Paris has no vineyards to speak of, one hillside plot in Montmartre aside, but it has something better: the fastest train in the world into the most famous wine region on earth. Reims is 45 minutes from Gare de l’Est, Épernay about an hour and twenty, and the great Champagne houses keep their cellars within walking distance of both stations. Two hours south lies Chablis, and two hours south-west the Loire’s Vouvray caves and the châteaux around Amboise.
This guide is about the day trip. It gathers the houses and estates we would send a first-timer to in each of those areas, the honest logistics of trains, bookings and closures, where to eat between tastings, and where to stay if a day becomes a weekend. For every Champagne house you can visit, on one map, and our Paris tours guide, follow the links at the end.
Getting There From Paris
Champagne is the day trip that needs no car. TGV trains from Gare de l’Est reach Reims in about 45 minutes, and the Saint-Nicaise hillside houses, with their UNESCO-listed chalk cellars, are a short taxi or a half-hour walk from the station; the city-centre houses are closer still. Épernay is about an hour and twenty minutes from the same station by regional train, and the Avenue de Champagne, with a dozen grandes maisons in a row, starts five minutes from the platform. The villages of the Montagne de Reims and the Vallée de la Marne need a taxi or one of the local half-day tours from either town.
Chablis is about two hours south by car on the A6, or a train to Auxerre and a taxi; it suits a car day with a stop in Auxerre’s old town. Vouvray and Amboise are about two hours and a quarter by car, or an hour by TGV from Montparnasse to Tours and a short taxi, and the tuffeau caves along the river make the Loire the most atmospheric tasting of the four.
Book before you go. Almost every grande maison sells timed cellar tours online, weekends and summer sell out, and many houses close for part of January and February; growers usually want a call or an email a few days ahead. France’s drink-driving limit is 0.5 grams per litre, one glass, so on a driving day agree the driver before the first pour.
Our Recommended Wineries Near Paris
These are the tastings we would point a first-timer to, grouped so you can build a single-area day: Reims and the Montagne de Reims, Épernay and the Vallée de la Marne, Chablis, and Vouvray and the Loire. Each links through to our full winery guide, and the map plots them all so you can see what sits close together.
Wineries within day-trip range of Paris · tap a pin for the winery guide. Map data © OpenStreetMap.
Champagne Canard-Duchene
Why Guests Love It: Deep Chalk Cellars, English-Speaking Guides, Generous Tastings
A full-scale house 20 minutes from Reims with 6 km of hand-carved 19th-century cellars on four levels, 12 to 38 metres down, in the former cellars of the Chateau de Ludes. English tours run at 11:30am and 3pm and the visit includes the park and an art exhibition; the house is certified Sustainable Viticulture in Champagne. Open Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm, plus Sundays April to September, with Mondays closed in January and February.
Read our full Champagne Canard-Duchene guide →Champagne Michel Fagot
Why Guests Love It: Train-Accessible Village, Cool Cellar Tour, Small-Group Tastings
A family grower in Rilly-la-Montagne, the Montagne de Reims village with its own station on the Reims to Epernay line, so it is the one Montagne producer you can reach by train. The visit starts in a small walled vineyard and moves through the cellars, winery and old press, seen from a glass-walled tasting room; the Rilly hills sit inside the UNESCO-listed Montagne de Reims regional park. Open seven days a week, including Sunday afternoons, which is rare in the villages.
Read our full Champagne Michel Fagot guide →La Maison Penet
Why Guests Love It: Grand Cru Single Vineyards, Vineyard Walk, Five-Wine Tastings
The Penet family works single vineyards in the Grand Cru villages of Verzy and Verzenay and receives visitors in a 19th-century property with vaulted cellars. The house makes low-dosage champagnes across three ranges (Alexandre Penet, Penet-Chardonnet Grand Cru and Ex Ante), and visits combine a vineyard walk, cellar tour and a guided tasting of several cuvees. Open Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm and Saturday 11am to 4pm; book ahead from May to October.
