.com has named Reims one of its trending destinations for 2027, and the logic is easy to see. The city sits under two hours from Paris by car and under an hour by train, yet it offers things the capital can't: cellar tours with the world's most famous Champagne houses and the UNESCO-listed Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Reims, where French kings were once crowned.

The prediction isn't guesswork. Booking.com surveyed more than 28,000 travellers in July and August 2026 about where they plan to go over the next two years, filtered the answers down to its 1,000 most-booked destinations from early 2026, and ranked the results by year-on-year growth. Reims also fits a wider pattern — an earlier 2025 study found rising interest in regional French cities like Nice, Colmar, Lyon and Strasbourg, as travellers look beyond Paris.

There are fresh reasons to time a visit for 2027. The Palais du Tau, the former archbishop's palace beside the cathedral, closed in 2023 for renovation and reopens next year as the revamped Musée des Sacres. The redesigned visitor route promises a theatrical stroll past royal regalia, reliquaries, textiles and stained glass — a natural pairing with the cathedral next door.

Luxury travellers get something new too. Domaine Les Crayères, a grand early-1900s hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant, is expanding in the first quarter of 2027 with a new spa, a restored lake and an additional villa.

The Champagne scene has already been picking up steam. Le 3 by Champagne Thiénot opened in 2026, combining a boutique hotel, a museum and a rooftop Champagne bar. Maison Ruinart added its Nicolas Ruinart pavilion in 2024 — a modern building with a Champagne bar and a sculpture garden you can wander for free. Even without a cellar booking, you can fill a day in Reims with specialty coffee shops, rooftop bars and some genuinely varied architecture.

For anyone planning a French trip, Reims works both as a day trip from Paris and as a stop on a train route through the country's wine regions. Going before the 2027 crowds arrive — or timing it for the new openings — are both defensible strategies.