The Renoir trail in Essoyes begins at the Espace des Renoir, which also houses the tourist office. The centre screens a 15-minute film about the artist and displays temporary exhibitions of mostly contemporary art.
Espace des Renoir
Champagne
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
27.11 MILES
Half-timbered houses – some with lurching walls and floors that aren’t quite level – line many streets in the old city, rebuilt after a devastating fire…
26.9 MILES
Housed in a 16th- to 18th-century bishop’s palace, this place owes its existence to all those crocodile-logo shirts, whose global success allowed Lacoste…
29.69 MILES
Founded in 1118 and enshrined as a Unesco World Heritage site, Fontenay Abbey offers a fascinating glimpse of the austere, serene surroundings in which…
13.21 MILES
Bernard de Clairvaux (1090–1153), nemesis of Abelard and preacher of the Second Crusade, founded this hugely influential Cistercian monastery in 1115…
Musée du Pays Châtillonnais Trésor de Vix
13.5 MILES
Châtillon’s main claim to fame is the Trésor de Vix (Vix Treasure), a collection of Celtic, Etruscan and Greek objects from the 6th century BC on display…
Cathédrale St-Pierre et St-Paul
26.94 MILES
All at once imposing and delicate with its filigree stonework, Troyes' cathedral is a stellar example of champenoise Gothic architecture. The flamboyant…
Maison de l’Outil et de la Pensée Ouvrière
27 MILES
Worn to a sensuous lustre by generations of skilled hands, the 11,000 hand tools on display here – each designed to perform a single, specialised task…
29.74 MILES
Some 200L of water per second gushes from Fosse Dionne, a natural spring near the centre of Tonnerre that was sacred to the Celts and whose vivid blue…
Nearby Champagne attractions
The Atelier Renoir has displays zooming in on the hallmarks of Renoir’s work (the female form, the vibrant use of colour and light), alongside original…
2. Abbaye de Clairvaux Monastery
13.21 MILES
Bernard de Clairvaux (1090–1153), nemesis of Abelard and preacher of the Second Crusade, founded this hugely influential Cistercian monastery in 1115…
3. Musée du Pays Châtillonnais Trésor de Vix
13.5 MILES
Châtillon’s main claim to fame is the Trésor de Vix (Vix Treasure), a collection of Celtic, Etruscan and Greek objects from the 6th century BC on display…
13.79 MILES
The idyllic Source de la Douix (pronounced 'dwee'), a 600L-per-second artesian spring, flows from a 30m cliff in a city park on the Seine's eastern bank…
14.81 MILES
For insight into how crystal is made, visit the Musée du Cristal, where a 15-minute film highlights the different stages involved in crystal production. A…
18.91 MILES
The only château in France built on a pentagonal plan, and buttressed by five towers, the Renaissance-era Château de Maulnes, 24km east of Tonnerre, is a…
19.5 MILES
People flock by the coach-load to visit Charles de Gaulle’s vine-swathed home, La Boisserie, its elegant antique furnishings unchanged since he was laid…
19.71 MILES
The impressive Mémorial Charles de Gaulle presents graphic, easily digestible exhibits, rich in photos, which form an admiring biography of France’s…