The Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa Just Became Champagne’s First-Ever Palace

Gina Lyons
2 hours ago
6 min read

The Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa, perched above the Coteaux, Maisons et Caves de Champagne · © Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa

And Just Like That, Everything Changed in Champagne.

There are five-star hotels. And then there are Palaces.

In France, the distinction is not subjective, it is sovereign. The Palace label, created in 2010 by Atout France, is the highest hospitality honor the country bestows. It is reserved for hotels deemed to embody French art de vivre so completely that they extend the reach of French culture itself. Fewer than three dozen properties in all of France hold it. Almost all of them sit in Paris, the Alps, or along the Côte d’Azur.

Champagne, the birthplace of the world’s most celebrated wine, a UNESCO World Heritage landscape, the long-weekend escape just 45 minutes from Paris, did not have a single one. Until now.

On June 4, 2026, the Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa became the first Palace in Champagne, and the first in the entire Grand Est region of France. For those of us who have spent quiet mornings on its terraces and watched the light shift over the vines from its balconies, the recognition feels less like news and more like a long-awaited confirmation.

For our travelers, and for the region we love so dearly, it changes everything.

A Distinction Earned, Never Requested

The Palace label cannot be applied for. It is earned, through a famously demanding audit by Atout France, the country’s official tourism agency. The criteria go far beyond marble bathrooms and Michelin stars — a Palace must possess an exceptional location, a singular history, impeccable service, and what the French so poetically call un supplément d’âme, a supplement of soul.

In other words, a Palace is not a hotel. It is a place that carries France itself to the world.

“To be the first Palace in Champagne is both an honor and a mission — to welcome the world and share the art de vivre champenois in all its richness.”— Vincent Parinaud, General Manager

For the Royal Champagne, the title feels less like a destination than a coronation. In the past year alone, the hotel has renewed its three Michelin Keys (the guide’s highest hotel honor), held its Forbes Five-Star rating for a third consecutive year, earned Green Globe sustainability certification, and seen its spa named Best Spa in Europe 2025. The Palace is simply the crown on a head already heavy with laurels.

A Setting Without Equal

The outdoor infinity pool, open to the sea of vines · © Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa

Perched on the slopes of the Montagne de Reims within a protected Natura 2000 area, the hotel overlooks a horizon of vines inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, the Coteaux, Maisons et Caves de Champagne. The view you see today is, quite literally, the view your grandchildren will see.

The architecture was designed to honor it. All 47 rooms and suites, from the airy Junior Suites to the spectacular Marie-Louise and Joséphine Suites, open onto the vineyards. The building cascades down the hillside so that no room obstructs another, and sunrise from your bed, with a sea of vines turning gold below, has quietly become the property’s signature moment.

And the location is almost shockingly accessible: 45 minutes from Paris by high-speed train, 15 minutes from Reims, a stone’s throw from Épernay and its UNESCO-listed Avenue de Champagne. There is no easier luxury escape from the French capital, and now, no more decorated one.

A History Written Across Two Centuries

The Royal Champagne’s story does not begin in 2018, when the property reopened after its grand four-year restoration. It begins in the 19th century, when an inn was built on this sun-drenched ridge precisely because it offered the finest panorama in the region. It became a coaching inn on the post road and welcomed illustrious travelers, including Napoleon himself, who stopped here after the 1814 Battle of Reims. The hotel later took its name in homage to the Royal-Champagne cavalry regiments of the Ancien Régime.

In 2014, the property was acquired by Denise Dupré and Mark Nunnelly, the American owners of the pioneering grower Champagne house Leclerc Briant. Their vision was to create a true ambassador for the region and its wines, and it has guided every detail ever since. When the hotel reopened in 2018, it joined The Leading Hotels of the World.

The Palace distinction, in many ways, is the final sentence of a story that has been written, sip by sip, for almost two hundred years.

A Cellar of 200,000 Bottles and the Doors That Open Because of It

Bar Abysse, for a glass of Champagne overlooking the valley · © Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa

This, for us, is the part that makes the Royal Champagne unlike any other hotel in the region.

The wine program is not an amenity. It is a philosophy. The cellar holds some 200,000 bottles, the list has been named a Gold Star Winner 2025 in France and a world finalist by Star Wine List, and the chef sommelier ranks among France’s top five for 2024.

But the real magic happens beyond the cellar walls. The hotel’s Guest Experience Makers craft bespoke journeys for every guest, private tastings with independent grower-producers across the Reims and Épernay vineyards, intimate encounters with winemakers most travelers never meet, and access to celebrated houses.

It is exactly the kind of access we love to bring our own guests into. It is the difference between visiting Champagne and being inside it.

Two Restaurants, One Michelin-Starred Vision

Le Bellevue, the hotel’s gastronomic dining room with panoramic views · © Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa

The culinary program is led by Chef Christophe Raoux, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, one of the most prestigious distinctions a French chef can hold.

Le Royal — set in the historic wing, inspired by the Napoleonic legend, an intimate gastronomic experience with one nightly seating.
Le Bellevue — the all-day brasserie with the panoramic view, where long summer lunches stretch effortlessly into afternoons.
Bar Abysse — the open-air terrace where the day melts into evening with a flute in your hand.

Raoux’s cooking is sincere, terroir-driven, and built to pair with the Champagnes it accompanies. There is no better dining destination in the region, and very few in France.

A 1,500 m² Spa Named the Best in Europe

The Revive Spa unfolds across more than 1,500 square meters with nine treatment rooms, an indoor pool and a heated outdoor pool open to the vineyards, hammam, sauna, fitness studio, and the Salon Namasté for yoga and private coaching. Signature treatments are crafted with Clarins and myBlend, and yes, there are even bespoke Champagne rituals.

Above it all, an exclusive signature fragrance, created in collaboration with a former master perfumer of Maison Guerlain, quietly scents the entire property. You will smell it the moment you arrive. You will remember it for years afterward.

A Vine Affair: Our Home in Champagne

For nearly every Champagne journey we host, the Royal Champagne has been, and remains, our home base. It is the property we trust to set the tone for everything, where we welcome our guests, and where the journey truly begins.

Now, it is also a Palace — the very first in Champagne, and the very first in the Grand Est.

For us, it is a moment of quiet pride. For the region, it is a long-awaited place on the global map of the most rarefied destinations. For our travelers, it is simply the most beautifully decorated reason yet to come and discover Champagne with us.

Why we love it: Because Royal Champagne does what only the rarest hotels can do — it makes you feel the soul of the place around it. It is not Champagne’s finest hotel because it is now a Palace. It is now a Palace because it has always been Champagne’s finest hotel.

At a Glance

Address: 9 rue de la République, 51160 Champillon, France
Access: 45 min from Paris by TGV, 15 min from Reims, minutes from Épernay
Rooms: 47 suites with vineyard views
Restaurants: Le Royal (gastronomic), Le Bellevue (brasserie), Bar Abysse
Spa: 1,500 m² · Best Spa in Europe 2025 · Clarins & myBlend
Distinctions: Palace (Atout France, 2026), Three Michelin Keys, Forbes Five-Star, Leading Hotels of the World, Green Globe
Official website: royalchampagne.com