Reims and Épernay in One Day: Reims Champagne Itineraries

Reims and Épernay are 27 km apart, and a train joins them in about half an hour. You can see both in one day, as long as you choose two cellars, not five. This guide sets out the order that works, how long each visit takes, where lunch fits, and three sample days, from a half day to two days. Every plan below works with or without a reims france champagne tour.

Can Reims and Épernay fit in one day?

Yes. A cellar visit takes one to two hours, the train between the towns about 30 minutes, and the Avenue de Champagne is five minutes' walk from Épernay station. A house in Reims in the morning and a house in Épernay in the afternoon fits comfortably, with lunch between.

What does not fit is everything. Add Hautvillers, a grower in the villages and Reims Cathedral, and you need a car or a tour. The guided days from Reims do exactly that in seven to nine hours.

Which order works best?

Start where your train arrives. From Paris, the TGV reaches Reims in about 45 minutes, as the Reims houses put it. The direct train from Paris Gare de l'Est to Épernay takes about 80 minutes, according to Moët & Chandon.

Reims first suits most people. Reims Cathedral opens at 8:00 and is free, so you can see it before your first cellar slot. Then take the train to Épernay after lunch, walk the avenue and catch a direct train back to Paris from there.

How long does a cellar visit take?

Most houses run their standard visit for one to two hours:

Two houses in a day leaves room to enjoy both; a third makes the tastings blur.

How do you get from Reims to Épernay?

By the TER, which runs between Reims Centre and Épernay about every 30 minutes, from 6:00 to 19:30, and takes about half an hour. It stops at four vineyard villages on the way: Rilly-la-Montagne, Germaine, Avenay-Val-d'Or and Aÿ-Champagne.

By road it is 27 km. Nobody should drive after a tasting, so a car only works if one of you does not drink. Hautvillers is 6 km from Épernay and has no station on the line, so reach it by car, taxi or tour.

What does a guided day look like, hour by hour?

Here are three real days, from the listings' own timings. The first is one you plan yourself.

The shared day is Wine Tours Paris' cellars and vineyards day, from $245 per person, and the growers' day is Sparkling Tour's private day, from $579. Both put two or three producers into one day and leave the driving to someone else.

Which tours cover both towns for you?

If you would rather not plan the trains, several guided days put Reims and Épernay into one route:

• Wine Tours Paris starts at Reims Cathedral at 9:30 am and ends about 5 pm on the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay, 150 m from the station. That suits a direct train back to Paris.
• Champagne Dream Tour starts at the Reims station tourist office, spends 1 hour 45 minutes at Pommery, then makes four stops in Épernay and two in Hautvillers.
• Uncork's private day meets outside Reims Centre station and spends two hours at Moët & Chandon and two more in Épernay.
• The Mumm day and ABC Champagne Tour's afternoon can both start in Épernay instead of Reims, if that is where you sleep.

The Reims private champagne tours add pickup at your hotel in either town.

A half-day plan from the station square

If you have half a day, spend it with the growers and see Reims on foot. The morning tour leaves the station square at 9:20 am and is back at 1:15 pm. After lunch, you have time for the cathedral and one house in town.

If you arrive on a morning train, reverse it. See Reims Cathedral first, then join the afternoon with two family growers at 2:00 pm, back at 6:30 pm. It stops in Hautvillers on the way. The half-day champagne tours from Reims compare both departures.

A full-day plan with two houses

For two famous houses in one day, book the Reims one for the morning and the Épernay one for the afternoon. Veuve Clicquot opens at 9:30 am on Saint-Nicaise hill, 30 minutes' walk from the city centre and 15 minutes by car from Reims Centre station, as the house puts it. Then take the train to Épernay for Moët & Chandon or Mercier on the avenue.

If you would rather not plan the trains, France Intense's private day does the same pair, Veuve Clicquot and Moët & Chandon, with the cathedral and Hautvillers in between. Both houses are subject to availability.

A two-day plan with growers

Two days lets you do both towns properly. Spend the first in Reims on foot: the cathedral, a climb of its towers, a house on Saint-Nicaise hill, and the Basilica of Saint-Remi, a bus ride away on lines 4, 6, 11 or 40.

Spend the second with the growers. A private day such as Sparkling Tour's collects you at 9:30 am and brings you back about 6 pm, with Hautvillers and lunch in Épernay. Or take the shared Mumm day, which adds a house to the growers. The Reims Champagne day tours compare every full day.

Where does lunch fit?

In the middle, and on many tours it is already in the fare. The Mumm day eats at a grower's table, Champagne Dream Tour's day in Épernay, and Sparkling Tour's day has three courses in Épernay. Wine Tours Paris books your restaurant, and you pay for it.

On your own day, eat in Reims before the train, or in Épernay after it. Check each house's lunch break: Mumm's visits pause between 12:30 and 13:30 in the months it publishes hours for.

What to leave out

• The Palais du Tau. It is closed for works and reopens in 2027. Only its temporary bookshop is open.
• A third house. Two cellars in a day is plenty; a third blurs the tastings.
• The towers in winter. They close from 16 November to 14 February.
• Monday at Veuve Clicquot, outside summer. It opens every day only from 29 June to 30 August.
• The drive home. If you taste, take the train or a tour.

Frequently asked questions

Days that take you to Reims and Épernay

Exclusive Champagne Cellars & Dom Perignon Vineyards tour - Reims

A shared day from the left gate of Reims Cathedral at 9:30 am: two estates of about two hours each, Hautvillers and the avenue, ending in Épernay about 5 pm.

From $245 per person

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Discovery Tour Reims and Epernay

A shared day from the Reims station square with a big house's cellars first, then Épernay and Hautvillers, lunch in the fare. Seven people at most.

From $321 per person

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Private Champagne Tour Veuve Clicquot, Moet & Chandon from Reims

A private day with two famous houses, one in Reims and one in Épernay, each subject to a slot, plus the cathedral and Hautvillers. Lunch is at leisure.

From $720 per person

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