No drink is as associated with celebration, luxury and glamour as champagne. The drink that has been drunk for centuries at everything from the Olympic Games to royal coronations and which can only be produced in the region of the same name in France. Sure, there are sparkling wines that are made in the same traditional way as in Champagne – for example cava or crèmant – but it never feels as special as champagne.
If you want to travel to Champagne and find your own bubbly gems to fill your car trunk with, here are our best tips for visiting Champagne – everything from wine houses to wine tastings and driving. Our goal with the trip was not to visit the big dragons' champagne houses, but to discover champagne from small independent wine growers – Harvester-Manipulant or Independent Winegrower – which would prove to be a real highlight!
Important things to know when visiting Champagne
- The best time to travel to Champagne is during May, June and September, when the climate is pleasant and the pace is slower. During the height of summer, in July and August, the pressure from visitors is greatest, while accommodation is often booked well in advance. Spontaneous trips are therefore difficult during the summer months. Harvest season usually falls in October, an intense time when much of the region's focus is on the vineyards.
- Many smaller, family-run wineries are closed on Sundays and it is common to have a lunch break of up to two hours in the middle of the day. A visit to Champagne should therefore not be planned for a Sunday if the ambition is to explore the vineyards outside the cities of Reims and Épernay. Furthermore, during the harvest, many of the smaller houses close completely to visitors.
- Visiting hours are generally short – most champagne houses close at 18pm, some as early as 17pm.
- The wine cellars maintain a low temperature year-round, making an extra sweater a wise addition to your pack.
- With France's strict alcohol driving laws, it goes without saying that testing is done responsibly. Spittoons are always provided and expected to be used by the driver.
- Wine tastings at large champagne houses in the cities cost money, but at all the smaller champagne houses we visited, the tastings were always free.
Travel to Champagne
Champagne is located in northern France, about an hour and a half drive east of Paris, or just 46 minutes by train from Paris to Reims. For those who primarily want to visit the large and well-known champagne houses – and don’t plan to take large quantities of wine home – the train to the region’s two hubs, Reims and Épernay, is the most convenient option.
However, those who want to discover Champagne's lesser-known producers, beyond the classic addresses, will need access to a car. Many of the most personal and memorable experiences can be found along the region's small country roads, in villages where family-owned vineyards still operate on a small scale.
Traveling to Champagne with your own car is therefore often the best option – which is what we did. A large part of the experience lies in the opportunity to buy a few bottles directly from producers whose wines rarely or never reach the Swedish market – and which taste even better when they are taken home as a personal souvenir from the trip.
What is really so special about champagne?
The Champagne region is a relatively cold wine region, where the still wines produced are light with a high acidity. In the 17th century, it was discovered that some bottles of wine that were stored during the winter had bubbles. The wine fermented in the fall, stopped in the cold during the winter, and started fermenting again in the spring. The result was bubbles in the wine, something that was initially seen as a failed production and which caused the bottles to explode. By starting to store the wine in thicker glass bottles with better corks, it was possible to control the manufacturing process and, voila, the drink of golden bubbles was invented.
During the 18th century, champagne became fashionable at the French court and its popularity has only increased since then. In 2024, 271 million bottles of champagne were produced, of which approximately 30% were produced by the large and famous wine houses.
Champagne is a protected designation of origin drink that is strictly controlled by rules and may only contain grapes from Champagne. The main grape varieties are Chardonnay (green grape), Pinot Noir (red grape) and Pinot Meunier (red grape). Although champagne is partly made from red grapes, the color is usually golden. Pinot Noir grapes may have red skins, but the grape juice is almost always colorless. When making regular (white) champagne, the grapes are pressed carefully so that the juice is not allowed to remain with the skins for a long time, as it is the skins that give the wine its color. Champagne is always made according to the traditional method – traditional method – where the wine ferments twice, the last time in the bottle.
