Reims: Hotel & Champagne Caves

We enjoyed (immensely) same tour this past late September. Arrived Reims 4 days before tour started. The TGV from CDG was so convenient.
We thought the hotel prices in Reims were quite high, so found an Airbnb. Easy walk from train station. One of the days we took the regional train from Reims to Èpernay. Beautiful town - the
Avenue de Champagne is pretty impressive.
We booked a tour at Jacquinot et Fils, small champagne house - 6 people on tour. Lovely champagne.

We did a tour of the Martel facility. and found it quite interesting. Easy to get there on a local bus, or about a 30 minute walk. That's the only one we've taken, but I imagine that they are all pretty much alike. That's based on having been on many tours of distilleries and breweries. And they are all very similar except for the samples at the end of the tour. If you have time, go to the Museum of Surrender. Easy to walk to via a tunnel under the train station.

Carol,
I don't know what is on your tour, but do not miss the cathedral where the kings of France were crowned. Beautiful and historically impressive. Also, I second the recommendation to visit the Musee de Rendition.

In 2017, we stayed at the Best Western Hôtel de la Paix, which looks like a ~5-minute walk from Hotel Continental. We were only there for one night and, best I remember, we were perfectly happy.

We visited 2 champagne houses in Reims -- Martel and Taittinger -- and it was nice to have the contrast between more polished/corporate (Taittinger, and I don't mean "corporate" to sound negative) and more personal/local (Martel). We were very glad we experienced both. And I'll echo Judy; highly recommend you make time for the cathedral.

In 2019, we stayed at the Best Western Hotel de la Paix, and like Betsy, we enjoyed it very much. We walked from the train station to the hotel. You will need a cab to reach the Champagne-Ardennes TGV station.

https://www.bestwestern-lapaix-reims.com/en/

Thank you for those who responded to my questions:
Hotel: Betsy & EP...both of you recommended Best Western Hotel de la Paix. It looks like a large hotel, yet, it is fully booked for the nights we needed. Maybe I am naive, but I am amazed that hotels are fully booked 11 months in advance!
Based on location, rating, and price, I just booked the Holiday Inn Centre...direct.

Champagne Caves tours: Wow! some of you are really "into" champagne. I don't even know how good champagne should taste. I just thought my husband would really enjoy a tour since we will be in the region. I'll have to read up more about the places some you visited.
So... has nobody here done the Mumm Champagne tour?

TC & Judy: Museum of Surrender-Yes, we are big on WWII history, so we definitely will go there on our own. Reims Cathedral is included on the Tour.
Anyway, thanks everyone.

We did Reims on our own. We walked from the train station to downtown & saw the Cathedral. I really liked the stained glass. Some Marc Chagall stained glass that was a bit more modern. It really grew on me. I liked it a lot. We first went to Veuve Cliquot. It was a beautiful day & we sat outside for a glass of bubbles. Delightful. Then we walked over to Pommeroy for a self guided walk through the caves. The glass artwork was really pretty. I don't know if you have to buy a glass of champagne with the tour. I'd advise trying that route. IIRC you could order 1 or 2 glasses with your tour. we ordered 1 & did not finish. "Not good" ....for us.

Tried to walk in to Tattinger (not sure if it was Tattinger or Mumms) & they were full for the day. Ended up walking into a cafe for a late lunch that was tremendous. The owner only made up the menu after shopping at the local Kroger ....err...market. We just loved the place

I was in Reims earlier this month and stayed at the Best Western Hotel Centre and also took the Mumm tour.

The hotel was perfectly fine and the staff was friendly and helpful. It is located right in the middle of the Place Drouet d'Erlon, which is very busy in the afternoons and evenings with lots of restaurants and bars and a young, college student-type vibe. We were there over the weekend when France won a match to advance in the Rugby World Cup, so we could hear some noise from the plaza that night. We enjoyed the location and given the circumstances, the small amount of noise was not bad at all.

The Mumm tour was enjoyable, with a short video and then a group tour of the caves, which included quite a bit of information about the way champagne production has changed over the years with some displays of equipment from different eras. The tasting at the end was basically just a glass of champagne that we took out to their nice patio area. We did book the cheapest option for the tasting, so I think other people may have gotten more of a guided tasting with either a more expensive champagne or maybe more than one. Overall, I thought it was worth doing.

We also took a van tour with Cris-Events (mentioned in the RS guidebook, but the website and name seem to have recently changed to A La Francaise, https://www.alafrancaise.fr/en/). We did the half-day "Afternoon Epernay & Family Growers from Reims" tour. It was a little pricey, but the experience was great and we got to visit two smaller vineyards and in one case chat with the owner/wine maker. It made an interesting complement to the Mumm tour and included six tastings, so it was great to have a driver! We came back with three bottles and had a wonderful afternoon.

As for Reims itself, don't miss the Halles Boulingrin market. We took a picnic of things we bought there to the lovely park Les Hautes Promenade.

I hope that helps. Enjoy Reims and your tour!

Jennifer: Thank you so much for your detailed answer to my questions. The hotel I booked is 5 minutes from the Best Western Hotel Centre where you stayed so hopefully we'll have lots of restaurant choices also.
Thanks also for the details on your Mumm tour. You reassured me that the cheapest tour included a visit to the caves, which is what I'm interested in.
Thanks also for the tip to go to the Halles Boulingrin market. I like your idea of buying picnic items from the market to take to Les Haute Promenade.

A hotel that looks fully booked 11 months in advance might just not have opened its reservation calendar yet, FYI. It will be worth checking again in January.

I was thinking the same . . . many hotels don't set their rates that far in advance. One way to check is to try booking in other months - maybe April, then August, September.