Reims or Épernay?

Is Épernay or Reims better?

Reims for a first visit, history and the big names. Épernay for vineyards at the edge of town and houses you can walk between on one avenue.

Side by side:

Our view: Reims for the first trip, Épernay as a day out from it. Sources: SNCF Paris to Reims, SNCF Paris to Épernay, UNESCO mission on the Avenue.

What does Reims have that Épernay does not?

A cathedral where 25 kings were crowned, three UNESCO monuments, the oldest house on the hill and a real city to eat and stay in.

Reims has two separate UNESCO listings. The cathedral, the former abbey of Saint-Remi and the Palace of Tau were listed in 1991; the Saint-Nicaise hill and its 57 km of chalk galleries joined the champagne listing in 2015. The houses up there are some of the biggest names in the trade: Ruinart (on the hill since 1768), Veuve Clicquot, Pommery and Taittinger, with Mumm near the centre.

The city also gives you an evening: restaurants around place du Forum, the covered market, and the Art Deco streets rebuilt after the First World War. More in things to do in Reims. The house-by-house prices are in champagne houses in Reims.

What does Épernay have that Reims does not?

The Avenue de Champagne: 1.5 km of houses over more than 100 km of cellars, Moët & Chandon, walk-in tastings, and vineyards you can see from town.

The Avenue de Champagne starts less than 500 m from the station, says the Épernay tourist office, and runs 1.5 km over cellars on several levels. Moët & Chandon's visits start at €48 for The Imperial Moment, with Signature at €65 recommended for first-timers. Mercier runs a little train through its cellars (€25 to €45), and de Castellane has a 66 m tower to climb, open 12 March to 22 December in 2026.

Épernay also does something Reims mostly does not: walk-in tastings. The tourist office lists champagne bars, boutiques and tasting rooms on the Avenue you can enter without booking. July, August and the Habits de Lumière weekend in December are the busiest times.

How do you get from Reims to Épernay?

By the local TER train, the “Ligne des Bulles”: 34 minutes, roughly hourly, with fares from €4. By road it is about 27 km.

On a late-October Thursday, 15 direct trains ran from Reims to Épernay, most at :49 past the hour, on the SNCF timetable. The tourist office promises a train every 30 minutes; the timetable shows nearer one an hour, with extras at peak times. The Ligne des Bulles crosses the Montagne de Reims with stops at Rilly-la-Montagne, Germaine, Avenay-Val-d'Or and Aÿ-Champagne.

Both stations sit close to what you came for: Épernay's is a short walk from the Avenue, and Reims Centre is where the tours meet. The timetable changes in mid-December, so check your date. Driving between tastings is a bad idea: France's limit is 0.5 g/l of blood alcohol.

Which is the better base, Reims or Épernay?

Reims. It has the fast train from Paris, more hotels and restaurants, and every champagne tour on this site meets at its central station.

The tours decide it. The afternoon, the morning, the three family domains and the Veuve Clicquot days all meet outside the tourist office at Reims Centre station; the e-bike tour is the only one that also collects in Épernay (9:35am at the tourist office). Stay in Reims and you can walk to the start.

Pick Épernay if you want quiet evenings and vines out of the window, and you are happy to take the train to Reims for the cathedral. With three nights, split them: two in Reims, one in Épernay.

Which tours from Reims cover Épernay and the villages?

The three family domains day drives the Avenue de Champagne and stops in Hautvillers. The Veuve Clicquot day and the e-bike tour reach Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, next to Épernay.

None of them stops for a house visit on the Avenue; they pass it. What they give you instead is the countryside between the two towns, where you cannot go by train.

Our pick for both towns in one go is the domains day. Its listing contradicts itself on train tickets from Paris, so assume you book your own.

Nine glasses at three family estates, Hautvillers and the Avenue de Champagne, back at Reims station in the evening.

★ 4.8 · 8 hours · from $282

Explore the three family domains day → Tour details

Is Hautvillers worth visiting?

Yes. It is the hill village above Épernay where Dom Pérignon is buried, with views over the Marne valley. There is no station, so you need a car or a tour.

Hautvillers is about 5 to 6 km from Épernay, around 10 minutes by car, says the Épernay tourist office. Dom Pérignon's tomb, a plain stone slab, is in the abbey church, which is open to visitors; the abbey itself is private. The village calls itself the cradle of champagne, and its hillsides are part of the UNESCO listing with Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ.

Four of the Reims tours stop there. The shortest way in is the afternoon wineries tour, with 45 minutes in the village between two growers.

Can you see Reims and Épernay in one day?

Yes, by train: a house in Reims in the morning, the 34-minute TER, the Avenue de Champagne in the afternoon. You will not see the cathedral properly as well.

A day that works: Mumm or Pommery at 10am, lunch, the early-afternoon train to Épernay, a 3:30pm visit at Moët & Chandon or Mercier, and a walk-in tasting on the Avenue before the train back. Book both houses ahead; Épernay's houses open mostly 9:30 to 16:30 in high season, and some close at lunch in winter.

From Paris, the direct train back from Épernay takes 1 hour 13 to 1 hour 20, so you need not return to Reims. With more time, take two days: Reims and the growers one day, Épernay the next. Planning the Reims half? Start with the best champagne tour in Reims.

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