Private Champagne France Tours: the Best Days from Paris, Reims and Épernay

A private champagne tour costs from $298 a person for a half day out of Épernay, $525 to $848 a person for a full day, or $1,990 for a car of up to four. Choose by where you sleep and who you want to pour: Reims days pair a famous house with a grower, the Épernay half days stay among the Grand Cru villages, and one car collects you in Paris. These are the Champagne France guided tours with nobody else in the vehicle.

Private champagne tours compared

The fare follows who pours and where the day starts, not how long it lasts: a full day among family growers costs less than a day that puts a famous house's cellars in the fare.

See the Reims champagne tours

What is a private champagne tour?

Your party alone in the vehicle, with a driver-guide who collects you at your hotel or station. The producers are fixed before you book, and on most days the visits and tastings are paid in the fare along with the transport. Gratuities never are, and lunch is in some fares and not others.

Private does not mean empty of other visitors once you are inside a house. Royal Journey France's days book the houses' public visits, so in the cellars you may join other visitors. What stays yours is the car, the pace and the order of the day.

The private day from Paris

Only one private car collects you in Paris: Parismatic Tour's day, $848 a person for 9 hours from any hotel or private residence in the city. The day runs to an hour at Reims Cathedral, two hours in the Pommery cellars with a tasting, and two hours with the grower Michel Fagot. Lunch is not in the fare.

Royal Journey France will collect you in Paris for EUR 750 on top of either of its days. Uncork and À La Française do not pick up in Paris at all. The other way round it is the TGV: Reims is 45 minutes from Paris, and every Reims private day below starts at the station or a hotel in town. The shared days that leave from Paris are on the champagne tours from Paris page.

Private days from Reims with a famous house

If a house's name matters to you, pick a day that puts its ticket in the fare. For scale, the houses charge at their own door EUR 48 for Moët & Chandon's shortest visit, EUR 36 for Veuve Clicquot's and EUR 48 for Pommery's two-hour tour. Each house's own visits are set out on the houses and their own cellar visits.

Uncork: Moët & Chandon or Veuve Clicquot

• The Moët & Chandon day, $525 a person, 8 hours: two hours at Moët & Chandon with the tour and tasting tickets in the fare, 45 minutes in Hautvillers, two hours with a boutique producer at Cumières, and two hours in Épernay.
• The Veuve Clicquot day, $525 a person, 8 hours: two hours at Veuve Clicquot, an hour at Reims Cathedral, an hour's walk in Reims, an hour on the Champagne tourist route and an hour and a half with a producer at Rilly-la-Montagne.
• Both: lunch is not in the fare, the meeting point is outside Reims Centre station or your hotel within 30 minutes' drive of Reims, and both are listed as wheelchair accessible.

FRANCE INTENSE: Moët & Chandon by availability

$631 a person, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm from a hotel or station in Reims or Épernay: an hour and a half at a family winery, then an hour and a half at Moët & Chandon. The house is subject to availability and may be replaced by another great house. Lunch comes only with the lunch option, and two people is the minimum.

Royal Journey France: two houses, or a car for four

• Two famous houses, $848 a person, 8 hours: two of Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon, Ruinart, Taittinger or Pommery, whichever has room, lunch at the Royal Champagne hotel and 20 minutes at Hautvillers abbey church.
• The LOVER tour, $1,990 for a car of up to four, 8 to 9 hours: tastings at four houses, one cellar visit, lunch and bottled water, in a chauffeured Mercedes.

Private days from Reims with family growers

A grower day swaps the big cellars for the people who farm the vines and make the wine themselves. Whether you want grand houses or family growers is the first choice; these two days answer it with growers.

• Sparkling Tour, three growers, $579 a person: three family-run wineries, 10 champagnes, a three-course lunch with a glass of champagne, and 15 minutes at Hautvillers abbey church. Pickup is at Reims station or a hotel in Reims or Épernay. The famous houses are not on the route; ask the operator if you want one.
• À La Française, family growers, $661 a person: two family wineries and six tastings, 45 minutes at Hautvillers abbey church, 15 minutes on the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay, and lunch. Pickup reaches 40 km, Champagne-Ardenne TGV and Épernay stations included. This is the one private day that is non-refundable and cannot be changed.

Private half days from Épernay

If you sleep in Épernay, a half day keeps you among the Grand Cru villages. Both of Aÿ-Champagne Experience's half days last 3 h 30 with a private guide-chauffeur, and both finish with tastes of ratafia, fine and marc, the region's own spirits and aperitifs. The rest of the town's tours are on the Épernay champagne tours page.

