kkay

I realized this topic had came up before and i have read the previous posts from the past few years.

My husband and I are visiting Paris for the first time in a month, we plan to visit the Champagne, either Epernay or Reims for a day trip. We won't have a car and only planning to spend the day there i.e. leaving Paris at 9 am and departing Reims/ Epernay at 5 pm. The purpose of our trip is to tour champagne houses. More accurately, I am a wine lover but don't think there is a "wine county" closed enough to Paris that I can go for a meaningful trip with 1 day. So, having done some research I learnt about Epernay and Reims, and we are interested to tour Champagne houses as we have never been to one.

My question is "Should we visit Epernay or Reims?" given the above?

Any recommendations for lunches in either city/ town?

Thanks!

suite7

The Cathedral at Reims adds to the trip beyond the Champagne houses (I said "Reems" once and was corrected by my French host "Ranze")

gailscout

The TGV goes directly to Reims or "Rance" . From the train station you can take a cab to the houses which open around 10. Pommery, Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger, Piper Heidsiek, Ruinart are all about a mile from the station. I would make a reservation via email before I go as you will see when the English tour is. We have enjoyed Pommery, Veuve, Taittinger, and Martel on previous 3 previous trips. I would lunch at either Le Jarden at Les Crayeres (but dress up) or back in town near the Cathedral. A tour is about 90 minutes.

Palenque

Though both Reims and Epernay are chock full of lavish Champagne Houses Epernay's i understand are more prestigous than Reims - even houses of the same company and Epernay is really the centre of the Champagne industry

The houses in Reims are a few miles from the train station for the most part - Epernay's gaggle are a short walk so if your goal is to see 2 or even 3 Champagne houses and tours Epernay is more manageable

But as suite7 says Reims has much more besides Champagne caves - like the world-famous Cathedral, where French monarchs were once crowned- the splendid Gothic cathedral as well as the WW2 Room, right by the Reims' train station - where Allied leaders plotted the final assault into Germany - with desks and name tags and wall maps all still in place. Reims all in all is a much more interesting town than Epernay, apart from Champagne. Epernay is easy to reach by train as well.

kkay

thank you very much for the information!

anyone have recommendations on where to lunch in Epernay?

klondike

http://www.tourisme-champagne-ardenn...ay/o_4503.aspx

We had a lovely dinner at Les Cépages a couple of years ago. The Guide Michelin cites it as 2 forks & good value for money. "This restaurant in the town centre...moderne cuisine and a fine choice of Champagnes." Closed Wed. and Sun.

The above site has an English section where you can find other recs.

kkay

does anyone know whether i need to purchase train tickets (Paris to/ from Epernay) in advance, or is it okay to get them when we arrived Paris?

Palenque

You will have no problem buying them anytime in Paris - right up until the hourly or so trains - no need to purchase in advance but you can at www.voyages-sncf.com - you can buy them at any SNCF (French Railways) train station in Paris or at the train station at CDG airport. In any case don't worry about getting on trains, etc.

kkay

Thanks for the tip!

I was worried that the "best times" (morning departure and 5 pm return) will be sold out if I don't get tickets in advance.

Echnaton

If I had the choice between Reims and Epernay, I would go to Reims - it has more to offer than wineries. And I heavily disagree with the statement that Epernay is "really the centre of the Champagne industry" an "more prestigous than Reims".

Look here:
http://www.ville-reims.fr/fr/citoyen...dex.html#c2695

Palenque

kkay - regional trains leave Paris Gare de l'Est every two hours -10:35am - 12:35pm, etc throughout the day and same coming back

Regional trains do not even take reservations - you can always get on and i think you will be going against the rush hour flow - more folks no doubt commute the hour or so into Paris than Parisians commute daily to Epernay so i would assume, like the regional train i just took to Provins, that it would be sparsely filled - regional trains have a flat fare so no advantage fare-wise to buy early. Just buy an 'Aller et Retour' -round trip ticket in Paris before getting on the train and remember to Compost your ticket before boarding - no do not throw it in a compost pile but stick your outward ticket in the Composteur (sp?) automatic ticket cancelling machines at the entrance to the platforms - if you do not cancel (or compost) it yourself before boarding you are considered to be riding without a valid ticket and could be fined as trains like these may be on the honor system - no ticket checker but spot checks with steep fines to catch people without valid tickets.

The reason you must cancel it yourself is that then the ticket cannot be used again as it could if you did not compost it and there were no ticket taker on the train.

Coming back compost your return ticket by sticking it in the Composteur gadget.

David

If this response isn't too late to assist you, kkay, my wife and I were just in Reims last Friday, on a day-trip from Paris. Took the TGV from the Paris East station at 857 a.m., arrived in Reims 45 minutes later. Immediately walked from the station to the tourist information office and discovered the next Tattinger tour, in English, was to start at 1030 a.m. The woman at the tourist office gave directions for the bus to Tattinger, which we immediately jumped on, arriving at Tattinger just seconds before the tour began. From Tattinger, we walked to Pommery and took their 1215 p.m., 30-minute tour. Both were very interesting, although I'd rate the tour at Pommery as slightly better. Both included tastings of their champagne product. The Tattinger tour cost 10 Euros each, while Pommery's tour was 17 Euros each.

Because I had seen your post before we left on our trip, I had noticed gailscourt's recommendation of Le Jardin at Les Crayeres for lunch. And as we were going to be in Reims on my wife's birthday, I reserved a table on their website before we departed the U.S.A. We took gailscourt's advice and decided to dress up a bit (at least we weren't in our blue jeans and tennis shoes, but we weren't dressed to the max, either) and were glad we did. The place is dressy, but not over the top (at least not at lunch), and the reservation was absolutely essential as the place was packed. Lunch was outstanding, in a beautiful restaurant which, coincidentially, was just a short walk from the Pommery estate. But not inexpensive, at a price of 132 Euros for the two of us, including a very nice bottle of champagne, entrees, side dishes and two desserts. But truly a wonderful birthday surprise for my wife. And an experience we won't soon forget.

Following lunch (which lasted about 2 hours), we walked back toward town and jumped on the first bus which passed us, heading in the direction of the cathedral. The fare on the bus was one Euro for each of us. Got off near the cathedral, toured the cathedral (amazingly beautiful), then headed back, on foot, toward the station, stopping for a glass of wine at a cafe en route (of which there is no shortage in Reims). When we got to the station, we discovered how close we were to the Surrender Museum, along with its map room (only about a 3-block walk, down the street, across a bridge, and behind the Reims station), and stopped in there for a visit (it takes about an hour to see the museum, the map room and to watch the short film they show there). Then, we walked back to the station, arriving in time for another fast glass of wine in the station's bar, before the 645 p.m. TGV returned to Paris, arriving 45 minutes later. Those TGV trains really fly!

All-in-all, this was a perfect day-trip from Paris. We sincerely enjoyed our day in Reims. I had purchased the TGV tickets in advance over the web, at a cost of 12 Euros each way. Had we decided not to go, or to change our departure times or dates, the tickets were non-refundable, however.

Hope you enjoy you visit to Reims as much as we enjoyed our visit.