Champagne Weekend Itinerary — 2 Days in Reims and Épernay (2026)
Champagne in 2 days — one day in Reims's chalk cellars, one day on the Avenue de Champagne.
Last reviewed May 2026
Two days is the shortest Champagne trip we'd recommend and it works neatly as a TGV-from-Paris weekend with no car. Day one bases in Reims for the UNESCO chalk cellar tours at the Grandes Maisons (Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger, Pommery — the famous-name tier). Day two takes the 30-minute regional train to Épernay for the Avenue de Champagne crawl and a Hautvillers village half-day. You will not have time for grower-producer (RM) Champagnes at the cellar door, the Côte des Blancs deep-dive, or the Côte des Bar 150km south near Troyes. Those go in the 5-day plan.
- Length
- Weekend
- Best for
- Weekend trip / Paris add-on / Anniversary
- Cost estimate
- From €550 per person (mid-range, double occupancy at a Reims hotel, 4 tastings + 2 dinners + TGV Paris↔Reims — excludes flights to Paris)
- Sub-regions
- Paris (transit) · Reims · Reims Cathedral · Avenue de Champagne (Épernay) · Hautvillers village
Deliberately skipping: Grower-producer (RM) cellar visits, Côte des Blancs (Cramant, Avize, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger) deep-dive, Côte des Bar / Aube, Bouzy and Ambonnay (Montagne de Reims villages). See the longer itineraries if you want to fit these in.
Book ahead
- Veuve Clicquot Histoire tour (Day 1 afternoon) — book 2–4 weeks ahead via clicquot.com; €45 with three cuvées
- Taittinger (Day 1 morning or alternative) — book 2 weeks ahead via taittinger.com; €35 with two glasses, 13th-century abbey crypt cellars
- Moët & Chandon (Day 2 morning) — book 2–3 weeks ahead via moet.com; €30 standard tour, €50 prestige with a Dom Pérignon glass
- Mercier or Perrier-Jouët as Day 2 second visit — both 1–2 weeks ahead via their websites; both on the Avenue de Champagne
- Train tickets: TGV Paris Gare de l'Est → Reims (45 min), regional Reims → Épernay (30 min) — book on SNCF Connect 1–2 weeks ahead. No car needed for this itinerary.
- Reims hotels: Domaine Les Crayères for splurge, La Caserne Chanzy or Hôtel Continental for mid-range — 2+ weeks ahead in season
Day 1 — Reims chalk cellars and the Cathedral
Base: ReimsParis Gare de l'Est → Reims: 45 min by TGV. Reims is walkable on foot — Veuve Clicquot to the Cathedral is 15 min, Taittinger 20 min.
- Morning
- TGV from Paris Gare de l'Est to Reims (45 minutes). Drop bags at the hotel. Walk to Reims Cathedral — the 13th-century coronation church of the French kings, with the Chagall stained glass windows and the famous smiling angel statue. The Palais du Tau next door (the archbishop's palace) is worth 30 minutes. Lunch on Place Drouet d'Erlon (the city's main pedestrian square) at Brasserie Le Boulingrin or Café du Palais.
- Afternoon
- Veuve Clicquot Histoire tour (€45, three cuvées) — the cellars are cut into Roman chalk quarries beneath Reims and the temperature never varies from 10°C year-round. Madame Clicquot developed the riddling (remuage) technique here in the 1810s, and the demonstration during the tour makes the abstract chemistry tangible. If Veuve is fully booked, Taittinger is the alternative — €35 with two glasses, and the 13th-century abbey crypt cellars are architecturally more striking. The two are 15 minutes apart on foot.
- Evening
- Dinner at Le Foch (Michelin-starred, on Boulevard Foch, deep Champagne list) or, for the splurge, Le Parc at Domaine Les Crayères (two Michelin stars, the regional reference). Both need 2+ weeks ahead in season. The simple option: Brasserie Le Jardin in the Place de la République with a glass-by-glass NV flight.
Day 2 — Avenue de Champagne and Hautvillers
Base: Reims (last night) or ParisReims → Épernay: 30 min by regional train. Épernay → Hautvillers: 20 min by taxi (no public transport to Hautvillers — taxis wait outside Épernay station). Épernay → Paris: 90 min–2 hr depending on routing.
- Morning
- Check out. Regional train Reims → Épernay (30 min, direct). Walk straight from the station to the Avenue de Champagne — Épernay's UNESCO-listed grand boulevard where Moët, Mercier, Perrier-Jouët, Pol Roger, De Castellane and Boizel all have their headquarters. The street is barely 1km long but contains more Champagne in cellars beneath it than anywhere else on earth. Moët & Chandon for the morning tour (€30 standard, €50 prestige with Dom Pérignon glass) — the cellars run 28 kilometres and house 90 million bottles.
- Afternoon
- Lunch at La Cave à Champagne or C.Comme Champagne on the Avenue. Then either a second maison visit (Mercier at €18 with the underground train ride through the cellars, or Perrier-Jouët at €60 in their Belle Époque Art Nouveau private mansion) or a 20-minute taxi to Hautvillers village. Hautvillers is where Dom Pérignon worked as cellar master in the late 1600s and his tomb sits in the Saint-Sindulphe abbey church. Walk the village (it's small — 90 minutes covers it) and stop at one of the small grower-producers signposted in the streets for a walk-in tasting.
- Evening
- Either taxi back to Épernay station for the TGV to Paris (90 minutes total Épernay → Paris Gare de l'Est via Reims) or a direct regional train Épernay → Paris (changing at Châlons-en-Champagne, 2 hours). Aim for a 9pm flight or stay in Paris for the night.
Frequently asked
Why not include a grower (RM) Champagne tasting on a weekend?
Grower-producers (the RM tier — Egly-Ouriet, Larmandier-Bernier, Selosse) are farmers who happen to make wine. They receive visitors by email appointment only, often one slot per time block, and they're scattered across the Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims villages outside the main towns. Adding even one means an extra day or a rental car. The weekend plan covers the Grandes Maisons tier (the famous brand-name tier you can book online) and saves growers for the 5-day plan, which has the geography to make grower visits viable.
Should I rent a car?
No. The TGV from Paris is 45 minutes and runs roughly hourly. Reims is walkable, the regional train Reims → Épernay is 30 minutes, and a taxi to Hautvillers is €25. A rental adds €60/day plus city-centre parking grief and the spitter problem. The car only becomes useful when you start visiting grower-producers in the Côte des Blancs villages or the Aube — neither of which fits a weekend.
When should I avoid going?
August. Many growers close for staff holidays, the Avenue de Champagne is heaving with bachelor parties, and some Grandes Maisons run reduced hours. Best months are May–June (lower rates, comfortable temperatures) and September–October (vendange — harvest, more atmospheric, slightly cooler). Christmas markets in Reims (late November–December) are a winter alternative if you don't mind cold cellars.
Is Moët worth €30 if I can taste their NV in any wine bar?
Yes for the cellar infrastructure — Moët's 28km of crayères under Épernay are genuinely impressive and you cannot replicate the cool, dim, silent experience anywhere else. The wine in the tasting room is the same NV you can buy in any Paris wine bar. The €50 prestige tier adds a Dom Pérignon pour and is a better deal if Dom is on your bucket list anyway. Veuve Clicquot's Histoire tour at €45 with three different cuvées is better wine value than Moët's €30 standard.
Want to customise this itinerary?
Use the trip planner to mix-and-match days, or read the full Champagne guide.
New Guides, Straight to Your Inbox
Get notified when we publish new wine travel guides — region deep-dives, hidden gems, and planning tools.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. We respect your privacy.
This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.