Overview
Four days in Épernay, and the one trip on the whole list that needs no airport. Eurostar from St Pancras to Paris Nord, cross to Gare de l'Est, and a TGV puts you in Reims in forty-five minutes — roughly four hours door to door, city centre to city centre, with no baggage drop, no 4am alarm and no transfer at the far end. For a long weekend that is a material advantage, and it is why Champagne earns its place despite being the priciest wine on the list.
The Avenue de Champagne is the reason to base in Épernay rather than Reims. Moët & Chandon, Perrier-Jouët, Pol Roger, Mercier and de Castellane sit along a single street, with something like 200 million bottles ageing in the chalk cellars beneath it. Churchill called it the most drinkable address in the world; UNESCO listed it in 2015. These are commercial houses running scheduled daily tours with online booking — precisely the reliability we went looking for.
Getting There
| Outbound | Friday 23 October — Eurostar, St Pancras → Paris Nord, ~2h20. Metro or a 10-minute walk to Gare de l’Est, then TGV to Reims, ~45 min. TER Reims → Épernay, ~25 min |
| Return | Monday 26 October — the same in reverse, arriving St Pancras early evening |
| Total | About 4½ hours door to door. Around £120–190 return for Eurostar plus TGV if booked early |
| If you would rather fly | Any London airport to Paris CDG, then the TGV direct from the airport station to Champagne-Ardenne TGV (~30 min) and a shuttle into Reims — quicker than most airport transfers on this list |
| Bikes | Eurostar carries bicycles as registered baggage on some services and folding bikes free; simplest is to hire in Épernay and travel unencumbered |
Day by Day
Friday 23 October — Eurostar & the Avenue
- Mid-morning Eurostar from St Pancras; Paris, TGV, and into Épernay by late afternoon with no airport in the day at all.
- Walk the Avenue de Champagne before dinner — a single street of 19th-century mansions with the world's most valuable cellar beneath the pavement.
- Evening: a first bottle somewhere unhurried. Épernay is a small town and quiet in October, which is the point.
Saturday 24 October — Hautvillers & the Marne
- Collect bikes and ride north across the river and up to Hautvillers — about 6km, with a climb onto the hillside. This is where Dom Pérignon was cellarer at the abbey from 1668, and his tombstone is in the church floor.
- The village is a museum piece of wrought-iron signs and vineyard views over the Marne valley; several grower-producers here receive visitors, and they are a world away from the grandes marques in price and manner.
- Return along the flat Canal latéral à la Marne towpath — roughly 30km all in, most of it level.
- Afternoon: a booked cellar tour on the Avenue — Mercier's, taken by electric train through 18km of galleries, is the one that entertains everybody.
Sunday 25 October — the Côte des Blancs
- Clocks back overnight. The classic ride: south out of Épernay into the Côte des Blancs — Cuis, Cramant, Avize, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger — grand cru Chardonnay the whole way, on gently rolling signposted circuits laid out by the local agglomération.
- About 25–30km with steady rises rather than climbs. Blanc de blancs tastings in the villages, where a grower will charge for a glass roughly what a grande marque charges for a sniff.
- Lunch in Le Mesnil, then roll back down the slope to Épernay.
- Return bikes. Last dinner: Champagne with something other than canapés — it is a far better food wine than its reputation suggests.
Monday 26 October — Home
- Optional morning: TER to Reims (25 min) for the cathedral where the kings of France were crowned, and Ruinart or Taittinger's Gallo-Roman chalk pits beneath.
- TGV and Eurostar home, into St Pancras in the early evening. No airport, either end.
Festivals & Local Events
Habits de Lumière, Épernay — mid-December
The Avenue de Champagne's big set-piece: illuminations, tastings and a vintage-car parade along the whole street. December, not October.
October is genuinely quiet here
Champagne picks early — usually in September, being the most northerly French region — so by our weekend the harvest is comfortably finished, the houses are open and the town is calm. There is no significant October festival competing for beds.
Saint-Vincent celebrations — January
The vignerons' patron saint is marked across the Champagne villages in deep winter, each village taking a turn.
Reims and the cathedral
Reims runs a programme of concerts and events through the autumn in and around the cathedral — worth a look if you take the Monday-morning option.
The Region in Brief
A little history
Champagne was still wine for most of its history, and the bubbles were a fault — the cold Champagne winters halted fermentation, which restarted in spring and exploded the bottles. Dom Pérignon, cellarer at Hautvillers from 1668, spent his career trying to prevent that, not create it; the English, who had stronger glass and a taste for the fizz, encouraged it. The chalk beneath Reims and Épernay was quarried by the Romans, and those pits became the cellars. In the First World War the population of Reims lived in them for four years while the city above was shelled to rubble.
October weather
Cool and northern: typically 7–15°C in late October, often grey, sometimes crisp and golden. This is the most northerly wine region on the list and it feels it — dress for the bike properly.
The wines
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, blended across villages and years to a house style, aged on the lees in chalk cellars. Blanc de blancs from the Côte des Blancs is all Chardonnay and the most precise expression; grower Champagnes (récoltant-manipulant, marked RM on the label) are the interesting value, made by the family that farmed the grapes.
The food
Reims ham, andouillette, chaource cheese, pink biscuits de Reims for dunking, and the local trick of drinking Champagne with everything rather than nothing. Ratafia — fortified grape juice — is the aperitif nobody exports.
Where to Stay
Les Avisés
Jacques Selosse's guesthouse among the grand cru vines — the connoisseur's bed, and small.
La Villa Eugène
A former Mercier family mansion at the end of the famous street. Comfortable and beautifully placed.
Hôtel Jean Moët
An 18th-century hôtel particulier with a courtyard, a few minutes from the station.
The Wineries
Mercier
18km of galleries toured by electric train, plus a giant barrel built for the 1889 Paris Exposition. The most purely entertaining cellar visit in Champagne.
Moët & Chandon
28km of cellars and the biggest name in the business. Scheduled tours daily, book online; expect €30–60 depending on what is poured.
A Côte des Blancs grower
This is where the trip earns its keep — small récoltant-manipulant houses charging a few euros a glass for grand cru blanc de blancs. Ask the hotel who is receiving that weekend.
Ruinart or Taittinger
The oldest Champagne house (Ruinart, 1729) and the Gallo-Roman chalk crayères beneath it. Book well ahead.
Eat & Drink
| Friday | Dinner in Épernay, unhurried |
| Saturday | Lunch at Hautvillers, above the Marne |
| Sunday | Village lunch in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger |
| Monday | Biscuits roses and coffee in Reims before the train |
Useful Links
- Épernay Tourism — cycling routes — the five signposted circuits around Épernay and the Côte des Blancs
- Comité Champagne — the official body — the appellation, the houses, the growers
- Reims Tourism — for the Monday-morning option: cathedral and the crayères
- Eurostar — book early; fares rise steeply close to departure
Practical Notes
- The best travel of all eighteen. No airport, no transfer, no early start — Eurostar and a TGV, four hours, city centre to city centre. Book Eurostar early for the good fares.
- Tastings are expensive. €30–60 a head at the grandes marques is normal. Balance them with Côte des Blancs growers, where a few euros gets you grand cru.
- Base in Épernay, not Reims. Reims is the bigger city but Épernay puts the Avenue, the Côte des Blancs and Hautvillers all within a short ride.
- Bike hire is available in Épernay; hire locally rather than wrestling bikes onto Eurostar.
- Clocks change overnight on 24–25 October.