Dinner in champagne country from paris?
 

Hi all,

We're going to be in paris in. September (was going to be in May but my husband got the flu.) anyway...

Is it possible in the least to go to Reims for late afternoon tasting and dinner and return to our hotel in st germain by bedtime? By train and without a car. If so, which crayere would you recommend and do any have on site restaurant? Or if this is an awful idea let me know :)

Merci!

You should check the train times. If I remember correctly, they don't run very late from Reims to Paris.

Can you go for a tasting and lunch?

http://www.reims-tourism.com/

Check out info on the Champagne houses here. I think Judy is right on the train situation.

If you really want to do this - maybe check with Lisa Buros to see if she could arrange and how much it would cost.
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We took the train to Reims a couple of years ago. We walked from the train station to the cathedral, visited the cathedral and then asked to tourist office next door to get us a taxi and went to Les Crayeres where we had lunch. We then taxied to Ruinart for a 2 PM tour, which lasted a little over an hour followed by a tasting. We had Ruinart get us a taxi back to the train station.

It was a great day and easily doable on our own (which meant we could book higher end restaurant and champagne house.)

This year we're booked at Billecart-Salmon and haven't planned lunch yet.

We did a few Champagne houses in Reims last year but Veuve cliquot was the favourite.....fantastic tour and beautiful caves.....

I loved the cathedral, for me it's a must vist in Reims.....

"they don't run very late from Reims to Paris"

The last return weekday journey leaves Rheims at 2110, arriving Paris-Est at 2150.

The issue isn't train times (there are 40-50 minute trains once or twice an hour in both directions): it's whether you can do anything useful in "Champagne country" (Rheims is a reasonably substantial town, or as Americans insist on calling such places "city") in the tiny window you've allocated for actually doing anything apart from travelling.

British insist on calling it Rheims for some odd reason, also, when that isn't its name. It is Reims.

It isn't a town to me as it has a population close to 200,000 people, I think the term town vs. city is very useful. I consider a city anything at least over 100K, if not 50-75K. I don't understand why it is necessary to insult another country just because they might use some different terminology for something, which is actually a useful distinction. I wasn't aware the term "city" was never used in the UK, it certainly is in many countries. Here are official tourism websites for Liverpool and Bath, and they both call those cities (Bath is slightly smaller than Reims).

http://www.visitliverpool.com/
http://visitbath.co.uk/

I just looked at the sncf site and the last train from Reims to Paris is at 19:15. I checked a weekday in September

Judy---super jealous of your visit to Billecart Salmon. Their rose is my favorite! Delicious.

I'm excited denisea! I'll be in Paris for 3 weeks in the fall. The friends we are with the 1st week love the Billecart-Salmon rose as we do and we are looking forward to that trip.

My husband leaves and the 3rd week I'm with my daughter and other friend and going back to Reims for a Vueve Clicquot tour. Might be a let down after the 1st week but I will somehow get through it!

Sounds great to me...sadly have not been to VC (only Moet et Chandon). I read the book about Madame Clicquot several years ago and am a bit obsessed with her story. I saw her childhoom home in Reims but have only been there once. It's on the list to get back to!

Christina, really the British insist on calling it Rheims... Really? I don't know anyone who writes that ( aside from the 1 example in Flanners post....)

Isn't Rheims another accepted way of spelling it?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims

I have to be honest, I have never seen it that way..... I was just curious about the "British insist" comment

Even more fun to see how people pronounce it.

In any case - not sure how you could have a nice dinner and still make a 9 pm train back to Paris - would have to be an early and/or quick dinner.

Matthieu, absolutely.......:)