Does anybody have any expertise on the champagne tours in Reims? We are staying in Paris and thought about taking a day tour to the Champagne region. Our hotel offers a 10 hour tour including lunch for approximately €215. It includes two champagne tasting’s and lunch. Seems like a reasonable price to me. There is also a company called viator which offers many other options but you have to start in Reims. Any one sharing any expertise would be much appreciated! Thank you!
Posted by
Edmond, Oklahoma
126 posts
We did a day trip to Reims on our own in March 2017. Purchased the first train ticket to Reims, the last ticket back to Paris(purchased well in advance for cheapest ticket). We toured with Taittinger champagne house and GH Mumm. We got tours of both facilities including the cellars, and wonderful guides who work for those houses respectively. We also go to see the cathedral and basilica during our time in Reims. We ate lunch at an Italian place too.
We walked everywhere, but they do have public transportation that seemed easy to use. (20K steps or so)
It was well worth it, and really easy to book ahead of time (train rides and champagne tours. Everything else was on the fly).
I assume my wife and i for sure spent less than 420euro but It was last year so i dont have an exact budget. We did spring for the most expensive tasting at each location, because we wanted to try their best available. We ended up buying a bottle from each house and brought them home with us :)
Posted by
OP
Los Alamitos, CA, US
28 posts
Thank you for your info. Unfortunately I’m trying to plan this with limited advance notice. We’re travrking there next week. Has anyone used Viator tours?
Posted by
California
129 posts
We usually self-tour. If you are looking for an organized tour I highly recommend O Chateau. (www.O-Chateau.com)
We have done several of their events and they have always been good value.
Their trip is 245 euro but it includes 3 tastings and lunch.
They also do a Seine cruise in Paris with very generous champagne pours.
You might also consider traveling yourself by train to Epernay. It is very easy. The Moet tour is fantastic (book online). After the tour you can stroll the Avenue des Champagnes and stop in 2-3 places for tastings. That is a much cheaper way.
We gave used Viator several times in other places. They are a tour consolidator. They seem to do a good job screening the tours they feature and we have had no problems.
Posted by
Chicago
8556 posts
Viator doesn't have tours; they are just a middleman that hawks other people's tours.
We did it on the spur of the moment last May from Paris. We bought cheap TGV tickets a couple of days before the trip (we were lucky). It was 20 each way; unless you are lucky it is a bit more, but it is only 45 minutes. We booked Taittinger and very much enjoyed the cellar tour. Don't miss the Cathedral and Basilica St. Remy (the later is quite close to Taittinger). There are buses and trams from the station that will take you to all these places easily but they are also easily walked if it is a nice day. There are cafes, bars, shops etc all over offering various Champagne sampling.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
784 posts
If you decide on a bus tour, don't book through Viator. Instead book through Paris City Vision, which is the company that actually operates the tour. I have done 2 day trips with Paris City Vision, though not to Reims, and they run a good operation. I was just checking on Reims day trips today for a future trip, and they have 3 or 4 different tour options at different price points.
Posted by
California
129 posts
Paris City Vision is not the only operator of the Viator tours.
Posted by
Boston, MA, United States
1806 posts
We also did a last-minute trip to Reims on our own - super easy. While in Paris, we bought our train ticket to Reims the night before we decided to go. Took an early train there, didn't even book a champagne house tour until we arrived in Reims - upon exiting the station we just wandered over to the Tourist Info office and they got us a reservation for Mumms which was within walking distance. We didn't want to go on one of the full tours that took us outside of the city and to multiple champagne houses. It's kind of like you see one cellar, they all pretty much start to look alike. We did our tour of Mumms and the tasting on-site, ate lunch at a nice restaurant nearby and then checked out other non-champagne related sights in Reims (including Reims Cathedral and Musee des Beaux-Arts).
Posted by
martinez, ca, usa
2408 posts
Hi Laurie
Last year we did a tour in a 2CV car outta reims. Think we bought tickets online at Trainline.eu and printed here at home, met a the church for 2 hour tour, toured small town of reims, ride out to countryside, stopped at grape vineyard, went to small champagne house, bought 2 bottles and back to train station a-l-allurechampenoise.fr (under our offers/ click our offers is in English. Email is quick. Since you’re there next week, visitacty is another. Whatever you on, do it. We had a great day, walked around had lunch tasted lots of champagnes, the houses are crowded. Go have fun and enjoy. Happy travels
Aloha