Provins

Provins was one of the towns of the Champagne fairs, the cycle of great trade markets that moved between four towns through the year and made this the meeting point of merchants from Flanders and Italy for weeks at a time; UNESCO inscribed it in 2001 for that role. What survives is the apparatus of a fair town: about twelve hundred metres of ramparts with towers, the Cesar Tower on the high ground, and an extensive system of vaulted cellars beneath the merchant houses, cut into the chalk, used for storing and showing goods. Roses have been grown here since a count is said to have brought them back from the Levant.

What you actually see

• The ramparts - over a kilometre of walls and towers around the upper town.
• The Cesar Tower - the twelfth-century keep above the town.
• The underground galleries - vaulted cellars cut into the chalk beneath houses.
• The rose gardens - the town's long-standing rose cultivation.

When to go

April to October; the medieval festival in June fills the town, and falconry and jousting shows run through the season. Roses flower in June. Winter is quiet with reduced opening.

Honest expectations

The medieval shows are staged entertainment and priced separately, and the town leans heavily on them. The upper and lower towns are a steep walk apart. Many monuments close in winter.

Nearby

Paris lies west; Fontainebleau is southwest.