Planning a winery trip abroad can seem daunting as you have to know where to stay, deal with transportation, AND make reservations for wineries. I have done more planning for my recent Champagne trip compared to other trips where I usually only bookmark a few restaurants and book hotels and transportations. If you are planning a trip to Champagne, here’s the summary of recommended itinerary to maximize your experience there!
Note that this isn’t the exact itinerary from my recent trip but optimized and modified after experiencing the region.
Day 1-3
Stay in Reims and visit large houses and have nice dinners
Reims is actually considered a tourist destination not just for champagne houses. Did you know there is another Cathédrale Notre-Dame in Reims? City is fairly big and you can find a lot of great restaurants. You can stay in the city center and explore large Champagne houses or stay ~10minutes from the center in a small boutique hotel (we did both!)
Places to stay
Champagne houses
Ruinart, Veuve Clicquot, Pommery
Day 3
Hire a driver to visit grower producers in between Reims and Epernay (or rent a car)
I actually did this myself as well, if you don’t rent a car, best way to maximize your transportation budget while wine tasting is to combine traveling between cities with a private driver. You can hire a driver for a day or half a day, get picked up in one city and dropped off in another. I went with this driver/company after comparing a few options and prices. We visited Bouzy and Verzy while traveling from Epernay back to Reims. Here are the spots you can visit while moving between cities:
Bouzy/Ambonnay wineries
Paul Dethune, Champagne Egly-Ouriet, BARNAUT, Champagne Benoît Lahaye
Verzy
Eat at Du Cep à l'Assiette
Day 3-5
Stay in Avize & visit small grower producers
Avize isn’t the only small town in Champagne where you can stay and visit other producers in the area but I’d have to say I LOVED my stay and will definitely stay there again if I go back. Avize is not only a home for so many up and coming and already popular grower producers but also has the best B&B, Les Avises. From the B&B you can rent their e-bikes to visit and taste at
Dhondt Grellet, Corbon, Franck Bonville, Champagne DE SOUSA, Etienne Calsac
and don’t miss the Jacques-Selosse Champagne tasting hosted by the owner & winemaker Anselme.
Day 6
Epernay for Ave. de Champagne
Epernay is definitely smaller compared to Reims (i.e. there are Ubers in Reims but not in Epernay) but this is where you can find the famous Avenue of Champagne. You can find popular Champagne houses like Moët et Chandon and Perrier-Jouet. If you have additional days, you can also visit nearby cities like Ay or Hautevillers.
Travel back to Reims or Paris
You can get back to Paris via train from Reims or Epernay depending on how much longer you are spending in the area.
Couldn’t pack all the places to eat and see in this itinerary so feel free ask me any questions via DM @fine.vining
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