The Champagne region gave its name to the sparkling wine the world associates with celebration, and it remains the only place on Earth legally allowed to call its sparkling wine by that name. Rolling chalk hillsides covered in vineyards surround historic towns like Reims and Épernay, where centuries-old cellars carved into the chalk bedrock still age millions of bottles for the region’s famous houses, both grand and small.
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Best Things to Do in the Champagne Region
Tour a Champagne House Cellar in Reims or Épernay
Major houses along Épernay’s Avenue de Champagne and in Reims offer cellar tours through kilometres of chalk tunnels lined with aging bottles, typically ending with a tasting that explains the difference between house styles and vintages.
Visit Reims Cathedral
This Gothic cathedral, where the majority of French kings were crowned for centuries, survived heavy damage in World War I and stands today as one of France’s most significant religious and historical monuments, with detailed sculptural work across its facade.
Drive the Route Touristique du Champagne
This signposted scenic route winds through the vineyard-covered hills between villages, passing small, family-run producers along the way that offer a more intimate, less polished tasting experience than the grand houses in town.
Walk the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay
Often called the most expensive avenue in the world for the value of what lies beneath it, this Épernay street is lined with the grand mansions and cellar entrances of major champagne houses, worth a walk even between scheduled tastings.
Visit a Small Grower-Producer
Beyond the big-name houses, the region has thousands of smaller grower-producers who farm their own grapes and make wine on a much smaller scale, often offering a more personal, less rehearsed tasting for visitors willing to venture into the villages.
Top-Rated Champagne Region Tours & Experiences
Best Time to Visit
Late summer through early autumn, around the harvest, brings the vineyards to life with activity and color, though cellar tours and tastings run year-round regardless of season. Spring offers a quieter, greener alternative with fewer visitors competing for tasting appointments.
How to Get There
Reims and Épernay are both under an hour and a half from Paris by train, making the region a realistic day trip, though staying overnight allows time to properly explore both the cellars and the surrounding countryside. A car helps considerably for reaching smaller village producers along the scenic route.
Good to Know
Cellar tours at the major houses generally require advance booking, particularly in high season, and tastings typically involve a fee even at smaller producers. Cellar temperatures stay cool year-round, so a light layer is worth bringing even on a warm day above ground, and designating a driver in advance matters more here than almost anywhere else in France, given how many tastings a single day can involve.
Whether the visit centers on a grand house’s polished tour or an afternoon knocking on doors at small village producers, the Champagne region delivers something genuinely different from most wine trips — the sense of drinking something made in the exact chalk-cut cellar you’re standing in.
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