Read our full La Maison Penet guide →Champagne Pierre Paillard
Why Guests Love It: Chef's Table Lunch, 19th-Century Crayeres, Eighth-Generation Family
An eighth-generation grower estate in Bouzy, the Grand Cru village at the southern foot of the Montagne de Reims best known for Pinot Noir. The house publishes two priced experiences: At the Tasting Table (about 80 to 90 euros, 1.5 hours, max 8 people, estate and 19th-century crayeres tour with four cuvees) and the Chef’s Table (about 250 to 260 euros, around 3.5 hours, Wednesday to Sunday, a four-course lunch in the open kitchen paired with the house wines). Small groups, so slots go weeks ahead in high season.
Read our full Champagne Pierre Paillard guide →Champagne Godme Sabine
Why Guests Love It: Owner-Led Visits, Lighthouse Views, Warm Family Welcome
An independent grower on the Rue du Phare in Verzenay, the Grand Cru village whose vineyard lighthouse (the Phare de Verzenay) is visible from the tasting room and terrace. Sabine leads the visit herself through the press room, cellars and vat room before a tasting with the vines in view; visits run in English and French and the estate holds the Haute Valeur Environnementale certification and the Vignobles et Decouvertes label. Opening hours are confirmed by phone, so call or email before driving out.
Read our full Champagne Godme Sabine guide →Champagne G.H. Martel & Co
Why Guests Love It: Medieval Crayeres, Small Groups, Walkable From The Station
A family house in Reims itself, founded in 1869 and run by the Rapeneau family for four generations, whose cellars are medieval chalk crayeres carved between the 4th and 15th centuries and listed with the Champagne hillsides as UNESCO World Heritage since 2015. It sits a short walk from the Saint-Remi basilica and is one of the houses Reims tourism lists as open in January, so it is the in-city option for train day-trippers who cannot get a slot at the bigger names. Small groups; reviewers rate the tasting above the tour length.
Read our full Champagne G.H. Martel & Co guide →Champagne Taittinger
Why Guests Love It: Roman-Era Chalk Cellars, Comtes de Champagne, Family-Owned House
Taittinger is one of the few grandes maisons still run by the family whose name it carries, and its cellar tour drops into Gallo-Roman chalk quarries and the crypt of the medieval Saint-Nicaise abbey, part of the UNESCO-listed hillside. The house style is Chardonnay-led and elegant, and the tour ends with a tasting that can include the Comtes de Champagne prestige cuvée.
Read our full Champagne Taittinger guide →Veuve Clicquot
Why Guests Love It: UNESCO Crayères, The Widow's Story, Yellow-Label Icon
Veuve Clicquot’s visitor centre on the Saint-Nicaise hillside opens onto 24 kilometres of chalk crayères, the UNESCO-listed cellars where Madame Clicquot perfected riddling in the early nineteenth century. Tours are polished, in several languages, and pair the house history with a tasting of the Yellow Label and, on the longer formats, the vintage and rosé wines.
Read our full Veuve Clicquot guide →Champagne Ruinart
Why Guests Love It: Oldest Champagne House, Cathedral-Like Crayères, Art Programme
Founded in 1729, Ruinart is the oldest Champagne house, and its crayères are the most beautiful in Reims: chalk pits dug in Roman times that open into vaults the height of a cathedral nave, listed by UNESCO. The visit is intimate and expensive, built around the house’s Chardonnay-driven Blanc de Blancs and its contemporary art commissions.
Read our full Champagne Ruinart guide →Champagne Pommery
Why Guests Love It: Elizabethan-Style Domaine, 116-Step Staircase, Contemporary Art In The Cellars
Pommery’s domaine is the most theatrical in Reims, a Victorian folly of brick and turrets built by Madame Pommery in the 1870s above 18 kilometres of chalk galleries filled with contemporary art. Self-guided and guided visits both descend the grand staircase, and the house pours its dry Brut Royal, a style Louise Pommery helped invent, at the end.
Read our full Champagne Pommery guide →Champagne Leclerc Briant
Why Guests Love It: Biodynamic Pioneer, Rooftop View Of Epernay, Two-Couple Tours
Founded in 1872 and a pioneer of biodynamic champagne, with the La Croisette vineyard farmed biodynamically since the 1960s. Visits are by appointment only and small: the historic Croisette parcel, the presses, barrel cellars and vat rooms, a rooftop view over Epernay and a tasting, all led by a bilingual guide. It sits on the hill above the Avenue de Champagne, a 20 minute walk from Epernay station, so it fits a train day.
