Paris Champagne by Train: a Reims Afternoon with Two Family Growers

★★★★★ 4.8 (643 traveller reviews)

Family growers onlyTastings in the fareLunch not includedFrom Reims station

The short, low-cost way to taste champagne where it is made. You take the train to Reims yourself, and at 2:00 pm a small van leaves the station for two family growers and Hautvillers. Six glasses and both visits are in the fare, and you are back at the station at 6:30 pm.

Hours, prices and access verified by the Paris Champagne Tours team — last checked 2026-09-18.

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Two family growers in four and a half hours

Growers, not houses: what the afternoon is about

A grower makes champagne from their own vines, often in the family home, and many of them do not open to people who turn up on their own. This afternoon takes you to two of them. At each you see the vines and the cellar and taste with the family, six glasses in all. Because the two estates differ, you learn more from the second visit than you would from another big house.

On a label, a grower who makes their own wine is marked RM, for récoltant-manipulant. Look for it on the bottles you are poured. Houses and growers compared explains the other codes you will see.

Hautvillers between the two cellars

Between the growers, the van climbs to Hautvillers, the village where Dom Pérignon worked. You get 15 minutes at the abbey church, where his tomb is, and 30 minutes in the village. The abbey buildings belong to Moët & Chandon and are closed to visitors, so the church and the view over the vines are what you see.

Getting to Reims from Paris for the start

The tour does not include the train, so you buy it yourself. By TGV from the Gare de l'Est, Reims is 45 minutes from Paris, according to the Reims tourist office. The meeting point is the tourist office desk at Reims Centre station. Some trains stop instead at Champagne-Ardenne TGV, outside the city, which is linked to the centre by tram, so check which station your ticket names.

A morning train gives you time for Reims first. The cathedral is free and opens at 8:00, and you can add a big house on your own: Mumm's cheapest visit costs €30 and Veuve Clicquot's €36, at their September 2026 prices. That way you see both kinds of producer in one day, with the growers at the lowest fare in the region. Every way of going is laid out on champagne region tours from paris, and Reims covers the morning.

How the afternoon runs

1. 1:55 pm, Reims station. Meet at the tourist office desk; be there five minutes early.
2. 2:00 pm, the van leaves. Out of Reims and into the vineyards.
3. First family winery, 1 hour 30 minutes. The vines, the cellar and three glasses.
4. Hautvillers abbey church, 15 minutes. Dom Pérignon's tomb.
5. Hautvillers village, 30 minutes. A walk through the village and a look over the vines.
6. Second family winery, 1 hour 30 minutes. A different estate and three more glasses.
7. 6:30 pm, Reims station. Back where you started.

Who this suits: growers-first drinkers with a free afternoon

What the fare covers and what it doesn't

From Reims station at 2:00 pm

Meet at the tourist office's information point at Reims Centre station, Cour de la Gare, 51100 Reims. The van leaves at 2:00 pm, and the operator asks you to be there at least five minutes before. The tour returns to the same point at 6:30 pm.

There is no hotel pickup and no drop-off, so if you are staying in Reims, walk or take the tram to the station. The visitor guide covers the trains, and when to visit explains what the vines look like each month.

Know before you go

• Eat before you meet. Lunch, water and snacks are not in the fare, so have lunch in Reims first.
• Ask before you bring a child. Children under 10 are not accepted, yet the booking form offers a youth fare from 4, so check with the operator first.
• It runs with two or more. If you are the only booking, the operator reschedules or refunds you in full.
• Bring a warm layer. Cellars stay cool all year, whatever the weather in the vineyards.
• Check your station. Your train must reach Reims Centre, or allow time for the tram.
• Not for wheelchair users. The van and the cellars are not wheelchair accessible; the Reims-start private days are the ones to ask about.

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