Faux de Verzy: a 3 km forest walk and how to get there from Reims
Low, twisting branches and rounded canopies give the Faux de Verzy their unusual shape. These aren’t trees trained into sculptures: they’re naturally contorted beeches, Fagus sylvatica var. tortuosa, growing in a protected reserve in the Montagne de Reims. The main visitor trail takes you past around fifty of them.
For a first visit, follow La balade des Faux, the 3 km route described by France’s Forestry Office, ONF. Admission is free. Getting to the trailhead needs more planning if you don’t have a car: Grand’R runs a seasonal service, with on-demand transport available by reservation during the rest of the year.
The trail at a glance
| Detail | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Route | La balade des Faux, 3 km on the main circuit |
| Suggested time | About 1 hour 30 minutes at a leisurely pace, excluding detours |
| Admission | Free access to the site |
| Start | Parking des Faux, on the RD 34 between Verzy and Louvois |
| ONF coordinates | 49.14106, 4.15661 |
| Surface | Waymarked stone-surfaced trail without steep gradients on the main route |
| Accessibility | Main trail awarded the French Tourisme & Handicap label for all four disability categories |
These details come from ONF and the tourist office, checked on 21 October 2026. The suggested hour and a half allows time to look at the trees. You don’t need to treat it as a target pace; your own stops will determine how long you spend here.
Which location should you save? Parking des Faux, rather than just the village of Verzy. The trail starts in the forest, and a route to the village won’t necessarily take you to it. Open the trailhead car park on OpenStreetMap. We checked this map location against the coordinates published by ONF.
What you’ll see among the Faux
Naturally twisted beech trees
A fau is a beech tree. Here, the trunks and branches grow in contorted forms, sometimes making an arch close to the ground. Look closer. The trunks and branches bend in their own ways, so as you move between neighbouring specimens you’ll notice that the low arch of one tree gives way to a completely different outline on the next, without anyone having trained them as garden sculptures or bonsai.
ONF describes around fifty Faux along the visitor walk. That figure refers to trees encountered on the route, rather than the entire forest population. Instead of searching for one tree that matches a photograph, compare a few neighbouring specimens and see how differently their branches spread.
Leaves or bare branches: choosing a season
Which would you rather photograph? With leaves, you’ll see the rounded, umbrella-like crowns associated with the Faux; after leaf fall, the wood beneath becomes easier to read, with twisting branches standing out where the foliage previously hid parts of their structure. Choose your season with that difference in mind.
Follow the waymarks. As you move between groups of trees, you’ll get successive views rather than one single lookout, with the protective barriers showing where you should stop instead of approaching a trunk for a closer picture. Stepping closer for a picture puts pressure on the sensitive area around the roots, precisely the ground the visitor route is intended to protect.
A protected forest reserve
The managed biological reserve was created in 1981 and enlarged in 2021. ONF gives its area as 57.44 hectares, protecting the great majority of the forest’s contorted beeches.
Stay on the path. You can observe the trees without crossing barriers or climbing into their branches, something worth explaining before you set off with children who may see the low limbs as an invitation to climb rather than part of a fragile protected reserve.
Driving to the right car park
ONF places the start at Parking des Faux, on the RD 34 between Verzy and Louvois. Its published coordinates are 49.14106, 4.15661. Save the location before you leave if you’re navigating on your phone.
Coming specifically for the trees? Use the named car park, not the village alone: Verzy village, the Verzy Centre transport stop and the forest car park are different locations, so choosing the wrong one can leave you away from the start of the walk you intended to do.
Tourist information lists a picnic area at the site. Plan your break there rather than in the protected ground around the trees, and take your rubbish away. For the city part of your stay, our guide to things to do in Reims offers other ideas.
Getting there without a car: how Grand’R works
Depart from Champagne-Ardenne TGV station
Grand’R leaves from Champagne-Ardenne TGV station in Bezannes. Not Reims Centre. If you’re staying in central Reims, your plan therefore needs to include the trip to Bezannes before the forest service as well as a connection back to your accommodation after you return.
For this walk, look for the Faux de Verzy stop. The operator also lists Verzy Centre, Rilly-la-Montagne and Phare de Verzenay, but those names aren’t interchangeable. Make sure the stop you select matches the walk you want to take.
The seasonal timetable has specific dates
For 2026, the operator lists weekends and public holidays from 2 May to 14 June, then daily operation from 15 June to 13 September. Three daily return services are advertised during the seasonal operation. These dates are for 2026, rather than a permanent calendar for future years.
Use the official Grand’R page, in French, to find outward and return services that leave enough time for your walk. There are 20 seats. Before building your day around a departure quoted in an older travel article, check that the operator still offers it on your date and that you can get back afterwards.
Outside the season, book the on-demand service
For the rest of the year, the operator describes Grand’R as Transport à la Demande, an on-demand service booked through MyMobi. In October, for example, you should plan it as a reserved journey. The end of daily seasonal operation doesn’t mean there is no transport option at all.
Check the offer for your date, the reservation procedure and both directions before setting out. We haven’t confirmed a seat or a departure for your individual trip. The operator also states that the current Grand’R vehicle isn’t accessible to passengers with reduced mobility: the accessible forest trail and the transport to it are separate questions.
Accessibility, detours and forest conditions
The main trail is stone-surfaced, has no steep gradients and holds the Tourisme & Handicap label for all four disability categories. Those are the characteristics of the managed visitor route. They don’t automatically describe every path in the forest.
Detours such as the route towards the Fau de Saint-Basle leave the main circuit. If you take one, the published 3 km distance and 1 hour 30 minute estimate no longer describe your complete outing. Nor should you assume that the main trail’s accessibility label covers the extra section.
ONF recommends the ONF Découvertes app for additional content. Download it before arriving so you can use the visit material offline. Older references to an app called En forêt de Verzy describe an earlier offer and don’t establish its current availability.
In autumn and winter, check the ONF hunting calendar for Verzy forest, in French, before travelling. ONF says the calendar is indicative and may change. Follow notices on the ground as well; this guide doesn’t guarantee unrestricted access on a particular day.
