Champagne Route in France. The sparkling route located in the northeast of France, less than 150 kilometres from Paris, awaits us with its landscapes of vineyards, the exceptional cellars where the champagne is stored, and charming villages.
Indice:
Reims
This tour (of which we will only cover a part) began in Reims, the so-called coronation city that welcomed us with the Notre Dame cathedral, the place where many of the kings of France were crowned. And where, honoring the name of this route, we visited the Vranken Pommery winery.
All this is in our previous post ► REIMS
We woke up in Reims and were ready to take a leisurely stroll along this route. The “Champagne Route in France” is always marked with a characteristic sign that accompanies you along the section you take.
Find wine experiences and winery views in the Champagne area
Shortly after leaving the city we find the Fort de la Pompelle.
It is a World War I memorial site converted into a museum recalling the fighting in Reims and Champagne.
We only made the stop but we did not enter it. The ticket price is €5.50, also included in the Reims tourist pass. Free admission from January to March 31, 2023. The schedule is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
►Find more information on their official website
We continue our journey on this champagne route in France and go to Verzenay, only 17 kilometers separate us.
Verzenay
The route as we approach Verzenay begins to reveal its charm. The hills of vineyards appear painted and in the distance we can see a mill and a lighthouse.
This charming town full of history, which was partly destroyed during the First World War due to its proximity to the front line, boasts a perfectly preserved mill and a lighthouse which now houses the Museum of the Vineyard. Its recently renovated 18th-century church is at the heart of the village.
This Verzenay windmill is a historic monument, it has served various purposes over the centuries, including hosting visits from many heads of state, for the last fifty years the windmill has been part of the Maison Mumm.
The hills, houses and cellars of Champagne are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, in the category “cultural landscapes”.
The vineyards of the Montagne de Reims area extend between the forest massif of the Montagne de Reims Regional Natural Park and the agricultural plain. This region has microclimates that allow the cultivation of the three grape varieties authorised for champagne.
The mill, although very attractive, does not seem strange to us to find it, but… a lighthouse in the middle of the Verzenay vineyards? Well, the reason is that this is where the Maison de Champagne J. Goulet is located, which in 1909 had this lighthouse built for advertising. The lighthouse cast its light over the area.
Today, transformed into a vineyard museum, from its garden or by climbing the 25 metres of the building, you can enjoy an exceptional panoramic view of the slopes of the Montagne de Reims.
The cost of a visit to the museum with the climb is €9, and the climb alone is €3. Opening hours are from 10 am to 6 pm, and it is closed during the month of January. We wanted to continue our route and only appreciated this beautiful place from the foot of the lighthouse.
►More information on the official website of the Phare de Verzenay
We rented the car in Paris to tour several places in France and we will return it in Paris at the end of the tour. As I always say, it is generally cheaper to pick up and return it in the same place. In this case we did it with Discovercars, check the prices with your dates.
►Find the car for your tour on Discovercars
Just as I told you that we did this tour by car on our own, I also tell you that they have organized tours and I think they are a very good option to explore the area. I will leave you with just a few of the excursions that are available.
You see vineyards until you lose your sight, and the scenery looks like something out of a movie. This type of tours have a very particular charm, and as I always tell you, visiting a country is not only about getting to know its capital and big cities, going inside is very interesting, at least for me.
We now go to perhaps the most touristy and charming village in the area, Hautvillers.
We are only 27 km away from Hautvillers
Hautvillers
As soon as we arrived we began to realize that we did indeed find tourists here, there were quite a few parked cars as well as the general movement.
In the middle of these vineyards lies the village of Hautvillers, the birthplace of champagne. It was here, in the former Benedictine abbey of Hautvillers, that the monk-winemaker Dom Pérignon discovered the champagne method in the 18th century.
Dom Pérignon lies today in the heart of the village abbey.
A tour of Hautvillers is charming, a wine-growing village where 140 wrought iron badges relating to the Champagne trade accompany the tour.
At every turn of our gaze we find photos that look like a postcard. If you are going to visit Hautvillers, although it is small, take time to enjoy it.
We continue our journey towards Cumiéres, only 3 kilometers separate us.
The slow walk through Hautvillers takes us to the abbey where Dom Perignon discovered the champagne method, and also to the recently unveiled statue of Dom Perigon.
Cumières
On the banks of the Marne we find Cumières, with a particular charm.
With the same characteristics as the previous one in terms of charm and tranquility, on the river bank we find these iron sculptures on wine-making activities.
Small and with few people on its streets, it is a stop on our way to Epernay, the city where we will stay and visit a champagne production winery.
