Epernay is easy to walk and hard to leave without a car. The houses line one avenue by street number, the station is a short walk away, and the villages are spread around the town. Before you set out, or before you buy Epernay tickets, get the layout straight here.
The Avenue de Champagne runs 1.5 km east from the town centre. Its numbers tell you how far you walk. The tourist office is at the town end, and Mercier at the far end:
| No. | House or place | Side of town |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Tourist office | Town end, by the Hôtel de Ville |
| 13 | Château Perrier, the museum | Town end |
| 18 | Moët & Chandon | Town end |
| 25 | Esterlin | Middle |
| 26 | Perrier-Jouët, Cellier Belle Epoque | Middle |
| 33 | de Venoge | Middle |
| 46 | Boizel | Middle |
| 63 | de Castellane | Far end |
| 68 | Mercier | Far end |
So if you plan two houses in a day, book the far one first, or walk back along the avenue.
The avenue is part of the UNESCO listing, “Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars”, inscribed in 2015. The listing takes in the avenue and Fort Chabrol in Epernay, the hillsides of Hautvillers, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, and Saint-Nicaise hill in Reims. Under the avenue lie 110 km of cellars, so most of what you come to see is below the pavement.
Moët & Chandon alone has 28 km of them, and Mercier 18 km, 30 m down. You walk the street, then go down at the door you booked. Each house sells its own slot, so on the map a visit is a street number and a time.
Epernay station is under 500 m from the tourist office. You walk through the Hôtel de Ville garden and come out on the avenue. Moët & Chandon puts its door five minutes from the station.
Driving? The Jard underground car park is 150 m from the office, entered from rue Eugène Mercier, and the first hour is free. The Centre-Ville car park is 700 m away. The streets around the office, rue Jean Moët, rue Pupin and rue Jean Chandon-Moët, are paid.
Coming from Reims? The TER “Ligne des Bulles” runs every 30 minutes and takes about half an hour. It stops at Rilly-la-Montagne, Germaine, Avenay-Val-d'Or and Aÿ on the way. So you can reach Aÿ by train, though its growers' cellars are still a walk or a drive from the station.
None of these has a cellar you can walk to from the station. Local buses run to Dizy, Aÿ, Pierry, Chouilly and Mardeuil, and the Esprit de Champagne shuttle takes eight people, from May to October. For Hautvillers, Oger or Cramant, you need a car, a bike or a tour.
That is the part a tour covers. Most grower tours start with Hautvillers to the north, then drive east to Aÿ or south-east to the Côte des Blancs. The vintage van keeps to Aÿ and Hautvillers and pours its glass among the vines.
Where you meet depends on the tour. Here are the starting points, from each listing:
| Where you meet | Which tours | When |
|---|---|---|
| Tourist office, 7 avenue de Champagne | The afternoon with growers; the Bubble tour; the vintage van | Noon for the afternoon |
| Opposite the office, 3 rue Jean Chandon Moët | The open-top bus | At your booked time |
| Moët & Chandon front desk | The three-house day | At your booked time |
| 48 rue Léon Bourgeois, Pierry | Vollereaux's cellar hour | At your slot |
| Your door, within 6 km | The private half days; the jeep | Morning or afternoon |
| Reims Centre station forecourt | The days from Reims | 9:20 am for one |
| Café Dada Ternes, Paris | One day from Paris | 7:00 am sharp |
Check the exact kerb in your booking. The vintage van parks on rue Jean Chandon Moët, beside the office, and the bus waits opposite it. The tours that collect you from your door are on private Epernay tours.
These are the distances the tourist offices publish. Where they give two, the table shows the one on their getting-there page.
| From | To | How far | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epernay station | Tourist office | Under 500 m, through the Hôtel de Ville garden | Epernay tourist office |
| Jard car park | Tourist office | 150 m | Epernay tourist office |
| Epernay centre | The avenue's cellars | Under 20 minutes on foot | Epernay tourist office |
| Epernay | Hautvillers | 6 km | Hautvillers tourist office |
| Epernay | Reims | 27 km; about 30 minutes by TER | Epernay tourist office |
| Epernay | Champagne-Ardenne TGV | 25 km | Epernay tourist office |
| Epernay | Paris | 140 km; 1 hour 20 by train | Epernay tourist office |
The Epernay tourist office
7 avenue de Champagne, Epernay
The pin marks the tourist office. Zoom out for Hautvillers to the north and the Côte des Blancs to the south-east.
Addresses come from the Epernay tourist office and each house. Distances come from the Epernay and Hautvillers tourist offices, and meeting points from each tour's own listing.
An open-top double-decker for your group of up to 15, two or three hours in the vines with three sabered bottles and soft drinks for the children.
From $1,521 per group, up to 15
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Four and a half hours from the Reims station forecourt: two family wineries and a village stop above the Marne, six tastings. Lunch is not included.
From $149 per person
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An hour in a family house's chalk cellar in Pierry, just south of town, with three champagnes at the end. You make your own way there; the lowest fare in Epernay.
From $19 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: choose a base on where to stay in Epernay, walk the avenue on things to do in Epernay, or compare every tour on Epernay Tours.