Champagne tours from Paris solve one problem well: Reims is about 90 miles east of the city, the famous houses want a reservation, and nobody should drive back after eight glasses. The eight day trips below do the driving, book the cellars and usually add a family grower, from a $261 small-group day to a private visit at Veuve Clicquot. What separates them is the houses, the lunch and how many people share the van.
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How we chose these Champagne tours from Paris
We went through the Champagne day trips from Paris listed on GetYourGuide, Viator and Winedering, set aside the Seine cruises and city tastings that borrow the word, and kept the trips that pass four tests:
- Real cellar time. At least one guided visit in the chalk cellars of a Champagne house, not only a tasting room.
- A clear answer on what you taste. The listing names the houses or the number of glasses, and says what happens at lunch.
- A known group size. A cap you can plan around, or a private car. Where a listing does not state one, we say so.
- Transport from central Paris included. No train tickets to buy, no car to return.
Six are small-group days that leave Paris in the morning and bring you back in the evening; two are private, for when you want to choose the house. Prices run from $261 to $692 per person, and the gap is mostly lunch, group size and whose cellars you walk through. We do not rank them: the right one depends on whether you want a famous label, a grower’s kitchen table or both in one day.
Small-group Champagne tours from Paris
1. Eight Tastings, a Grande Maison and a Family Lunch
Why it’s on the list. It is the most-reviewed Champagne day trip from Paris on GetYourGuide, and the shape of the day explains why. The morning goes to a major house, such as Mumm, Veuve Clicquot or Moët & Chandon, with a guided walk through its cellars. Lunch follows at a family estate or a local restaurant, with Champagne poured at the table, and the afternoon ends at a second, much smaller producer.
The guide drives and teaches, and when the weather allows there is a short tasting among the vines between stops. The limit is that you do not choose the big house: the operator assigns it on availability, so if one name is the reason for the trip, take a private tour instead. For a first day in Champagne, it is the most complete picture with the least planning.
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2. Nicolas Feuillatte and a Family Winery, Six Tastings
Why it’s on the list. It is the least expensive day in the list that still caps the group at eight and pairs a big name with a grower. The guided visit is at the house of Nicolas Feuillatte, and the second stop is a family-run winery where the owners usually pour themselves. On the way there is time to see the cathedral in Reims.
The saving has a catch: lunch is on your own, so budget for a restaurant in Reims or Épernay and the gap with the first tour narrows. You also meet the group on Avenue des Ternes in the 17th instead of being collected at your hotel. If you like choosing your own lunch, that is a feature, not a flaw.
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3. All-Inclusive Day in a Minivan, Max Seven
Why it’s on the list. Once you are in the van, the day is paid for. Breakfast is served on board, the visit to a well-known Champagne estate covers how the wine is made and ends with a tasting, and a three-course lunch of seasonal food comes with wine. Seven seats is the smallest shared group in this list.
What the listing does not say is which estate you will see or how many glasses you will taste, so ask when you book if a particular house matters to you. It is also a twelve-hour day. For travelers who want a relaxed pace and no bills to split at lunch, it is the easiest choice here.
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4. Épernay, a Family Estate and a Three-Course Lunch
Why it’s on the list. It centers the day on Épernay rather than Reims. The plan pairs a cellar tour and tasting at a major house, which the listing gives as Moët & Chandon or a similar name depending on availability, with a small family-run estate, a guided walk in the vineyards and a three-course lunch at a local restaurant.
There is a blind tasting on some days, which is a good test of how much the morning taught you. Like the first tour, the big house is assigned, not chosen. It suits travelers who have already seen Reims, or who care more about the vineyards of the Marne than about the cathedral.
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5. Reims Cathedral, a Family House and Lunch
Why it’s on the list. It gives the most time to Reims itself. The day includes the Gothic cathedral of Notre-Dame, where French kings were crowned for centuries and which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, then a visit to a single Champagne producer to learn the traditional method and taste four different Champagnes over a multi-course lunch.
One producer means one style: if you want to compare a big house with a grower in the same day, the first or the fourth tour does that better. The listing does not state a group size. It is a good fit for a mixed group where not everyone is there for the wine, since the cathedral carries half the day.
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6. Hautvillers, Aÿ and the Avenue de Champagne
Why it’s on the list. It follows the villages instead of the big cellars. The route stops in Hautvillers, the hillside village where the monk Dom Pérignon worked, for a visit and tasting in a vineyard, then at Pressoria, a visitor center on Champagne pressing in the grand cru village of Aÿ. It ends in Épernay with a guided walk along the Avenue de Champagne and a tasting at Charles Mignon, a sixth-generation family house, or at Mercier.
Read the fine print before booking. The Moët & Chandon stop is the boutique on the Avenue, not a cellar tour; lunch is not included; and the standard group can reach 21. In return, it has the widest choice of guide languages in this list and the most scenery per hour.
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Private Champagne tours from Paris
7. Private Veuve Clicquot Half Day
Why it’s on the list. It is the shortest way to one specific house. A private car collects you in Paris, and the visit of Veuve Clicquot’s cellars in Reims is led by the house’s own staff. The tasting depends on the option you book: the entry level pours the Rosé and the Yellow Label with cheese and charcuterie, the higher ones move to four cuvées, vintages included. There is time afterward for the cathedral.
This is a chauffeured trip, not a guided wine day: the expertise sits in the cellar, and the driver gets you there and back. It is the right choice if Veuve Clicquot is the reason you are going, and the wrong one if you want to compare producers.
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8. Private Day With a Licensed Guide-Driver
Why it’s on the list. It is the private day with the most freedom. A licensed guide drives you from your hotel or apartment to Reims and Épernay, and you choose the anchor house among Veuve Clicquot, Ruinart and Moët & Chandon, plus a smaller producer. The itinerary bends to your pace, which matters if one of you wants a longer lunch and the other a third cellar.
Two conditions set it apart from everything else here. The house fees for visits and tastings are paid on top of the tour price, and the booking is non-refundable. Book it once your dates are fixed and the houses have confirmed slots.
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Booking, timing and getting back to Paris
Count on ten to thirteen hours door to door, with about two hours in the van each way. The houses limit cellar visits by time slot, so the earlier you book, the better your chances of the house you wanted; on the shared tours the operator reshuffles the big names on availability, and the listings say so.
If you would rather build the day yourself, the train makes it possible: the TGV from Paris Gare de l’Est reaches Reims in about 45 minutes and Épernay in about an hour and twenty. You would then book each cellar directly, as in our guide to Champagne houses to visit in Reims and Épernay, and move between the two towns by local train, about half an hour, or by taxi. Renting a car makes less sense: the French limit is 0.5 g/l, and a day of tastings will take you past it.
The cellars stay around 50°F (10°C) all year, so bring a layer even in July. Several of these tours are not suitable for wheelchair users; ask the operator before booking. Champagne makers of all sizes are listed by the Comité Champagne, useful if you want to check a house before you go.
Prices here are per person unless stated, converted into your currency by the booking platform at checkout. Prices are indicative and set by our booking partners.
Where this fits in a Champagne trip
Champagne tours from Paris are the right call when Paris is the base and Champagne is one day of it. The hillsides, houses and cellars of the region are a UNESCO World Heritage site in their own right, though, and one day only shows you a corner. Our Champagne region guide explains the five wine areas and how Reims and Épernay differ, which helps you pick between the tours above.
With two nights to spare, sleep in the region instead: our list of hotels in Épernay and Reims covers rooms on the Avenue de Champagne, by the cathedral and among the vineyards. From there the cellars are a short ride away, and you can see the famous houses in the morning and a grower in the afternoon without the four hours on the road.
