Thinking about starting our trip in reims. Is it easy to take a train from the cdg airport?? What moderately price hotel do you recommend?? Recommendations for tours??? I have a 17 year old. Will she be able to sample??? Thanks for advice!!!
If you plan to visit any of the champagne houses, make a reservation. We visited Taittinger and enjoyed a tour of the caves (Unesco site) and a tasting. We were there in February and the tour only had five guests. I heard in the spring, summer and fall it is very crowded. We took a train from Paris, rented a car at the train station and Reims for just the day and headed back to Paris in the evening.
Minors can drink here as long as their guardian allows it, so the 17 yo should be able to taste.
The train is easy and the Taittinger tour is a good one. We were there in a February, like jmebelle, and there was just one other couple.
check the sncf website, but I don't think there are trains from CDG. The TGV takes 45 minutes and runs from Gare de Lyon. You can take a cab to Gare de Lyon from the airport -- for 53Euro for up to 4 people. The rule of thumb is to not book anything with less than 4 hours from ETA at CDG.
Definitely book a tour with one of the champagne houses ahead. We did Taittinger and thought it was really interesting. They don't do 'tastings' on these tours -- you buy a ticket that includes X number of glasses of champagne. One was as much as we wanted to try midday. Unless your daughter looks very young, I would think that with her parents there would be no issue. I think teens can drink wine with parents. At Taittinger you just went to a table and picked up your glass -- so it would be easy to pick up her glass.
Reims has good local. public transport; we took a tram as I recall to Champagne house and then walked back to the Cathedral. If you want to do actual 'tasting' of different champagnes, there are lots of places that offer flights to try different ones.
OP asked about a train from CDG to Reims. Do you have to go into Paris? Google says only for the return. Which does seem odd. We went to/from Paris-Est because we were already there. But whatever, when you get there, they have champagne, so it's worth it.
OOPs sorry about that -- I forgot that we departed Est and not Lyon -- that is what I get for relying on my elderly memory. Thanks for the correction.
When booking from Paris to anywhere you just put Paris in as your point of departure and the website will select the correct train station.
Est is an easy stroll from the RER B at Gare du Nord -- so you could take the train into Paris and save a few Euros.
As always -- be pickpocket proof in transit.
The bahn.de website shows a TGV from CDG to Champagne-Ardenne, then a 12-minute train to Reims, total time about an hour. It leaves CDG at 11:23, possibly a good time if your flight lands early in the morning. There are a couple more daily TGVs from CDG that connect to Reims with two changes and longer total time. All that's on a random date later this month.
And of course there's the RER to Gare de l'Est with many trains from there to Reims.
We spent a night at the Grand Hotel Continental, which was comfortable and well located for the center and cathedral. We drove, but the hotel was across a park from the station and looked easy to reach. Our main interest was the cathedral, we didn't do the champagne thing. If you have time, see the ancient Roman gate near the station, a little-noticed treat.
To be more specific: there are a few direct trains a day from CDG to Champagne Ardenne TGV, which is a 20-min tram ride from central Reims (no need to take another train).
But there aren't any in the middle of the day, so a train from Paris Est to Reims Centre (or Reims Ville, I forgot the exact name of the station) might work better depending on when you land.
We took a direct train from CDG to Reims. The train goes takes you to Champagne-Ardenne. When you exit train go up the ramp over the pedestrian bridge and board a tram that will take you to downtown. We stayed at https://www.hotel-azur-reims.com/ and loved it. We were able to walk there from the station. It was a great first stop for our trip to France last fall.