Two Days in Champagne France: Reims, Épernay and the Villages

Two days is the length most visitors can spare, and it is enough to see both champagne towns properly: a day in Reims with the cathedral and a house on the hill, then a day in Épernay with the Avenue and the villages. This plan shows where a tour replaces a taxi, where lunch fits and which weekdays to avoid. Pair it with your Champagne France reservation for the tours.

How many days does Champagne need?

Two, for a first visit. The region's 34,200 hectares of vines spread across 319 villages, and the two towns sell different things. Reims has the cathedral, six big houses and the grower half days. Épernay has the Avenue de Champagne, three houses on foot and short trips into the Grand Cru villages.

One day works if you choose one town and one kind of tour. Three days lets you add a private day in the villages or a slower morning in the cellars. A third day could go south into the Côte des Blancs: Aÿ-Champagne Experience's private half day from Épernay drives past Cramant to Oger for six Grand Cru or Premier Cru champagnes.

Day one: Reims, the cathedral and a house's cellars

Start at Reims Cathedral, which opens every day from 8:00 and is free to enter. If you want the towers, book a guided climb online: 249 steps, EUR 9, Tuesday to Saturday at 10, 11, 14, 15 and 16 h. The towers close from 16 November to 14 February.

Late morning, book a house's cellar visit. Pommery's guided tour takes 2 hours with two tastings, EUR 48. Veuve Clicquot's shortest visit takes an hour, EUR 36. Ruinart's takes 2 hours in chalk pits some 40 m deep, EUR 90, for 12 people at a time.

After lunch, join the afternoon grower tour from the station square at 2:00 pm. It visits two family wineries and Hautvillers village and is back at 6:30 pm. Or take bus 4, 6, 11 or 40 to the Basilica of Saint-Remi, free to visit, and keep the evening for dinner in town.

Day two: Épernay and the Marne villages

Take the TER from Reims-Centre. The Ligne des Bulles reaches Épernay in about 30 minutes, roughly every half hour. From Épernay station, walk five minutes to the Avenue de Champagne.

Moët & Chandon opens every day from 9:30; its Impérial tour takes 1 hour 30, EUR 48. Mercier, further up, takes you through its cellars on a driverless train from EUR 25. The wine museum at Château Perrier opens at 11:00 from April to October and is closed on Tuesdays.

In the afternoon, get into the vineyards. The e-bike day leaves the tourist office at 9:35 am if you would rather ride all day; for an afternoon, the jeep takes 2 hours 15 through Épernay, Chouilly, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, and a private half day takes you to Hautvillers and Aÿ.

The two days, hour by hour

What do the two days cost?

Day one: the cathedral is free and the towers cost EUR 9. A house visit costs EUR 36 at Veuve Clicquot, EUR 48 at Pommery or EUR 90 at Ruinart, and the afternoon grower tour costs $152 per person.

Day two: Moët & Chandon's Impérial tour costs EUR 48 and Mercier's shortest EUR 25; the wine museum costs EUR 10. For the villages, the jeep is $234 for up to three, and a private half day $298 to $333 per person. Add your trains, lunches and a night's room, and read our guide to what each champagne tour costs for the full bands.

What if it rains?

Go underground. The cellars stay at 10 to 12 °C in every season, so a wet day costs you nothing inside a house. It rains on about eight to thirteen days a month at the Mailly-CIVC station, most often in December and January.

The outdoor parts change. The e-bike days switch to a minibus in rain or black ice, and the open-top bus is open to the sky. Keep the cathedral and a house for the wetter day, and the villages for the drier one.

Where does a tour replace a taxi?

In the villages. The houses in both towns can be reached on foot or by a short ride, and each sells its own visit. The growers are different: they sit in villages the trains and buses reach only in part, and most expect a booking.

A tour solves that. The Reims half days take you to two family growers in about four hours; the Mumm day adds a house and a grower's lunch. From Épernay, the jeep, the bus and the private half days do the driving, and nobody in your party has to stay sober.

How do you get between the two towns?

By TER. The Ligne des Bulles joins Reims-Centre and Épernay in about 30 minutes, with trains roughly every half hour from 6:00 to 19:30. It stops at Rilly-la-Montagne, Germaine, Avenay-Val-d'Or and Aÿ-Champagne, and runs through a tunnel under the Montagne de Reims.

Many full-day tours from Reims pass through Épernay anyway. Wine Tours Paris ends its day on the Avenue at about 5 pm, 150 m from Épernay station, so you can stay the night there and start day two on foot.

Where does lunch fit?

Between your morning house and your afternoon tour. Mumm's visits pause from 12:30 to 13:30, and Nicolas Feuillatte closes from 12:30 to 14:00. Veuve Clicquot and Moët & Chandon list continuous hours.

Several tours put lunch in the fare. The Mumm and Veuve Clicquot days eat at a family winery, Sparkling Tour's full day serves two courses with a glass, and both e-bike days end with lunch at Le Clos Corbier. The grower half days leave lunch to you.

Which weekdays work?

• Avoid Monday for Reims. Veuve Clicquot opens Tuesday to Sunday for most of the year, and the cathedral towers run Tuesday to Saturday, with Sunday afternoons.
• Avoid Tuesday for the Épernay museum. Château Perrier closes on Tuesdays all year, and on Mondays too from November to March.
• Check Mumm outside May to October. It opens every day only from 1 May to 31 October; in March, April and November it opens Thursday to Monday.
• Sunday in Reims: the station information point is closed, but the tours still meet outside it.

A one-day version from Paris

If you have one day, pick a start. From Reims: the 45-minute TGV, the morning grower half day from 9:20 am to 1:15 pm, lunch, then the cathedral or a house. From Paris without a train: the day trips collect you at your hotel or leave a Paris café at 7:00 am, and spend five to eight hours in Champagne between two drives of about two hours.

The champagne tours from Paris compare those days, from $263 per person.

What to leave out

• The Palais du Tau. The palace beside the cathedral is closed for works until 2027.
• The abbey at Hautvillers. Its buildings belong to Moët & Chandon and are not open. Visit the village and the church of Saint-Sindulphe, where Dom Pérignon is buried.
• A third house on the same day. Each visit takes one to two hours, and the cellars stay at 10 to 12 °C. Two a day is plenty.

Where to sleep between the two days is on our page about where to stay.

Frequently asked questions

Champagne days that slot into a two-day plan

Reims or Epernay: Full day Champagne Mumm, family grower & lunch

Maison Mumm's cellars, lunch at a family grower's table, Hautvillers and a second small producer, seven glasses in the day.

From $292 per person

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The Must-sees 3h30 from Epernay (Private Half day Champagne Tour)

A private half day from Épernay: Hautvillers, the Grand Cru village of Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, three Grand Cru or Premier Cru champagnes.

From $298 per person

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Jeep tour in the Champagne Vineyard with tasting

Two hours and a quarter by jeep through Chouilly, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, with a tasting in the vines, priced per jeep of up to three.

From $234 per group, up to 3

Check Availability