Loire/Champagne Itinerary Help, 2 or 3 nights?

We stayed in the Champagne region for a few days. We are somewhat "into" wine, but don't love Champagne. We did drive the Champagne Wine route which was lovely and went to some of the wineries along the way. We found Hautvillers charming and visited the church where Dome Perignon is interred. We tasted at a winery with an exceptional view https://www.champagne-tribaut-hautvillers.com/en/home/?v=82a9e4d26595. I think Mom would likely enjoy the area even if she doesn't care for champagne

Though we stayed in a smaller town, we spent about a day and a half in Reims. The cathedral is beautiful and historic. The TI close by was very helpful and gave us a map for a walking tour of the city. We tasted at a wine shop by the train station. Staff constructed an educational tasting at quite a reasonable price, and we felt we learned a lot. (Trésors de Champagne) If you stayed in Reims, maybe mom could spend some time on her own in Reims, there's the cathedral and the gorgeous Carnegie library. There are a few wineries in Reims listed in the RS guide.

Thank you for the advice, this is very helpful!! Did you like the small town you stayed in? And while she isn't into wine in the same way we are, my mother-in-law loves the idea of champagne and always says, "I hope there's champagne in heaven". So I think she'll get a kick out of the overall experience and just spending time together! And I think we can scratch her WWII itch with the history in Reims and perhaps countryside?

Hi Marissa, I’ve visited both Reims, Epernay and the Loire Valley.

Epernay is where Moet & Chandon over a century ago began bottling its “Dom Perignon” champagne—named after the monk who created a fermentation and blending process that contributed to the development of what ultimately became known as “champagne.”
There also are other Houses of Champagne in Epernay— Pol Roger, Comite, Jacquenet & Fils, Mercer, Michel Gonet— to name just a few of them.

Epernay is much smaller (about 20K residents) than Reims (180K residents) and if you want the atmosphere of a smaller town rather than a bustling city— Epernay is where I would stay. There are several Houses of Champagne in central Epernay that you can visit to taste champagne and you can easily walk to them. So, there’s no need to stay in Reims which is the bustling “big city” service center for much of the champagne region. You might want to visit Reims cathedral from Epernay as it’s just a 30-minute train ride away. Reims cathedral is where all the Kings of France were crowned and has windows created by artist Marc Chagall.

For the Loire, Amboise makes a good base. It’s just six miles to Chateau de Chenonceau and Amboise has a chateau of its own, in addition to Clos de Luce, the chateau where Leonardo da Vinci spent his retirement years.

The chateaux of Chenonceau . Chambord, Cheverny and Blois are ones I would recommend. With a car, you’ll also be driving past many others on the route these four are on.

With five nights, I would stay two nights in Epernay and three in Amboise. There is only so much champagne you can sample and an infinite number of chateaux to see in the Loire Valley!

Marissa, We stayed in Aÿ-Champagne. It was a tiny town. It was fine because we had free parking, but there was very little in the town. I think I meant to stay in Aÿ, which is about 15 minutes away.

You might be better off staying in Loire the whole time, especially if you think you'd like the Chateau. As for wine, we especially liked tasting in Vouvray (which also does a fair amount of sparkling wine), which is close to Amboise. We stayed once in Amboise and once in Saumar. I think for a first trip to Loire, I'd stay in Amboise.

It is at least 3.5 hours by car between Amboise and Reims. If you do want to split your time, I'd do 3 in Loire and 2 in Champagne.

I hate to be considered a nit picker, but Dome Perignon was the cellar master in Hautvillier at the abbey. Hautvillier is a smaller village and near Epernay.

I believe his name was “Dom Perignon.”

Kenko, you are absolutely correct. Spelling never my strong suit, although I think autocorrect was the issue.

Marissa,
I would choose 3 nights in the Loire and 2 in Reims (or Epernay). Definitely spend a day in Reims. The cathedral is where nearly every king of France was crowned, going back over a millennium. And it is lovely inside and out. You can walk from there if you choose, to the Musee de la Reddition, where Germany signed the surrender for WWII, a fitting cap to your DDay visits. There are champagne house tours available in the city as well, plus some Roman ruins. Coming from the Loire Valley, (about 3 1/2-4 hours drive) you could stop at one or two champagne wineries near Epernay, then stay the night there. Next mornng spend an hour (all that is needed) at Hautvillers to pay homage to Dom Perignon and enjoy the garden. Next head to Reims for the day. It isn't far from Epernay, so not a long drive back to your lodging.
Three nights in the Loire Valley (2 full days) will give you time for leisurely visits to 4 chateaux at 2 a day. You could possibly see three in a day. I would be "chateauxed" out after 3, but I have been there 3 times, so have seen my fill. However, the Loire area isn't just chateaux. There are troglodyte caves/villages, mushroom caves (near Saumur) and, of course, wineries. So 3 nights there, plus the latter part of arrival day gives you 2 1/2 days that can be easily filled. After 3 nights head to Epernay.
Lodging suggestions have been mentioned on the forum. I would put "Loire Valley lodging" in the search bar and then filter "forum", and "one year or less". Scroll through what comes up and you should have quite a few to investigate. Best of luck! Have fun!