Read our full Champagne Leclerc Briant guide →Champagne Boizel (Atelier 1834)
Why Guests Love It: Open Seven Days, By-The-Glass Tastings, Family Bottle Collection
The family-owned house at number 46 on the Avenue de Champagne, whose Atelier 1834 visitor space is open seven days a week (10am to 6pm, until 7pm Friday and Saturday) with guided cellar tours, tasting workshops and a courtyard bar where you can buy tastings by the glass without a tour. The cellars display the family’s private collection of old bottles. A practical anchor for an Avenue walk when the neighbouring anchors (Moet & Chandon, Perrier-Jouet, Mercier) are booked out.
Read our full Champagne Boizel (Atelier 1834) guide →Champagne G. Tribaut
Why Guests Love It: Vineyard Terrace View, Fair Prices, Blanc De Noirs
A four-generation grower founded in 1935 in Hautvillers, the hilltop village where Dom Perignon is buried, with just over 12 hectares of Premier Cru vines in Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay. The tasting room looks straight down the slope over the vineyards to the Marne, individual visits take about 30 minutes and the tasting of three samples costs 5 to 15 euros, refunded with a six-bottle purchase. Parking at the door and a year-round welcome make it the easy stop in Hautvillers.
Read our full Champagne G. Tribaut guide →Champagne J.M. Gobillard & Fils
Why Guests Love It: Abbey Village Setting, Terrace Lounge, English Spoken
The Gobillard family caveau sits on the church square in Hautvillers, a minute from the abbey church, and farms about 25 hectares, mostly Premier Cru Hautvillers. The tasting lounge and terrace serve flights of the range with a production film, in English or French, and the house is open daily 10am to 12:30pm and 2pm to 5:30pm in summer (June to September), Friday to Sunday in spring and autumn, Saturdays only in January and February. Pair it with a walk to the abbey and lunch at Au 36 across the village.
Read our full Champagne J.M. Gobillard & Fils guide →Champagne Henri Giraud
Why Guests Love It: Private Tours, Oak-Aged Style, Manoir Lunches
The Giraud family’s estate at the foot of the Ay Grand Cru vineyard, visited through the Manoir Henri Giraud next door, a small hotel and spa on the same boulevard. The Bain de Terroir programme starts with a private tour of the domaine and a commented tasting, with a food-and-wine table experience and a chalk-based spa treatment as add-ons. Reviewers single out the oak-aged style and the reserve wines; expect prices to match the private format.
Read our full Champagne Henri Giraud guide →Champagne Dom Caudron
Why Guests Love It: Meunier Focus, Chocolate Pairing, Family-Friendly Cinema
The Meunier specialist of the Vallee de la Marne, 30 minutes west of Epernay, which styles its growers the Conjugueurs de Meunier. Themed visits (reservation only) take in the old presses, a cinema on the vineyard year, a 3D photo gallery and a 6 metre walkway above the modern cellar, with a champagne-and-chocolate pairing among the options. The shop and tasting room are open all year, weekdays 9am to noon and 1:30pm to 5pm and weekends 10am to noon and 1:30pm to 5pm, but closed at weekends in January and February and over the Christmas holidays.
Read our full Champagne Dom Caudron guide →Moët & Chandon
Why Guests Love It: Avenue de Champagne Landmark, 28 Kilometres Of Cellars, Dom Pérignon Story
Moët & Chandon is the largest Champagne house and the anchor of Épernay’s Avenue de Champagne, with 28 kilometres of cellars beneath the street and a statue of Dom Pérignon at the gate. The guided tour is the most popular in Champagne and ends with a tasting of the Impérial wines; book early, and note the house closes from late December until March.
Read our full Moët & Chandon guide →Perrier-Jouët
Why Guests Love It: Art Nouveau Maison Belle Epoque, Chardonnay Style, Avenue de Champagne Setting
Perrier-Jouët sits on the Avenue de Champagne behind the Maison Belle Epoque, the finest Art Nouveau interior in the region, and its cellar visits pair the house’s floral, Chardonnay-led wines with that collection. Tastings can reach the Belle Epoque cuvée in its anemone-painted bottle, the most recognisable in Champagne.