To make production even more complex, Champagne is not a single region that sits together, but five different areas: Montagne de Reims, Vallee de la Marne, White Coast, Sézanne Coast and Aube (Côte des Bar). Different grapes are grown in different areas and the soil varies from chalky to clay, which produces wines with different styles. Many champagne houses blend grapes from several regions to create their characteristic style.
Accommodation in Champagne
We hadn't planned our visit to Champagne in advance, which was a mistake. Champagne in mid-July is popular with tourists from all over the world, and perhaps especially with tourists from Asia and the USA. Most of the accommodations I had in mind were fully booked. We ended up booking three nights in Reims, at Holiday Inn Express & Suites Reims – Rives de Vesle by IHG, which would turn out to be a really good choice. Incredibly affordable (1200 SEK/night), very fresh and modern double room, dog-friendly, with garage parking and within walking distance of the city center.
If I had booked well in advance, I would have chosen not to stay in Épernay or Reims, but in one of the beautiful wine castles and vineyards outside the cities. Some small RM producers offer bed & breakfast or gîtes on the farm, which gives you a chance to experience the winery and nature up close. The distances are not great and it is nice not to have to drive in the evenings.
Driving in Champagne – La Route Touristique du Champagne
Since 2015, the landscape, wine cellars and wine houses of Champagne have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage and the very best way to experience the World Heritage Site is by driving La Route Touristique du Champagne, the 100-kilometer-long, well-signposted tourist route that runs through the different areas of Champagne and the beautiful countryside. Driving the entire Champagne route (and its stages) takes at least a week. We drove for two days and covered perhaps 150 kilometers.
Map of the Champagne Route (purple road)
There are over 100 champagne houses and 19000 passionate winegrowers (wine producers) in the area and the Champagne route takes you past a large number of these. Not all vineyards welcome visitors, but surprisingly many will welcome you with open arms if you cnackar on. We focused on driving the road White Coast south of Épernay and Montagne de Reims south of Reims. The hard part is deciding which winery you want to visit, as there are signs for vineyards at every intersection. A big part of the charm of a visit to Champagne is discovering new wineries and family farms that you've never heard of, so don't rely solely on tips. Here, the spontaneous is what makes the most memories!
All the vineyards we stopped at welcomed us with open arms and none of the champagne tastings cost money, unlike the champagne tastings in Reims and Épernay which were often perceived as more expensive than the same glass of champagne would cost back home in Sweden. Don't expect anyone to speak English at the small vineyards and be prepared that you will probably buy more bottles than you expected just because it is so nice.
To find the different vineyards, I recommend that you zoom in to the Champagne region on Google maps and then select “search the area” on “vigneron.” The more you zoom in, the more vineyards will appear.
How do you visit the big and famous champagne houses?
Unlike many other wine regions in France and the world, the showrooms and cellars of the major producers are not located in the middle of the vineyards, but inside the cities of Épernay and Reims. During the high season (late summer/autumn) you need pre-book your visit, especially if you want a tour of the winery in English. We hadn't done that, so we couldn't visit the houses that were at the top of our list.
Wine tastings at the famous houses always cost money, are very well-directed and often relatively impersonal. However, some of the large houses are worth a visit if you want to experience the kilometer-long wine vaults under the city streets.
Champagne house in Reims
In Reims, the champagne houses are often located around the ring road and it can take a while to walk to them from the city center. Here are some tips for some of the largest houses.
- Taittinger - karta
- Circle - karta
- Vranken Pommery domain - karta – Large underground wine cellar
- Veuve Clicquot - karta – Large underground wine cellar
- Louis Roederer - karta
- Ruinart House - karta
Champagne house in Épernay
In Épernay, most of the champagne houses are located along the Avenue de Champagne. Here are some tips
- Moët et Chandon - karta – Large underground wine cellar
- Pol roger - karta
- Cellier Belle Epoque – by Perrier-Jouet - karta
- Moet Hennessy - karta
Wine houses we visited in Champagne
We managed to visit four RM vineyards (RM = Harvester-Manipulant – the winemaker both owns the grapes and produces the champagne himself) for two days and the rest of the time was spent on scenery, lunches and other attractions. When planning your days in Champagne, you should not plan too many visits to vineyards per day, as you want to have time to sit down and learn more about the history behind the wines and the people behind the grapes. Just running in and buying wine without context is not recommended unless you have visited the vineyard before and know what you want.