We will do only 4 kilometers more to Damery
Damery
Damery is very charming, and although it was just a stop on our Champagne route through France, we were able to enjoy it.
We continued our route towards Epernay, 8 kilometres away. A visit to a winery and our accommodation awaited us.
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This is just one option for a tour of the area. The Champagne tourist routes are invitations to discovery and offer many options for exploring the Champagne-Ardennes region. One day is not enough, so as you have seen, we chose to spend a night in Reims and then Epernay.
Epernay
Epernay is known as the capital of Champagne. The great Champagne houses that line the famous Champagne Avenue are known throughout the world. The prestigious cellars of Epernay, as we saw in Reims, can also be visited.
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Iati insurance
Avenue of Champagne
The Avenue de Champagne is the district of the world’s leading wine-producing and marketing houses. It is home to many 19th-century Renaissance-style buildings, and in 1994 was ranked among the 100 Sites of Excellent Taste in France. A total of more than 100 km of underground tunnels house millions of bottles of Champagne.
They say that it is the most expensive avenue in the world due to the number of bottles of champagne that are underground, it is also known as the Champs-Elysées of champagne.
Both the brands and the great families that own them wanted to show their splendour and grandeur by erecting impressive mansions, many of which contain kilometres of underground cellars thanks to the special characteristics of the soil. These cellars store millions of bottles at a constant temperature of between ten and twelve degrees.
Champagne Museum
Château Perrier was built between 1852 and 1857 to house the private mansion and cellars of Charles Perrier, director of the Perrier-Jouët champagne house. It was recognised as a site of important cultural heritage by the French Ministry of Culture and now houses the Museum of Champagne Wine and Regional Archaeology.
The cost of admission is € 9.50 and is free every first Sunday of the month.
►More information on the official website
Mercier Winery
Let’s now take a tour of the Mercier winery. A very interesting tour to do on this Champagne route in France.
The visit to the Mercier house was something we enjoyed doing very much. The visit begins in the welcome room, where the signs and the audio guide prepare you for what you will see.
In this case, the audio-guided tour is in Spanish, the descent is by elevator and then a train takes you through the entire route of the underground cellars. At the end of the tour you have a tasting of two glasses of champagne, you can choose between white or rosé, we opted for one of each.
In 1871, Eugène Mercier began a project to dig his champagne cellars. The Mercier cellar has 18 kilometres of underground tunnels and some of these kilometres will be covered by the guided train that will show us the wonder of the cellars.
The cost of the visit is €26, but you have other options.►Champagne Mercier official site
During the tour, the explanations will be about the history of the Mercier house and how the champagne process is.
If you saw the post of Reims you will have seen our other visit to a champagne house, which was in the Pommery, they are very different visits from each other, both interesting, but I particularly enjoyed this one a lot, the visit is very well organized.
But as said in the previous post, there are many options for visits, although not so many with an option in Spanish.
The Ballon de Epernay
Those who have seen our videos of Paris will have seen that we have gone up in a balloon that serves as a viewing platform. This one is the same, unfortunately we did not arrive on time to do the activity.
The opening hours are from 10am to 1pm and from 2pm to 6pm. The price is €14. The views promise to be very good from there, but that will be for next time.
Where do we stay on this champagne route through France?
This time we chose the Ibis Epernay Centre Ville hotel, basically we chose it because it has a good rate for our dates, breakfast included and the same type of room offered by this chain.
Booking.comWhere do we have dinner?
We had dinner at A la Fleur de Sel. We booked through The Fork to ensure a table at a not-so-early hour, as we like to go out for dinner a bit late and sometimes find the kitchen already closed. The place was charming and the crepes were magnificent. We also accompanied them with champagne to enjoy the area.
We wake up in Epernay and before leaving the area we head to Châlons in Champagne, about 40 kilometres apart.
Châlons in Champagne
Châlons en Champagne is also in the Marne area of Champagne Ardennes.
Here we were able to enjoy the market, one of those nice things that happen when you arrive in small towns, a very nice place and although we were only passing through because we were going to continue our journey to our next destination, we were able to enjoy seeing the locals getting their fruits and vegetables to prepare the meal, one of those little things and moments that make a trip and that one treasures in the trunk of memories.
Our little tour of the Champagne route in France was coming to an end. As I said at the beginning, there is more to see. The area requires several days, but that was what we had available and we were able to take advantage of them to continue getting to know France, a country that we are slowly getting to know.
Our trip would continue to Strasbourg , which separated us from here about 320 kilometers and would take us all the way through Alsace.
Video and map
NOTE: The information in this article is based on our own experience, being totally objective. This article contains affiliate links