Read our full Perrier-Jouët guide →Champagne Mercier
Why Guests Love It: Underground Train Through The Cellars, Giant 1889 Cask, Easy Family Visit
Mercier was built for visitors from the start, by a showman who paraded a 200,000-bottle cask to the 1889 Paris Exposition, and its tour is the most fun in Épernay: a panoramic lift down to the cellars and a small train through 18 kilometres of galleries. It is the house to choose with children or on a first visit, and the wines are approachable and fairly priced.
Read our full Champagne Mercier guide →Champagne Bollinger
Why Guests Love It: Family House Since 1829, Oak-Aged Pinot Noir Style, Village Setting In Aÿ
Bollinger stays in the family that founded it in 1829 and makes the most Pinot Noir-driven, oak-influenced wines of the great houses, still fermenting in barrel and ageing under cork. Visits to the Aÿ cellars are small and by reservation only, and take in the ungrafted Vieilles Vignes Françaises plot beside the house; it is the connoisseur’s stop in the Vallée de la Marne.
Read our full Champagne Bollinger guide →Nicolas Feuillatte
Why Guests Love It: Modern Visitor Centre, Cooperative Of 5,000 Growers, Value Tastings
Nicolas Feuillatte at Chouilly is the largest cooperative brand in Champagne, made from the grapes of some 5,000 growers, and its modern visitor centre on the edge of the Côte des Blancs is the easiest place to learn how Champagne is actually made at scale. Tours are frequent and reasonably priced, and the tasting bar takes walk-ins on quiet days.
Read our full Nicolas Feuillatte guide →La Chablisienne
Why Guests Love It: Open Every Day, Six To Seven Wines Poured, Wide Price Range
The Chablis growers’ cooperative, founded in 1923, with a tasting cellar on the edge of town open every day of the year (weekdays 9am to 7pm April to December, 9am to 6pm January to March; Sundays 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm). Six priced formats run from a 6.50 euro Discovery tasting to a 35 euro Prestige flight of up to six wines, with a virtual-reality vineyard tour and a food-pairing option that needs 48 hours notice. Named best wine producer in France at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 2016 and 2018.
Read our full La Chablisienne guide →Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard
Why Guests Love It: Panoramic Cellar View, Organic Versus Conventional Flights, Cheese Pairings
Founded in 1973 and now one of the largest family estates in Chablis, with a visitor centre on the hill at Prehy beside the Sainte-Claire church, 10 minutes south of town. The Discover visit (about 45 minutes, 5 euros, free with a 25 euro purchase) walks through a geology room, a panoramic vineyard viewpoint and the winemaking hall before three cuvees in the cellar; the Terroir and Sensation experiences (1.5 hours, 15 euros, max 10 people, 48 hours notice) add five wines with charcuterie or cheese. Guides compare organic and conventional parcels side by side.
Read our full Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard guide →Domaine Long-Depaquit
Why Guests Love It: Chateau Grounds, Grand Cru Flights, Historic Cellars
A chateau with a walled park in the middle of Chablis, on land the Long-Depaquit family bought from the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny after the Revolution and owned by Maison Albert Bichot since 1968. The estate holds 9 hectares of Grand Cru including the Moutonne monopole, and tastings of the Grands Crus in the old cellars run Monday to Friday 9am to 12:30pm and 2pm to 5:30pm, Saturday from 10am. Reviewers mention the rose garden and grounds as much as the wines.
Read our full Domaine Long-Depaquit guide →Caves Ambacia
Why Guests Love It: Fifteenth-Century Caves, Six-Wine Food Pairing, On-Site Bistro
Fifteenth-century troglodyte cellars dug into the limestone under Amboise, with roots to 1463 and a Vouvray collection running from 1874 to the present. The Discovery tour costs 25 euros and ends with six wines paired with food; private Odyssey tours (69 euros, 1.5 hours, or 89 euros with a barrel tasting) go deeper into the collection. The on-site bistro L’Oppidum serves Loire farm-to-table plates all year, and the caves are a 20 minute walk from Amboise station.
