48 Hours in the Aube

Between the lakes and the vineyards…

Top tips for how best to spend a weekend in Champagne country, from the medieval city of Troyes and the Côte des Bar vineyards to the Orient Forest and Clairvaux abbey – a masterpiece of French monastic architecture.

Day 1

10am: The Medieval City of Troyes 

Troyes has an irresistible aura thanks mainly to its private town houses. But its restored wells, its cobbled streets lined with timber frame dwellings, its finely decorated wooden doors, its museums with their rich local and original heritage, its apothecary’s dispensary, its restaurants that celebrate unrivalled local gastronomy cannot fail to interest you. Cellars in historic locations leave you delighted with the rhythm of passing time. And if modern life begins to reassert itself, then take advantage of the region’s shopping centres.

Midday
Gastronomic meal at Hostellerie de la Chaumière. In the dining room with its wide bay windows overlooking the terrace and the tree-lined garden bordered by a river, the atmosphere changes with the light of the varying seasons! In the warm coloured, wood panelled panoramic dining room, Bernard and Susan Guillerand and their staff invite you to relish a fresh, authentic cuisine crafted with local ingredients from the Aube market.

2pm: Walking and Hiking

Walking in Aube means 1,400 km of paths in the heart of the countryside to suit all tastes and all ambitions. Sunday walker or expert, everyone will find a path to suit them in Aube. The department offers a beautiful range of landscapes. We invite you to discover the water and forests of the countryside surrounded the great lakes, or the plateaus cut by the deep valleys of the Côte des Bar vineyards.

4pm: Route du Champagne

After this intensive activity, it’s time to explore the champagne cellars. The winegrowers guide sparkling wine enthusiasts through the cool of vaulted cellars sometimes dating back to the 12th century, where the bottles are kept, to discover a wine with a thousand and one qualities. They talk about their grapes, the care and attention they give to their vines right up until the moment of harvest. They demonstrate pressing then assembling, the subtlety of all these specific techniques that make champagne a unique wine on an international scale. Then comes that special and memorable moment when the wine is tasted and visitors learn to discern champagne’s multiple flavours, vintages, rosés, extra rich.

Day 2

10am: Orient Forest Natural Regional Park: cycling and birdwatching
In the heart of the Orient Forest Natural Regional Park, the “Vélovoie” cycle track is the ideal opportunity for nature lovers, families or sports enthusiasts to discover Aube in a different way, taking advantage of each season’s charms. Aube is a very rich department from the ornithological point of view. The Orient Forest Natural Regional Park and its three lakes have over time become a temple to birds and constitute one of the richest ornithological sites in France.

Midday: Picnic and Swimming

The three fine sandy beaches created in Mesnil Saint Père, Géraudot and Lusigny sur Barse are an invitation to relaxation and swimming. You can have a picnic on the beach and then enjoy the water activities. From March to November, Orient lake is transformed into a paradise for diving, canoeing, kayaking, pedal boating and the use of small boats is also possible.

2pm: Bayel crystal

Situated in a loop in the Aube, the commune of Bayel enthusiastically perpetuates its master glass making tradition. At the crystal factory, the flame is passed on from generation to generation to produce the clearest and most finely worked crystal. If the work of glass making goes back to about 1300, it all really started in 1666 when Jean-Baptiste Mazzolay arrived. This Venetian brought the secret of the Masters of Murano with him. Louis XIV, taken by the brightness of the glass, gave him permission to start a Royal factory in Bayel to supply Versailles with crystal…

4pm: Clairvaux, the Cistercian abbey

This Cistercian abbey, founded in the 12th century by St. Bernard, is a masterpiece of French monastic architecture. The famous abbey was converted into a prison by Napoleon. Discovery of various buildings recounting the history of the place: the splendid building of lay with its cellar and its dorm (twelfth century), the Grange of the sixteenth century, the Hostellerie des Dames and the Grand Cloître a cloister classic in the eighteenth century.