Visiting Reims Champagne Houses Without a Tour

You do not need a tour to visit the champagne houses of Reims. Each house sells its own cellar visit, by the slot, on its own website, and most of the big names are a walk or a short taxi ride from the centre. There is no single pass that covers them, so anyone searching for Reims Champagne tickets is really choosing one house at a time. This guide shows you how to book, what it costs at each door, and when a tour still earns its fare.

Can you visit Reims champagne houses on your own?

Yes. Veuve Clicquot, Mumm, Pommery, Ruinart, Taittinger and Lanson all receive visitors in their own cellars in Reims. In Épernay, Moët & Chandon and Mercier do the same on the Avenue de Champagne, and Nicolas Feuillatte runs cellar tours nearby.

What you cannot easily do alone is visit family growers. Their cellars are in the villages, outside Reims and Épernay, and you would find and book each one yourself. That is the main thing a tour adds.

How do you book a cellar tour direct?

On each house's own website. You pick a visit, a date and a time slot, and pay online. Arrive a few minutes before your slot.

• Book early for Ruinart. Its visit takes 12 people at a time.
• Book Nicolas Feuillatte ahead. It takes bookings only, every day from 9:30 to 12:30 and 14:00 to 17:30.
• Walk in at Lanson. Its shop and tastings take you without a reservation, though the cellar tours are booked.
• Check the language. Pommery runs its two-hour visit in English or French.

What does a house visit cost at the door?

Here is each house's entry-level visit, from its own website, in euros as the houses price them.

Higher-priced visits add older cuvées or longer tastings: Veuve Clicquot's run to EUR 260 for four hours, and Moët & Chandon's to EUR 460. The cheapest way into a Reims cellar is Mumm's Cordon Rouge visit.

Which houses can you walk between?

The Reims houses sit in two areas. Four open their cellars on Saint-Nicaise hill: Veuve Clicquot, Pommery, Ruinart and Taittinger, whose chalk pits are part of the UNESCO listing. Veuve Clicquot puts its visit centre 30 minutes' walk from the city centre, so two houses on the hill work best one after the other.

Mumm, on rue du Champ de Mars, and Lanson, on rue de Courlancy, stand apart from the hill. Each is a separate trip. The Reims Champagne map shows both groups and the two tourist offices.

In Épernay it is simpler. Moët & Chandon and Mercier both stand on the Avenue de Champagne, 1.5 km long, and the avenue starts five minutes' walk from the station.

Can you reach the growers without a car?

Only with some planning. The TER from Reims to Épernay stops at four vineyard villages: Rilly-la-Montagne, Germaine, Avenay-Val-d'Or and Aÿ-Champagne. The Comité Champagne publishes a directory of champagne makers on champagne.fr, and a grower who receives visitors will tell you when to come.

The easier way is a short private visit. The Coutant family collects you from your Reims hotel for two hours in their vines and cellar at Nogent-l'Abbesse, from $70 per person. Or take one of the half-day champagne tours from Reims: two family growers in about four hours.

How do you do Épernay by train?

Take the TER from Reims Centre; it runs about every 30 minutes and takes about half an hour. From Paris, direct trains from Gare de l'Est take about 80 minutes. The avenue is five minutes' walk from Épernay station.

Moët & Chandon keeps 28 km of cellars under its house at 18 avenue de Champagne, and its shop opens from 9:30 am to 6 pm. Mercier, at number 68, opens every day from 6 April to 15 November in 2026, and Wednesday to Sunday from 18 November to 27 December. So an autumn afternoon on the avenue still has two houses to choose from.

Nicolas Feuillatte sells cellar tours with a shuttle from Épernay station, which solves the one visit you cannot walk to. Mercier's cellars are 30 metres down and toured by a driverless train, and the house has a lift for wheelchairs.

Where can you taste in the city centre?

Two tasting bars in central Reims pour without a trip to the cellars. Both are bookable ahead:

• Chez Marie et Maxime, in a shop cellar at 25 rue Henri IV: an hour with a sommelier and three glasses, from $51 per person.
• The Club Trésors de Champagne, at 2 rue Olivier Métra: a masterclass of three, six or eight growers' Spécial Club cuvées, from $57.

Both are in the Boulingrin district, and both work well on a rainy afternoon.

What should you bring to a house visit?

• A warm layer. The chalk cellars stay at 10 to 12 °C all year, even in August.
• Shoes with grip. A cellar visit is on foot, with stairs down and back up; Veuve Clicquot takes wheelchairs and strollers down on request.
• Proof of age. Nobody under 18 is served alcohol in France.
• No dog. Veuve Clicquot and Mumm do not admit animals on their visits.

Where do you get help in Reims?

At one of the two tourist offices. The main office is on the cathedral parvis, at 6 rue Rockefeller, and opens every day. The second is a small information point on the Cour de la Gare, by Reims Centre station, open Monday to Saturday from September to February and closed on Sundays.

The Reims Champagne map marks both offices and every house.

What does a tour add that a ticket does not?

• The growers. A tour takes you to family cellars you would struggle to find and book yourself.
• A driver. Nobody in your party drives after tasting.
• Hautvillers. The village of Dom Pérignon's tombstone has no station, and most full days stop there.
• Two towns in one day. A tour links Reims, the vineyards and Épernay without a timetable.

What a tour costs you is choice. On a shared day you visit the house the operator has booked. On your own, you pick the house.

When is doing it alone the better choice?

When you want one or two named houses and nothing else. A house visit costs EUR 30 to EUR 90, against $140 or more for the cheapest tour to the vineyards. A morning at Mumm and an afternoon at Ruinart cost EUR 120 for the two, against $245 or more for a shared day, and you see the two houses you chose.

It is also the better choice with young children, who can come on many house visits with an adult but not on À La Française's shared tours, which take no one under 10. The house-by-house booking post sets out the calendars.

Frequently asked questions

Short tastings you can add to a day on foot

Reims City Center: Champagne Tasting

An hour at a tasting table in a Reims shop cellar on rue Henri IV: three glasses with a sommelier's commentary on how champagne is made. Ten people at most.

From $51 per person

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Reims: Tasting of Exceptional Champagnes at Club Trésors de Champagne

A masterclass at the growers' club bar in the Boulingrin district: three, six or eight glasses of Spécial Club cuvées. Cancel free up to two days ahead.

From $57 per person

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Check-out Reims: Discovery Vineyard and Tasting Champagne Coutant

A two-hour visit to a family vineyard a short drive from Reims, collected from your hotel. Children are welcome, with infant seats, and soft drinks for them.

From $70 per person

Check Availability