Aÿ-Champagne Experience: two half days

• Hautvillers and Aÿ, $298 a person: Hautvillers and its abbey church, the Grand Cru village of Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, with three Grand Cru or Premier Cru champagnes.
• The Côte des Blancs, $333 a person: Hautvillers, then past Cramant to Oger in the Côte des Blancs, with six Grand Cru or Premier Cru champagnes.
• The catch: pickup reaches only 6 km from Épernay, and Reims is outside it. From Reims, take the train first.

The jeep, priced per jeep

Two hours and a quarter through Épernay's vineyards, Chouilly, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, half an hour at each, with a tasting in the vines. The guide meets you with the jeep at an agreed place in Épernay, and it runs in rain under a cover. It costs $234 for up to three people.

How much does a private champagne tour cost?

• Half days from Épernay: $298 to $333 a person.
• Full days from Reims or Paris: $525 to $848 a person.
• The LOVER car: $1,990 for up to four, about $497 each when it is full.
• The jeep: $234 for up to three, about $78 each.

A per-person fare means a couple pays double: on Sparkling Tour's three growers that is $1,159 for two. Four friends pay less each in the LOVER car than on any per-person full day. How these fares sit against the shared days and the half days is worked through in what a champagne tour costs.

Is a private tour worth it over a shared one?

Sparkling Tour sells the same three-grower day both ways, so it makes a fair test. The shared day costs $280 a person, carries eight people at most, pours nine champagnes with a two-course lunch, and meets at Reims station. The private day costs $579 a person, pours 10 champagnes with a three-course lunch, and collects you at your hotel in Reims or Épernay.

Travellers rate both at 5.0: the shared day from 257 reviews, the private one from 60. Going private buys the pickup, your own pace and the producers you ask for. It does not buy a smaller group than you would have had anyway, since the shared minivan already stops at eight. If the budget is tight, Sparkling Tour's shared half day visits two growers for $140, and the full choice from the station square is on the Reims champagne tours page.

Where will a private tour pick you up?

• Anywhere in Paris: Parismatic Tour, at your hotel or home.
• Anywhere in the region: Royal Journey France, including Champagne-Ardenne TGV, Reims Centre and Épernay stations, with Paris as a EUR 750 extra.
• Within 40 km: À La Française, TGV and Épernay stations included.
• Within 30 minutes' drive of Reims: Uncork, or outside Reims Centre station.
• Reims station, or a hotel in Reims or Épernay: Sparkling Tour and FRANCE INTENSE.
• Within 6 km of Épernay: Aÿ-Champagne Experience.
• An agreed place in Épernay: the jeep.

The two towns are 27 km apart, and the TER between them takes about 30 minutes and runs about every half hour. If you have not settled on a base yet, weigh up Reims or Épernay first.

Which private tours include lunch?

• In the fare: Sparkling Tour's private day (three courses with a glass), À La Française's private day, and both Royal Journey France days, the two-house day at the Royal Champagne hotel.
• An option: FRANCE INTENSE's Moët & Chandon day.
• Not in the fare: Uncork's two days and Parismatic Tour's day from Paris, nor the Épernay half days or the jeep.

Hautvillers on a private day

Most private full days and both Épernay half days stop at Hautvillers, the village where Dom Pérignon is buried. The listings call the stop the abbey, but you see the village and its church.

Which private tours suit wheelchairs and families?

• Wheelchair accessible: Uncork's Moët & Chandon and Veuve Clicquot days, and À La Française's private day. The others are not listed as accessible.
• Infant seats: on Uncork's two days, FRANCE INTENSE, both Royal Journey France days, Parismatic Tour and À La Française's private day.
• Teenagers: Uncork serves no alcohol to anyone under 18.

For days that work with children or with someone who does not drink, read champagne tours with kids and non-drinkers.

How to book a private champagne tour

1. Start with where you sleep. Check the pickup radius against your hotel before anything else.
2. Check the minimum. Sparkling Tour, À La Française, FRANCE INTENSE, Royal Journey France's two-house day and both Aÿ-Champagne Experience half days need two people.
3. If a named house matters, book a day that names it. Uncork's days put the Moët & Chandon or Veuve Clicquot ticket in the fare; the others choose by availability.
4. Check the house's own days. Moët & Chandon opens daily, 9:30 am to 5 pm. Veuve Clicquot opens Tuesday to Sunday until 1 November, then Wednesday to Sunday from 4 November to 3 January.
5. Read the refund line. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before on every private day except À La Française's, which is non-refundable.

Frequently asked questions

Three private days with different pours

Private Full Day Tour - Visit of 3 Champagne Growers from Reims.

Your own minivan to three family growers, ten champagnes and a three-course lunch, from Reims station or your hotel.

From $579 per person

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Veuve Clicquot Tasting and Fun Private Tour in Champagne

A private day from Reims: Veuve Clicquot's cellars, Reims Cathedral and a boutique producer at Rilly-la-Montagne.

From $525 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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