Blue Fox Travel · Reims, Épernay and Hautvillers
A grey minibus of eight leaves Ternes at 7 a.m. for Reims Cathedral, a family winery, the Nicolas Feuillatte cellars and Dom Pérignon's abbey in Hautvillers. It is the cheapest Champagne day from Paris on this site, and it still packs in a grower and the sights.
Blue Fox Travel runs this day every day of the year, with one departure at 7 a.m. from Café Dada at Ternes, near the Arc de Triomphe. There is no hotel pickup: you get yourself to the café, and the grey minibus leaves on time. About 90 minutes later you are at Reims Cathedral, where the kings of France were crowned, for a half-hour visit.
The tastings come in two halves. First a family-run winery, a 30-minute drive from Reims, with a visit and at least three glasses. After a lunch stop in Épernay comes Nicolas Feuillatte, a cooperative brand with a modern site at Chouilly, a few minutes from Épernay, for about 80 minutes and three more glasses. The listing includes a skip-the-line separate entrance. The last stop is Hautvillers and its abbey, where the listing says Dom Pérignon is buried, before the drive home.
The honest trade-offs. Six glasses is fewer than the eight or more on the 8-tastings day, and lunch is not listed as included: the listing's food section is empty, so budget for a meal in Épernay. The cathedral and the abbey are short stops of 30 and 15 minutes. For a lower price than the flagship, that is a fair trade, and reviews praise the pace and the lack of sales pressure.
Arrive 15 minutes early. The grey minibus pulls up about 10 minutes before departure and leaves on time.
The drive to Reims, then about 30 minutes inside the Gothic cathedral where 25 coronations took place.
A 30-minute drive to a family estate for a visit and at least three tastings.
Free time to eat in Épernay. The listing does not include the meal.
A tour of the cooperative's site at Chouilly and three more glasses.
Fifteen minutes at the abbey of Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers, then about 1.5 hours back to Paris.
An excellent day covering a small family winery experience and large corporate winery experience.
I loved this so so much! Our guide Carlise was absolutely fantastic and I would completely do this again.
Guide was great, lots of information and navigated the areas well.
We had a wonderful time on the Champagne tour with our guide Sam!
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No. The listing has a one-hour lunch stop in Épernay but no food in the inclusions, so you pay for your own meal. If you want lunch paid for, look at the 8-tastings day.
At Café Dada in Ternes, Paris, at 7 a.m. Arrive 15 minutes early. A grey minibus arrives about 10 minutes before departure and leaves on time. There is no hotel pickup.
Two: a family-run winery, with at least three glasses, and Nicolas Feuillatte, with three more. The day also stops at Reims Cathedral and the abbey in Hautvillers.
The listing says the abbey of Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers is where he is buried. He was the abbey's cellarer from 1668, but he did not invent sparkling Champagne, whatever the old advertising claimed.
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Reims Cathedral, a family winery, Nicolas Feuillatte and Hautvillers, with six glasses, for the lowest price from Paris.
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