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A day in Épernay, on the Avenue de Champagne

The Avenue de Champagne on foot, the cellars of a great house, a smaller house, then a grower on the Côte des Blancs: about eight hours from Reims. Your chauffeur is waiting when each visit ends and drives you to the next one.

  • 8 hoursfrom Reims to Épernay and back
  • 3 housesa great house, a smaller one, a grower
  • €580 (~$650 USD)per vehicle, by sedan

Beneath the mansions, miles of cellars

For more than half a mile, the Avenue de Champagne is lined with the mansions that Champagne houses built, mostly in the 19th century. The most impressive part cannot be seen from the sidewalk: Épernay has about 110 km / 68 mi (68 miles) of cellars dug into the chalk. Since 2015, the avenue has been a UNESCO World Heritage site, together with the nearby hillsides and Saint-Nicaise Hill in Reims.

The day starts on the avenue and ends in the vines. A great house for its galleries and its millions of bottles, a smaller house that welcomes visitors by appointment, then a grower on the Côte des Blancs, south of Épernay, who pours the Chardonnay from their own slopes. We book all three visits based on your tastes and the slots open on your date.

Length
about 8 hours, door to door
Pickup
your hotel, the train station or your address in Reims
Visits
a great house on the avenue, a smaller house, a grower on the Côte des Blancs
Lunch
in Épernay, at a table booked for you
On site
tours, tastings and lunch are paid at each place

Between the avenue and the Côte des Blancs

Starting at 9:30 am, with the avenue first and the grower last.

  1. 9:30 amReims

    Over the Montagne de Reims

    Your chauffeur meets you at your hotel, the train station or your address. Half an hour’s drive over the Montagne de Reims, the wooded ridge south of the city, then down into Épernay.

  2. 10:00 amÉpernay

    The avenue on foot

    Your chauffeur drops you at one end of the avenue and picks you up at the other. Along the way: the twin pavilions of the Moët house, the city hall set in a former Moët family mansion, and the houses’ iron gates.

  3. 10:30 amA great house

    The cellars under the avenue

    A tour led by the house: the galleries in the chalk, the bottles aging, then the tasting. Allow about an hour and a half. It is cool down there, so bring a jacket.

  4. 12:15 pmÉpernay

    Midday in Épernay

    A table booked for you at a bistro in Épernay, with time to talk over what you tasted in the morning. You pay for the meal at the restaurant.

  5. 2:00 pmÉpernay or nearby

    A smaller house, by appointment

    Here, they show you the fermentation room and the cellar, and you talk with the people who make the wine. After the morning’s galleries, the change in scale is obvious right away.

  6. 3:30 pmCôte des Blancs

    A Chardonnay grower

    About twenty minutes south, the Chardonnay slopes face east. At the grower’s, you taste their blanc de blancs, Champagne made from white grapes only, in the cellar where it is made.

  7. 5:30 pmReims

    The drive home

    Your chauffeur takes you back to your hotel or the train station. Any cases you bought along the way ride in the trunk.

Times are approximate: each house sets its own time slots, and we build the day around them.

Three stories from Épernay

The ones your chauffeur tells between visits. They are stories, not stops: the houses you visit are chosen to fit your date.

  • 1807

    Napoleon visits Moët

    The story goes that Jean-Rémy Moët had known Napoleon as a cadet at the military school in Brienne. Across from his house, he built twin pavilions to receive the emperor. Napoleon was his guest in July 1807, and one last time in March 1814. Today the Moët & Chandon cellars run for 28 km / 17 mi (17 miles).

  • 1889

    A barrel all the way to Paris

    For the 1889 World’s Fair, Eugène Mercier had a giant cask, holding more than 200,000 bottles’ worth of wine, hauled all the way to Paris by a team of oxen and horses. It came back to Épernay after the fair.

  • 1965

    Churchill’s Champagne

    Winston Churchill drank Pol Roger, an Épernay house. When he died in 1965, the house put a black border on the labels of the bottles shipped to the United Kingdom. Since the 1975 vintage, Pol Roger’s prestige cuvée has carried Churchill’s name.

Price for the car and chauffeur

One fixed price per vehicle for the full day, quoted before you book. It stays the same whatever the number of guests, up to the vehicle’s capacity.

