Day trip/Wine and castle tours from Paris

hey hey richard
there is a poster here, simon is from loire (loirewinetours.com email him at info@loirewinetours.com)
explain what you want and he will inform what can be done.
linkparis.com click on left side short lines for menu, day trips from paris and wine/castle tours are there. any questions, you can contact them (email: info@linksparis.com or call 866-996-9727)
pariscityvision.com has tours to loire valley with wine and castle tours, think you need to take the train.
if you want champagne no castles, they have a reims tours to epernay and

avenue of champagne. take the train. we did a tour of reims, the vineyards and
villages. walked down a main street in reims, stopped at cafe and tasted the local
champagnes, not ones i can buy here in the states. loved it.
you may be able to check at a tourist kiosk/office in paris and see if they offer someone to do a tour from paris.
o-chateau.com has a tour to loire valley also but you need to take the trains to Tours then meet your guide. they do have a champagne cruise or champagne tasting under wine tasting.
alafrancaise.com check out their tours
hope this gives you some ideas and what's out there, talk it over with your group and go from there. we had a great day, a short one hour train ride from paris, bought train tickets day before.
aloha

If the simon that princess pupule is talking about is me, then I'm not at loirewinetours.

We only do very small groups (max 11 people spread across 3 classic cars) and can't do Paris pickups - our cars are no longer allowed in Paris because of the clean air laws, and it would take us at least 3 hours each way.

You will struggle with a groups of 10: that will necessitate hiring a driver and bus and a separate guide, because the van tours can only cater for 8 people - to carry any more people you need a Public Transport driver's licence, hence all the tours companies carry 8 people maximum.

It may be worth your while asking for bus and driver recommendations, and finding a separate guide to meet you once you arrive in the Loire Valley.

@simon
Yes you’re the Simon, sorry about wrong info, will delete my bookmark but keep your name. appreciate letting me know, thanks
aloha

Thank you everyone for the information. I will discuss with my group. We may take train to Reims and do a champagne tour from there. Can you go to Epernay and tour the different Champagne houses and cellars on your own, and pay for tastings at each? Or do you need a guide?

You do not need a guide. If you do not have a driver, you could do a walking tour of Epernay and visit Moet & Chandon, Castellane, and Mercier. Guided tours are useful if you are looking for smaller houses out of town and want to see the vines. You need a vehicle to do that and with a tour you get a driver who has not been tasting/drinking. I've done walking tours, self-guided driving tours with my husband as the designated driver, and semi-private tours with a van and enjoyed all of them but they all had different pluses and minuses. The best of the semi-private tours we have done was the half day tour we did with Cris Event. You may want to contact them: https://www.cris-event.fr/en/contact-et-acces. Their vehicles are limited to to 8 passengers but they maybe could do two tours at the same time for your group.