Reims or Épernay: Where to Start a Champagne France Tour

This guide decides one thing for you: which of the two champagne towns your Champagne France tour should start from. Reims and Épernay are 27 km apart, 30 minutes by train, and most full days pass through both. But the start decides which tours you can book, how long you sit in a van, and which houses pour your glass.

Which town do most champagne tours start from?

Reims. Most shared tours meet on the Reims Centre station square, outside the small tourist information point in the Cour de la Gare. That is where the grower half days, the Mumm and Veuve Clicquot days, Sparkling Tour's minivans and the e-bike day from Reims all begin. Wine Tours Paris meets at the left gate of Reims Cathedral at 9:30 am.

Épernay is the second start. Its tours meet in front of the tourist office at 7 avenue de Champagne, at a house's front desk, or at your hotel if it is within 6 km of the town. The formats there are shorter and more varied: a bus, a jeep, a bike, private half days and a walk between houses.

If you do not know yet, start in Reims. You get the most choice, and you can still reach Épernay by train in half an hour.

How do Reims and Épernay differ for a visitor?

Reims is a city. It has the Gothic cathedral where 33 kings were crowned, the Basilica of Saint-Remi, two railway stations and a tram. Taittinger's cellars lie under the former Saint-Nicaise Abbey, on the hill whose 25 km of chalk cellars UNESCO listed in 2015.

Épernay is a small town built around one street. The Avenue de Champagne runs 1.5 km, with about 110 km of cellars beneath it and, the tourist office says, some 200 million bottles. The station is five minutes' walk from the Avenue, and the vineyards start at the edge of town.

Which houses are in each town?

In Reims you can book the cellars of Veuve Clicquot, Pommery, Taittinger, Ruinart, Mumm and Lanson. Each sells its own visit: from EUR 30 for Mumm's Cordon Rouge tour and EUR 32 at Lanson to EUR 90 at Ruinart, whose chalk pits go down about 40 m. Taittinger's cellars sit 18 m underground in Gallo-Roman quarries.

In Épernay, Moët & Chandon's visit costs EUR 48 and runs every day from 9:30 to 17:00. Mercier, further up the Avenue, tours its 18 km of cellars by a driverless train, from EUR 25. Nicolas Feuillatte is in Chouilly, a village on Épernay's bus network, from EUR 20 with one glass.

Our page on the houses and their cellar visits sets every price and calendar side by side.

Where do the grower tours go?

Out of both towns and into the villages. The Reims half days drive to family growers in the Montagne de Reims and the Marne valley, with Hautvillers on the afternoon runs. The Épernay private half days go to Hautvillers, then to the Grand Cru village of Aÿ or south to Oger in the Côte des Blancs.

A grower makes champagne from its own vines, and the family often pours it in its own cellar. The champagne.fr figures give the scale: 16,460 growers against 410 houses. A tour is the easy way to meet them.

Which is easier from Paris by train?

Reims. By TGV you are there in about 45 minutes, Reims Tourisme says, and the shared tours meet on the square outside Reims-Centre station. Reims has a second station, Champagne-Ardenne TGV at Bezannes, linked to the centre by tram: check which one your ticket names.

Épernay takes about 1 hour 20 on the direct train from Gare de l'Est. From Épernay station, the tourist office is under ten minutes' walk through the town-hall park, and the Avenue five.

Which town suits a half day?

Reims, if you want to share the van. The morning tour leaves the station square at 9:20 am and is back at 1:15 pm; the afternoon tour leaves at 2:00 pm and is back at 6:30. Both visit two family growers and pour six glasses, for $140 to $152.

Épernay, if you want your party alone. Its half days are private, for two people at least, and cost $298 to $333 per person. The bus and the jeep fill a couple of hours for less.

Where do private tours pick up?

From Reims the net is wide. Uncork collects you within 30 minutes' drive of Reims, À La Française within 40 km, including Champagne-Ardenne TGV station, and Royal Journey France anywhere in the region, with Paris as a EUR 750 extra.

From Épernay it is narrow. Aÿ-Champagne Experience collects you within 6 km of the town, and says plainly that Reims is outside that radius. If you sleep in Reims and want an Épernay half day, take the train.

What does Épernay have that Reims does not?

• Three houses on foot. Moët & Chandon, Champagne de Castellane and Mercier are within 500 m of each other.
• Short formats. The open-top bus runs 1 hour 30 or 2 hours 15, and the jeep 2 hours 15, through the vineyards of Aÿ, Chouilly and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ.
• Hautvillers next door. The village where Dom Pérignon is buried is 6 km away. Nobody invented champagne, the Comité Champagne says, but he managed the abbey's property there for 47 years.
• The wine museum. Château Perrier's museum sits on the Avenue, EUR 10, free under 13.

What does Reims have that Épernay does not?

• Reims Cathedral. Free to enter, open every day from 8:00, with guided climbs of its towers for EUR 9.
• Shared grower half days. Fixed times from the station square, eight people at most.
• Six big houses. Veuve Clicquot, Pommery, Taittinger, Ruinart, Mumm and Lanson all sell their own visits.
• The widest choice. A tasting in town, grower days, house days, an e-bike day and private days, from $51.

Can you base yourself in one town and see both?

Yes, and most visitors do. The TER between Reims-Centre and Épernay takes about 30 minutes and runs roughly every half hour from 6:00 to 19:30. Many full days from Reims pass through Épernay anyway: Wine Tours Paris ends its day on the Avenue, and Uncork's days spend an hour and a half to two hours in the town.

The reverse works too. À La Française's Veuve Clicquot day can start at the Épernay tourist office at 8:30 am, and a morning train gets you to a Reims half day in time.

What about Hautvillers and the villages?

Hautvillers belongs to neither town. It sits 6 km from Épernay and 26 km from Reims, the village's tourist office says, above the Marne. Dom Pérignon arrived at its abbey in 1668, aged 29, and ran its cellars and property until he died in 1715. He is buried in the choir of the church of Saint-Sindulphe; the abbey buildings are private and not open.

Most tours from either town stop there, so you rarely need to choose. What differs is the villages beyond it: the Reims days lean on the Montagne de Reims, the Épernay days on Aÿ, Chouilly and the Côte des Blancs.

Who should choose Reims?

You should, if it is your first visit, if you arrive by TGV, if you want a shared half day with the growers, or if Veuve Clicquot, Mumm or Pommery is the house you came for. The Reims champagne tours set every Reims start side by side.

Who should choose Épernay?

You should, if you want to walk the Avenue de Champagne, if you prefer a bus, a jeep or a bike to a van, or if Moët & Chandon is the house you came for. Épernay also suits a second day after Reims. The Épernay champagne tours are all in one place.

Frequently asked questions

Champagne days from each town's own start

Small Group - Half Day Champagne Tour - Visit of 2 Small Producers/Growers

Two Grand Cru or Premier Cru family growers and six champagnes, morning or afternoon, from the small tourist office by Reims station.

From $140 per person

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From Epernay Full day Electric bike Champagne and lunch

An electric bike from the Épernay tourist office at 9:35 am, about 30 km of vineyards, Hautvillers, four glasses and lunch at a family domaine.

From $228 per person

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Reims afternoon tour Champagne and family growers

Two family wineries, six glasses and Hautvillers village, 2:00 pm to 6:30 pm from the Reims station square.

From $152 per person

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