I took my child to the Champagne region of France, I had a great time

So when we traveled to France in March 2024, I admit I was a little nervous. We traveled to Paris, where we dined at wine bars in the evening, but it was the three days in the Champagne region where I felt a mixture of excitement and anxiety.

me very much I wanted to visit Champagne. I was ready to taste anything, as long as my daughter could associate it.

There were so many families in the hotel

Champagne region the main city, Reimsit is a 90-minute drive from central Paris. Reims has several hotels, restaurants and a famous Gothic-era cathedral, Notre-Dame de Reims, to visit, making it both a wine-making center and a cultural center. I was actually there for the wine.

When we arrived at the hotel we had booked, we realized he was so kid friendly. In addition to the playroom I had seen online, there was a pizza oven for the kids to enjoy whenever the restaurants weren’t open. There is also an outdoor playground, swimming pool, children’s shop and even room service.

I was quick to note that many guests had families within walking distance, children coloring or working on a maze book while parents sat with a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket in the lobby living room. We even took our drinks to the playroom, where my daughter created an elaborate imaginary adventure with a stuffed giraffe.

The champagne houses were also kid-friendly

I was equally excited when we booked our visits to the champagne houses. Champagne Ruinart markets itself as a family-friendly winery. When we arrived, my daughter had a selection of specialty fruit juices to try while we tasted the wines.

Touring the stunning chalk caves, a defining feature of the Champagne region’s geography, she learned all about how the caves were used by children to get safely to school during the Second World War.

At Champagne Ayala, a winery in the village of Aÿ, my daughter played with our real tour guide. At the greeting, he was handed his own notebook and pen to “scribble down” what he saw, and a flashlight to help guide us through the vast, cavernous winery, which is 24 miles underground. She won applause for her work from the group, who were all fellow adults.

The hospitality team at Dom Perignon toured her through the historic Hautvillers Abbey, the house’s namesake in the 17th century, then served her her first glass of Coca-Cola as a treat in a guest room filled with accessories from the various brand collaborations. with Lady Gaga and Lenny Kravitz.

We visited a small grower champagne house, a word for wineries run by those who own the vineyards. There, at Champagne Michel Gonet’s Villa Signolle, he was given orange juice and played a game with the host while my husband and I participated in a blind tasting competition of their champagnes.

My daughter had a great time

full the experience reminded me of “Bringing Up Bebe,” the best-selling book that has become a must-read for many millennial moms. in the book, American author Pamela Druckerman addresses the cultural differences she has observed between American and French parents. Some elements of the book lean toward infrastructural differences—childcare is more accessible and less expensive than in the United States—and others are very social: In France, the author gathered, children are simply a more welcome part of society.

When we got back to Paris, we spent a day with an American friend who recently moved to Paris. Many of her observations about life in the French capital and her own visits to French wineries mirrored our own.

Our daughter, however, felt none of my maternity anxiety. For her, everything was an adventure. He still talks about the playroom at the hotel, wandering through the caves and the large church where the choir was singing during our visit. He saw stained glass visits for the first time and ate his weight in croissants. And, of course, when he got the special Coca-Cola drink.