Read our full Caves Ambacia guide →Cave des Producteurs de Vouvray
Why Guests Love It: Tuffeau Galleries, English Tours, Sparkling And Sweet Chenin
The Vouvray growers’ cooperative in the Vallee Coquette, where guided visits walk through kilometres of tuffeau galleries stacked with millions of bottles of still and sparkling Vouvray before a tasting. English-language tours run at 11:30am and 4pm from March to December, French tours at 11am, 3pm and 5pm, and a small platter can be added to the tasting. The Les Gueules Noires restaurant is a few hundred metres up the same valley for lunch.
Read our full Cave des Producteurs de Vouvray guide →Plou & Fils
Why Guests Love It: Since 1508, Free Vineyard Walk, Direct-Sale Prices
A family that has farmed vines in Charge, on the Loire bank 5 km upstream of Amboise, since 1508, now 23 generations in and working 102 hectares. Visitors get a free self-guided vineyard walk of about 45 minutes, a short guided tour of the troglodyte caves (about 20 minutes) and a guided tasting of white, rose, red and sparkling Touraine wines in the new chai. Direct-sale prices and a young family member usually behind the counter.
Read our full Plou & Fils guide →Plan Your Wine Day
Tell us how long you have and what you are after, and we will put together a day from the wineries in this guide, in real driving order, with a route you can open in Google Maps and reminders to book.
Wine Tours From Paris
If you would rather leave the logistics to someone else, these small-group and full-day trips run from Paris with pickup, cellar visits, tastings and lunch. Booking is through Viator; the ratings and prices are theirs and can change.
A small-group day in Champagne with hotel pickup, six tastings across a major house and smaller growers, a cellar visit in Reims and a winery lunch.
Check availability on ViatorA small-group day built around eight tastings and a gourmet lunch at a family-run winery, visiting a well-known house such as Veuve Clicquot, Mumm or Lanson plus smaller estates.
Check availability on ViatorAn all-inclusive minivan day to Champagne with house and grower visits, cellar tours, several tastings and lunch included.
Check availability on ViatorA full day to the Loire from Paris pairing the chateaux of Chambord and Chenonceau with free time in Blois and a tasting of local Loire wines.
Check availability on ViatorWhere to Eat
Reims and Épernay both eat well, and the villages have the kind of lunch that turns a tasting into a day. These are the standouts, all well loved by the travellers who review them.
Cafe du Palais (Reims)
A 1930s brasserie under a stained-glass ceiling opposite the law courts, a short walk from the cathedral; classic plates and a long champagne list, child-friendly.
Brasserie Le Jardin (Domaine Les Crayeres) (Reims)
The relaxed brasserie in the park of Les Crayeres, next door to Pommery and Ruinart, with garden tables and a sommelier-led champagne list at brasserie prices.
La Grillade Gourmande (Épernay)
Open-fire grill a few minutes from the Avenue de Champagne; reviewers stress that a reservation is essential even midweek.
Au 36 (Épernay)
Wine bar and light-lunch spot in Hautvillers village with a garden courtyard and three-champagne flights from local growers, a two-minute walk from Gobillard and the abbey.
Au Fil du Zinc (Chablis)
Set-menu bistro on the Serein next to Domaine Laroche, with a lunch menu and a well-priced Chablis pairing; book ahead.
Les Trois Bourgeons (Chablis)
Small set-menu restaurant on the main street between Long-Depaquit and the Laroche boutique; tables are limited and walk-ins are regularly turned away, so reserve.
Les Gueules Noires (Loire)
Troglodyte restaurant with a lime-shaded terrace among the Vouvray vines, a few hundred metres from the Cave des Producteurs; call ahead, it fills.
Le Lion d'Or (Loire)
Riverside restaurant on the Amboise quay below the chateau, a short walk from Caves Ambacia and the station.
Where to Stay
Paris is the obvious base, but Reims and Épernay both reward a night, and the Champagne countryside has some of the best-run small hotels in France.
Domaine Les Crayeres (Reims)
Five-star chateau hotel in a park beside the Pommery and Ruinart cellars, with the Michelin-starred Le Parc and the Brasserie Le Jardin on site; free parking, 2 km from the cathedral.