Don't expect any sparkling wine bars at smaller champagne producers - in most cases, the tasting takes place in the production premises themselves. Smaller wine houses often have good champagne that costs from €18, but the wines we bought often cost between €25-40.
Waris-Larmandier
Waris-Larmandier was founded in 1989 by Vincent Waris and Marie-Hélène Larmandier (fifth generation winegrowers) as a family house. In the 2000s, Marie-Hélène ran the business herself, while taking care of her three children alone. From 2010, her son Jean-Philippe took over, having learned viticulture from other prestigious houses. He converted the family vineyards to biodynamic cultivation, which was completed in 2020 with Demeter certification. The vineyard covers 6 hectares of Grand Cru in the Côte des Blancs, Montagne de Reims and Aube, with a focus on Chardonnay but also a smaller amount of Pinot Noir.
During our visit, brother Pierre-Louis welcomes us and tells us about the history of the wines, their plantations and vision. A young and dynamic champagne house with fine wines!
Waris-Larmandier - karta
Prices from €40.
Lacourte-Guillemart
The history of Lacourte-Guillemart dates back to 1630, when Nicaise Lacourte began producing still red and white wines – first for priests and later for merchants. After World War II, Henri Lacourte entered the champagne world under the name Lacourte-Labasse, and in 1959 his son Yves Lacourte, together with Jeanine Guillemart, founded the family-owned champagne house that still bears their name today.
Since 2000, the twelfth generation has been running the estate with the same respect for heritage, tradition and quality, and still produces their own champagne that generations before them laid the foundation for. We are welcomed by Christine and her daughter on our visit and together we manage to brew our French and English and try their wines. The estate mainly grows Pinot Noir on Premier Cru soils, but also Chardonnay.
Prices from €18.
Yves jacques
Yves Jacques family vineyards consist of three classic champagne grapes and stretch through the Marne Valley, Côte des Blancs and Aube, from the villages of Sézanne and Baye to the Grand Cru-classified locations of Chouilly and Ay. It is the third generation of winemakers who run the champagne house today and the champagnes are produced in the house's own cellars in Baye, according to the traditional method.
We are warmly welcomed by one of the brothers who runs the farm, who also speaks very good English. Welcoming, affordable and nice!
Prices from €17.
Pol Couronne
In Reims, there are not only large and famous champagne houses, but also smaller wine producers. Pol Couronne's history began in 1887 in Hautvillers, where Pol Auguste Couronne began producing champagne for "friends and family" on the 5-hectare estate. The fifth generation of the Jean-Baptiste Prévost family took over the house in 2013 and opened a showroom in Reims in 2016. Here you have the opportunity to go on a wine tasting and also order charcuterie boards and small dishes. The simplest tastings of three champagnes cost €29 per person, but there are also more expensive prestige tastings.
Nice place that showcases artisanal champagne on a smaller scale.
More tips for Champagne
- Look for Blanc de Noirs (Pinot grapes only) or Blanc de Blancs (Chardonnay only) from small growers.
- The Montagne de Reims and Vallée de la Marne have several lovely viewpoints with panoramic views of wine fields and rivers.
- Learn how climate, soil and the winemaker's decisions affect the taste of champagne, and your experience will be taken to the next level.
- Many restaurants in the small villages offer a “menu avec champagne”, where each dish is combined with a local cuvée.
Traveling in Champagne is traveling with all the senses and every stop becomes a bubbling adventure. And when you take out a dusty bottle of champagne on a cold and dark winter night back home in Sweden a few years later that you almost forgot you bought, the magic comes back. A reminder of the region's charm and craftsmanship and at the same time a reminder of the truly wonderful trip to France.
Do you want to read more about France? Here you will find more articles about nature, cities, castles, vineyards and hiking.
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