The afternoon to book if you are staying in Epernay and want the growers, not only the big names. You meet at the tourist office at noon, in a group of eight at most. You see Hautvillers, eat lunch with champagne in Aÿ and taste in a family house's cellar. You are back on the avenue by about 5:15 pm.
You meet in front of the tourist office at 7 avenue de Champagne, five minutes from the station.
The village and the church where Dom Pérignon is buried, above the Marne.
Two and a half hours in Aÿ for your first tasting and a meal paired with champagne.
An hour and a half in a small producer's cellar, with a tasting at the end.
Poured across the afternoon, from the lunch table to the family cellar.
Eight people at most, so you can ask questions at every stop.
In Epernay the famous houses are on foot. Moët & Chandon sells its own cellar tour from EUR 48 at 18 avenue de Champagne, and Mercier starts at EUR 25 at no. 68. You do not need a tour for either. What you need a tour for is the villages, where the family growers make their wine and no bus reaches the cellar.
This afternoon does exactly that. You leave the Avenue de Champagne at noon with a local guide who speaks English, and you spend the next five hours out in the vineyards. Lunch, five champagnes and the driving are in your fare. Still comparing the best champagne tours in epernay? Every fare in Epernay sits side by side, from a two-hour van to a day from Paris.
The first stop is Hautvillers, 6 km north of Epernay, for about 45 minutes. Dom Pérignon arrived at its Benedictine abbey in 1668 and ran the abbey's cellar until his death in 1715. His tomb lies in the choir of the Saint-Sindulphe church, which is open all year.
The abbey buildings next to it belong to Moët & Chandon and are not open to visitors, so "a visit to the abbey" means the church and the village lanes. Your guide covers the monk's story and the view over the vines on the Marne slopes. Things to do in Epernay has more on the village if you want to come back on your own.
The longest stop is in Aÿ, east of Epernay: two and a half hours for an introduction to tasting and lunch paired with champagne. Travellers describe a three-course meal served in a producer's courtyard, and lunch with the owner at the table. Tell the operator about any dietary needs when you book.
Lunch and the champagne poured with it are in your fare. Other drinks and bottled water are not, so carry a bottle of water from town.
The last stop is a small, family-run producer, for about an hour and a half. You go down into the cellar, see how the bottles age, and taste at the end. This is where the contrast with the avenue shows. A big house buys grapes as well as growing them; a family house works its own vines, and the person pouring often made the wine.
You can buy bottles at the cellar to take home. The fare covers five champagnes across the afternoon; any bottle you buy is yours to pay for.
You are in Epernay for a night or two and want one afternoon that shows you the villages and the family growers, with lunch sorted. It suits couples, friends and solo travellers; one reviewer booked alone and joined two strangers. Your morning stays free for a house on the avenue.
You came for the big names by name: the Moët & Chandon day on foot walks you between big houses on the avenue, or you can book one direct. With children under 10, take the vintage van in the vines, which states no age limit. For a shorter afternoon with no lunch, the Bubble tour to the Côte des Blancs pours six tastings in three and a half hours. With only your party, compare every private champagne tour from Epernay.
You meet your guide in front of the Office de Tourisme at 7 avenue de Champagne, 51200 Epernay, next to the Hôtel de Ville. From the station it is under 500 m, through the Hôtel de Ville garden. Be there ten minutes before 12:00 pm; one traveller noticed the group gathers a little early.
There is no hotel pickup, in Epernay or in Paris. The tour ends back at the same door at about 5:15 pm. Coming by car? The Jard underground car park, 150 m away with its entrance on rue Eugène Mercier, gives you the first hour free. The Epernay map marks the office, the station and the car parks.
★★★★★
Afternoon with growers and lunch, from Epernay
Two independent makers and a three-course lunch in the courtyard of one of the houses, then the church where Dom Pérignon is buried. We saw things we could not have reached without a guide.
Gaynor E. · Traveller · June 2024
★★★★★
Afternoon with growers and lunch, from Epernay
I booked alone and was paired with two strangers, and we had a great time. The smaller family houses taught me a lot about how champagne is made.
Alexis F. · Solo · Traveller · July 2025
★★★★★
Afternoon with growers and lunch, from Epernay
Colleagues who are also friends: every stop was unhurried, and we learned the history of the whole region, not only of champagne.
Nicole L. · Friends · Traveller · June 2025
Check dates for the noon start, with free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
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