Check availability on Booking.comHotel Jean Moet (Épernay)
Four-star townhouse hotel in the centre of Epernay, an easy walk from both the station and the Avenue de Champagne, so a car-free base for the cluster.
Check availability on Booking.comHostellerie des Clos (Chablis)
Logis hotel on the Serein in Chablis with the Bistrot des Grands Crus, a 400-bottle local wine list, free parking and the town’s tasting rooms within a five-minute walk.
Check availability on Booking.comLe Manoir Les Minimes (Loire)
Listed 18th-century manor on the Loire with a view of the Chateau d’Amboise, renovated in 2021, 15 rooms, a short walk from Caves Ambacia and the Amboise quay restaurants.
Check availability on Booking.comWhat to Pack
Northern France is cool and often damp outside high summer, and the chalk cellars sit at about 10 degrees all year, so bring a warm layer even in July. Comfortable shoes matter for cellar stairs and the walk along the Avenue de Champagne, and an umbrella earns its place from October to April.
Keep your train tickets and tour confirmations on your phone, carry a card for tasting fees, and leave room in the bag for a bottle or two; most houses ship, but a Champagne bought at the source and carried home on the train is part of the pleasure.
Why Paris Is a Wine Lover's City
Paris made Champagne famous: the court and the cafés drank it, the railway carried it, and the houses built their reputations on the capital’s appetite. Today the relationship runs the other way, with the world’s best-connected wine region sitting under an hour from the city by train. Add Chablis and the Loire within two hours and there is no capital in Europe with better wine days on its doorstep.
Pick one region per day, book the cellars you care about most, and let the rest unfold over a long lunch. That is the whole art of wine tasting from Paris.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can you go wine tasting near Paris?
Champagne is the closest and easiest, with Reims 45 minutes and Épernay about an hour and twenty minutes by train from Gare de l’Est. Chablis is about two hours south by car, and Vouvray and the Loire châteaux about two hours and a quarter by car or an hour by TGV to Tours.
Can you visit Champagne from Paris without a car?
Yes. Both Reims and Épernay have grandes maisons within walking distance of their stations, and TGV and regional trains run frequently from Gare de l’Est. The villages beyond need a taxi or a local tour.
Is Reims or Épernay better for a day trip from Paris?
Reims is faster to reach and has the cathedral and the UNESCO chalk cellars; Épernay is smaller and easier on foot, with the grandest houses lined up along one avenue. First-timers usually choose Épernay for the walk and Reims for the history.
Do Champagne houses require reservations?
Nearly all of the grandes maisons sell timed cellar tours online and require booking, and the popular slots sell out in summer and at weekends. Many houses close for part of January and February, so check before you travel.
Are there vineyards in Paris itself?
One: the Clos Montmartre, a small city vineyard on the slope of Montmartre that is harvested each October with a neighbourhood festival. It is not a winery you can visit for a tasting, so the nearest real cellar door is in Champagne.
Sources and further reading
- Comite Champagne (champagne.fr), Official Champagne wine body; producer directory with opening hours and labels, plus the seasonal vineyard calendar (harvest generally September, sometimes from mid-August; pruning pause December to mid-January; Saint-Vincent around 22 January). Verified 200.
- Reims Tourisme, Official Reims DMO; January page lists Vranken-Pommery, G.H. Mumm, Charles de Cazanove, Lanson and G.H. Martel as houses to visit in winter and warns that some houses reduce opening days; Christmas market late November to late December. Verified 200.
- Epernay Tourisme, Official Epernay DMO; Avenue de Champagne house listings and the Habits de Lumiere festival (11 to 13 December 2026). Verified 200.
- Chablis Wines (BIVB), Official Chablis appellation body; harvest September to October, Saint-Vincent Tournante du Chablisien late January or early February, Fete des Vins de Chablis on the fourth weekend of October (24 and 25 October 2026). Verified 200.
- Vins de Loire (InterLoire), Official Loire wine body (vinsvaldeloire.fr redirects here); producer pages for Vouvray and Touraine estates. Verified 200 after redirect.
- Hautvillers Tourist Office, Official village DMO; producer sheets with visit durations and tasting prices (used for G. Tribaut). Verified 200.