Like Judy says, I would give three nights go the Loire, and two to Champagne.

I personally would skip the Loire and head straight to Reims for a delirious five days. 🙃

Really, really love Champagne. It's worth stopping off between Reims and Epernay to visit Rilly-la-Montagne. Lots of small growers are located in Rilly who have very particular styles. The breadth of different flavors the Champenois can coax from the small number of grapes they use is remarkable.

Reims the most logical and is it still charming, while being a modern city?

I was just in Reims for two nights. I wouldn’t call it charming, most of it was destroyed in WWI and the rebuild isn’t particularly attractive. The cathedral is great (but the facade was under restoration as of last month) and a tour of one of the Champagne caves is worth it if you like Champagne. The Veuve Clicquot tour was good. I think Reims is worth a day trip, not a two night stay.

Thank you everyone and Marco, this is just what we needed. OK, we will plan to stay 3 nights in Loire Valley (most likely Amboise, unless someone has a recommendation for another great base of similar or smaller size) and 2 nights in a small town, not Reims. We would love to stay at Hauts de Loire, but sadly out of our price range!

And have you considered a chateau stay in the Loire? There are many to choose from in the region. We stayed a couple of nights this past June at Chateau d'Artigny in Montbazon, and found the escape provided so luxurious that we ended up touring only one of the grand chateaux and staying put most of the rest of the time. This presupposes that you'll be bringing a car, which I think is very convenient with this sort of itinerary.

We would love to stay at a chauteau, I just got easily overwhelmed in my searches, but thank you for your recommendation! I will take a look and see if they have availibility. We will have a car for the entirety of our trip, which makes things a bit easier.

So thanks to this group, right now leaning:
3 nights in Bayeux
3 nights in Loire (leaning Amboise, but would love a chauteau if we can still find one)
2 nights in champagne region, ruled out Reims. Looking for a vineyard stay or smaller village. Looked at the off chance the hotel by Jacques Selosse had availability, alas :)

Any specific stays you've loved, are greatly appreciated!

We stayed at Chateau du Pray just outside of Amboise. They also have an amazing restaurant, that was surprisingly relatively reasonable for what it is.www.chateaudepray.fr

Hi Marissa,
We just returned from the Loire. As for a base, maybe check out Loches? It had a sympa vibe (that word) that was more conducive to flaneurs than any of the other spots we visited. One other far less-trodden spot: Chateau Gaillard just beyond Clos de Luce (DaVinci) in Amboise. We noticed a few other couples strolling there and wondered whether they were guests who'd paid for lodging at that peaceful spot. *Their lil cave-cafe has VG salad Nicoise, fresh juices from their own copious stock plus the best orange cake on the planet!

Runner-up: Chateau Montresor. It now has a great cafe 'Ecole Gourmande' --MUST reserve due to quirky hours. Dunno whether that small village has lodgings but the Brit ex-pat gal who runs their Tourism office is extremely helpful and could advise.
Good luck.
I am done. the end

In 2022 we stayed at Le Clos Richelieu in Amboise. It was very nice. Had a good location and friendly hosts. Nice outdoor area as well.

Hi Marissa,
We were just in the Champagne region last fall. We chose to stay in Épernay for 2 nights, which is a charming, smaller town. Beautiful to just meander around but also super close to Reims. If your MIL is fond of WWII history, then she will love to visit the Musée de la Reddition in Reims (https://musees-reims.fr/fr/musees/musee-de-la-reddition/) It's where they signed the documents with the Nazi's to end WWII in Europe. A small museum but very moving and a definite must see for any WWII enthusiast. You should also research some of the cemetaries around the area. Reims was a key city during the war and, driving around out of town, we saw a number of cemetaries for those lost during the war (actually both wars.)
As for the Loire Valley, I haven't been in years but will be going this year and plan to stay in Amboise. We will have 3 nights there so that we can thoroughly explore the area.
So, I suggest 2 nights in Champagne region (you will easily fit in any tastings you want plus visits to other points of interest) and 3 nights in the Loire Valley.
Enjoy your trip!