Sedan

up to 3 guests · Mercedes C-Class, GLE or Tesla Model Y, depending on availability

Full day
€580 (~$650 USD)

Van

up to 7 guests · Mercedes V-Class

Full day
€700 (~$785 USD)
With 7 guests
€100 (~$110 USD) per person

If the day runs longer

beyond the planned time

Extra hour, sedan
€75 (~$85 USD)
Extra hour, van
€90 (~$100 USD)

Tours, tastings and lunch are paid separately, directly to each house and to the restaurant: we make the bookings and tell you the prices before you confirm. For 8 guests or more, ask us for a quote.

What is included, what you pay on site

Included in the price

  • The car and your chauffeur, from your address in Reims and back
  • Fuel, tolls and parking
  • Your chauffeur waiting during the visits
  • Planning the route and booking your visits with the houses
  • Your chauffeur’s lunch

Paid on site

  • Tours and tastings, at each house: we tell you their price before you confirm
  • Lunch, at the restaurant
  • Any bottles you buy
From Paris

The full day from your Paris hotel

Épernay is about a two-hour drive from central Paris. We can pick you up at your Paris hotel and bring you back in the evening: that version of the day is quoted on request.

Questions we often get

Which houses will we see, on the avenue and nearby?

The great house is one of the houses on the avenue with a slot open on your date; the smaller one is a house in or near Épernay that welcomes visitors by appointment; the grower is an estate on the Côte des Blancs that makes mostly blanc de blancs. You get the names and times in the written program, after you book.

Can we add a prestige visit?

Not on this day. The rarest visits in Épernay can only be booked on our prestige day, at €630 (~$705 USD) by sedan and €830 (~$930 USD) by van, subject to availability, with about two months’ notice.

What about Hautvillers?

The village sits a few miles above Épernay, and you can stop there instead of one of the visits. The church where the monk Dom Pérignon is buried is open every day, and admission is free. The abbey next door is private and not open to visitors.

Where do we have lunch?

In Épernay, at a bistro where we book your table. If you would rather eat with a view over the Marne Valley, we know a place above Hautvillers. You pay for the meal at the restaurant.

Can we go on a Sunday?

You can walk the avenue any day, but growers on the Côte des Blancs rarely open on Sundays. If you come on a Sunday, we build the program around the houses that are open, and let you know before you book.

How do we book?

Send us the date, the number of guests and your pickup address, through the form or by phone. We reply within 2 hours during the day with the plan and the fixed price. Your booking is confirmed once you sign the quote.

How do we pay?

By card (secure payment link) or by bank transfer, when you book. We do not take cash. We can issue the invoice in your company’s name.

What languages do your chauffeurs speak?

Our chauffeurs speak French and English. A Japanese-speaking guide is available on request, at extra cost.

What if we need to cancel?

Cancellation is free up to 48 hours before pickup. Between 48 and 24 hours, half the price is due, and the full price after that. The houses have their own cancellation terms for their tours. Details are on our cancellation and refund page.

More days in Champagne

Each day is priced per vehicle and planned around your dates.

Guides to help you plan your visit

We book all three visits

Tell us your date, the number of guests and where to pick you up. We reply within 2 hours during the day with the plan and a fixed price.

Google reviews

What our clients say

4.9
★★★★★
52 Google reviews

★★★★★ 5.0 on Tripadvisor · 3 reviews

★★★★★

Louis and his team were outstanding! The communication was quick, clear, and accurate. Our driver Abdellatif was on-time and professional. 5-star service. Louis checked in through our day. We will always use VTC Reims for our annual trip…

GCGlen Campbell
October 2026
★★★★★

We had a wonderful experience in September. We decided to visit France for my wife’s bday week on rather late notice. I wanted to include some special visits as we both enjoy champagne. We were able to get a wonderful Dom Perignon tour w…

TDThomas Donahue
October 2026
★★★★★

Thank you to Louis for helping us schedule and to Cyril for giving us the best day trip to Reims/Champagne/Hautvillers. We had 3-4 things we really wanted to do and see, other than that we let them take the wheel (literally), and we had…

NWNikki Wyatt
October 2026
★★★★★

VTC Reims is an excellent car service for the Champagne region. I contacted them on the plane to France and received very fast response from Louis. It must’ve been middle of the night for them and yet they were prompt and booked my priva…

WLWendy Liu
September 2026
★★★★★

I hosted a group with private transfer from Paris to Champagne and also travel to vineyards all over Champagne. First class service by Cyril and his team. Beautiful vehicles and willing to accommodate some late changes in our schedule. I…

MMMatthew Massey
June 2026
★★★★★

On time. Efficient. Perfect service.

JWJennifer Wilwant
October 2026

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