Has anyone been to Troyes recently, and do you have any recommendations for restaurants, hotels, and things to do? We are thinking of using that city as a base for visiting Champagne houses in the Aube region (Vouette & Sorbee, Cedric Bouchard, etc.). Any advice for visiting that region would be appreciated as well. Thanks!
We stayed in Troyes for a week in February 2003. None of the restaurant names I saw today rang a bell but we stayed at the Hotel de La Poste. It has a good central location and had a very good bakery across the street. We visited Aube producers, Chablis and Burgundy while staying there. The city was very pleasant and had good restaurants and shopping. We then went to Reims for a few days and stayed at Boyer les Crayeres. Great trip.There was a great cheese restaurant near the hotel in Troyes and several other restaurants nearby from casual to upscale.
Several recs for cafes/restaurants in Troyes on the uk wine pages board.
aux crieurs de vin
Judging from their Instagram page, this definitely looks like a place we will hit.
Thanks for the other responses - I will check out the UK pages.
This would be my rec as well. As is usual in such places you can have any bottle from the shelves of their wine shop in the restaurant for a modest fee. A very good selection of natural wines and tasty, mostly quite rustic food.
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The art museum in Troyes was nice.The outlet mall was fun too. I love Mephisto shoes.
Bumping this as I’m considering working Troyes into my upcoming itinerary to Champagne. Any recent experiences, especially looking for lunch spots, wine shops, and can’t-miss sights?
(I’d responded to Zac privately but am posting this here as others might find it useful.)
Troyes was on my must-visit list for years because there were two specialised museums I wanted to visit: the Maison de l’Outil (museum of tools) and the apothecary museum housed in the Hotel-Dieu-le-Comte. I finally visited Troyes two years ago–took the direct train from Paris with a Parisian friend and spent 12 very enjoyable hours there. There were refreshingly few tourists (week-day in October) compared to Reims.
Troyes of course is an important city dating back to Roman times (Treaty of Troyes, troy weights, the poet Chretien de Troyes, a city of fine arts (sculpture, stained glass, paintings), and the ancient capital of Champagne and still the capital of the Aube department). Much of the old central part of town dates from the mid-1500s (rebuilt after a major fire) and remains well preserved with many charming half-timbered houses that escaped bombing during WWII. The old town has many old churches and both a basilica and a cathedral. The old town is coincidentally shaped like a champagne cork when viewed from above, with the Seine curving around the top of the “cork”.
The Maison de l’Outil alone was worth the train trip out–it’s a fascinating collection of tools for all sorts of occupations/crafts, housed in an impressive building that also contains a research library. Nearby is the Hotel de Vauluisant, a splendid Renaissance building housing the museum of Champenois art (especially art/stained glass/sculpture of the mediaeval Troyes school) as well as the museum of Troyes’s 1800s’ knitting industry. The church across the street from the Hotel de Vauluisant, Saint-Pantaleon, is also worth visiting–it’s a Baroque church full of polychrome sculpture (some rescued from other churches during the Revolution) and stained glass; it is the parish church for the Polish community in this part of France).
On the opposite side of the old town, about a half mile away, is the Hotel-Dieu-le-Comte (apothecary museum, stained glass museum) which remains on my must-visit list. On the way there you can stop by a nice 19th-century covered market (Marche Les Halles) where you can find local cheeses, etc. Near the Hotel-Dieu-le-Comte is the cathedral, as is the modern art museum (funded by the Lacoste owners) near the cathedral, which holds an impressive collection. There are some other museums here, including an archaeology museum, which I have yet to visit.
For wine I’d recommend Aux Crieurs de vin (near the Maison de l’Outil); you can also get a light meal here. I am not much for shopping, but Troyes is also known for the outlet shops on the city’s outskirts.
The website https://www.troyeslachampagne.com/ has a useful walking guide and audio tour in several languages.
So yes, I recommend Troyes as a charming small city to visit. If you are taking the train, all of the old town is easily reached on foot from the station. I will be in France again next month and am thinking of revisiting Troyes as the Hotel-Dieu-le-Comte was closed when I visited, and apart from the apothecary museum there is a new museum of stained glass (Cite du Vitrail) which was about to open when I was there.
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