A weekend in Champagne by car: Reims and Épernay

From London, you can reach Reims in roughly four hours via the Eurotunnel and the A26, or about three hours by Eurostar to Brussels and onwards. Champagne feels like a well-kept secret, but it isn't: 80 percent of all champagne in the world comes from these 34,000 hectares of vineyard. We at Favotrip have driven there each spring for the last four years, and we have seen exactly where travellers get stuck: parking in a French town centre, a tasting that should have been booked days in advance, a reception that closes at 10 pm just as you arrive at 10:30. That is precisely what our Champagne package is built around. Not to add complexity, but so that you no longer need to think about it.

Friday evening: arriving in Reims without the hassle

Central Reims is largely car-free inside the ring, and that is exactly why we only include hotels with parking in our Reims package. No hunting for a park-and-ride, no tram for the last five hundred metres, no surprise charge at reception. Check in, settle into the room, and the car stays put until Sunday. The cathedral is within walking distance of each of our partner hotels, and we ourselves always head there first at dusk. The Chagall stained-glass windows behind the altar look quite different in that light than in bright sunshine. For the first evening we recommend Brasserie L'Apostrophe: not the trendiest, but the most reliable, and you still have a full Saturday for the bigger names. An honest note: ask reception for a local bakery for Saturday morning, as not every hotel breakfast is robust enough for a tasting marathon.

Saturday: small growers, not factory tours

The big houses (Moët, Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger) run tours that feel like a factory visit, and we are not great believers in that. We have deliberately picked our tasting partners from the smaller Meunier producers in Passy-Grigny, twenty minutes from Reims. The voucher for the tasting is waiting at reception when you arrive, no two-day-ahead booking stress. Our three favourites in the area: Champagne Lelarge-Pugeot in Vrigny (biodynamic), Champagne Tarlant in Œuilly (six generations) and Champagne Geoffroy in Aÿ, where the tasting cellar holds an 1860 wine press. What a package booking saves you: we know in advance which houses run English-language tours, so you do not end up in a French-only visit and miss the story.

Saturday afternoon: the vineyards near Verzenay

A quarter of an hour from Reims towards the Montagne de Reims. At Verzenay a two-hour walking trail loops through the slopes where Pinot Noir grows. We recommend it because it ends at the Phare de Verzenay, a viewing tower built in the shape of a lighthouse with views over twenty kilometres of vineyard, and because there are interpretation boards every twenty metres covering grape, slope, soil and season. Allow two and a half hours rather than one, and wear sturdy shoes: the chalky soil gets slippery after rain. In the village itself the Musée de la Vigne houses a working wine press from 1620. Best not visited after three morning tastings, as we found out the hard way.

Saturday evening: stay in Reims

We recommend staying in Reims for dinner. Restaurant Le Foch on Avenue des Champs holds one Michelin star; for something simpler, Brasserie du Boulingrin is famous for its mussels in champagne sauce. Or Bistrot du Forum on Place du Forum, where the old Roman market vaulting is still visible in the walls and a jazz pianist usually plays on Saturday evenings. Driving on to Épernay only makes sense if you sleep there, and our partner hotels offer less added value in Épernay. Reims is generally stronger on room quality. Honest note: all three restaurants need a Saturday reservation. Our customer service handles that for package guests, which saves you the French-language phone call.

Sunday: a trip to Épernay, then home

Half an hour from Reims. Avenue de Champagne is the main road, and there is a famous house behind every door. Mercier runs a small-train tour through cellars holding three million bottles. If that is included in your package, we have the ticket ready at arrival. Two hours, ending with three tasting glasses. Then lunch at L'Auberge Saint-Pierre, simple and local. Walk part of the avenue itself before or after the tour and look through the railings at the gardens of Moët, Pol Roger and Perrier-Jouët. The Art Nouveau facade of Perrier-Jouët with its magnolia motifs is worth a second glance. Around 3 pm back in the car, home by mid-evening.

Why we built this package

Honestly: we first went as standalone bookers, like everyone else. Hotel on Booking, tasting via the producer's website, parking improvised. Two things went wrong: the producer had no English tour at our slot, and the hotel charged parking separately at the end. Since then we have built the package so those two things are sorted up front. The idea is simple: one booking, one customer service, one route from the car to the hotel door. That is what we are building Favotrip on. We believe a wine weekend should be experienced, not coordinated.

Best seasons for this weekend

Our editors have visited in all four seasons, and the advice writes itself. May is our favourite: the vines are budding, the vineyards a soft green, terrace temperatures without summer crowds. We avoid July and August: hot, many coach tours, smaller producers often closed for holidays. September and October are harvest months, and with luck some houses let you walk into the vines. One warning for May: French school holidays and bank holidays cluster in this window, so the region fills up. Pick a midweek-anchored mid-May weekend and it stays calm.

Which Champagne package suits your weekend?

For a couple or a quiet weekend for two: our 2-night Reims variant with one small-grower tasting. For those who also want the Mercier tour: the 3-night variant adding Sunday in Épernay. For friends or a small group: book midweek, so you are not seated among honeymooners and the small houses really do stay small. If you are still torn between Champagne and Alsace, we have a separate comparison piece. Below you will find the packages discussed in this article. See which one suits your weekend.