The Romans quarried chalk under what is now Reims, cutting pyramid-shaped pits called crayères down through the soft rock. Centuries later the champagne houses found that those voids held a constant temperature of around 10 to 12 degrees and near-total humidity stability, which is precisely what bottles need for a second fermentation.
There are now roughly 200 kilometres of tunnels under Reims and Épernay. Some run three levels deep. Several of the houses have cellars that are UNESCO-listed alongside the vineyards and the hillsides.
Reims or Épernay
Two towns, both on top of the chalk, 25 minutes apart.
Reims is the larger: a cathedral where French kings were crowned for a thousand years, a proper city centre, and the biggest houses with the most impressive cellar tours.
Épernay is smaller and more single-minded. The Avenue de Champagne is a kilometre of house frontages with the cellars running beneath the road, and it is said to be the most valuable street in the world by what is stored under it.
The hillsides between and around them — the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de la Marne, the Côte des Blancs — are the vineyards themselves, with villages and a small number of hotels among them.
The whole region is compact. Paris is 45 minutes by TGV to Reims, which makes this the easiest wine region in France to reach and one of the least visited relative to its fame.
The six below are the properties at this standard, which is a short list for a region this well known.
Reims
The cathedral city, and the largest cellars.
Domaine Les Crayeres occupies a château in a park on the edge of Reims, built for a champagne family, with two restaurants including one that has held three stars, and the crayères of a major house directly beneath the grounds. It is the finest hotel in the region and its name means the chalk pits.
Domaine Les Crayeres
Reims · 5★ · $$$$
A champagne family's chateau above Roman chalk cellars
Check availabilityRelais & Châteaux L'Assiette Champenoise sits in Tinqueux outside Reims as a restaurant with rooms, where the kitchen is the reason to come and the accommodation is very comfortable. The cellar list is one of the best in France.
Relais & Châteaux L'Assiette Champenoise
Tinqueux, Reims · 5★ · $$$$
A restaurant with rooms and one of France's great cellars
Check availabilityLa Caserne Chanzy Hotel & Spa, Autograph Collection occupies a restored building in the Reims centre with a spa, a courtyard and the shortest walk to the cathedral and the house tours.
La Caserne Chanzy Hotel & Spa, Autograph Collection
Reims centre · 4★ · $$$
Shortest walk to the cathedral and the house tours
Check availabilityThe hillside above Épernay
Between the two towns, looking down over the vines.
Royal Champagne Hôtel & Spa sits at Champillon on the slope above the Marne valley, with a spa, an infinity pool over the vineyards and a terrace looking down the Côte des Blancs. It is the best-sited hotel in Champagne.
Royal Champagne Hôtel & Spa
Champillon · 5★ · $$$$
Infinity pool over the vineyards above the Marne
Check availabilityÉpernay
The Avenue de Champagne and the cellars beneath it.
Hôtel La Villa Eugene occupies a nineteenth-century mansion built by a champagne family, with a garden and a small room count, minutes from the Avenue.
Hôtel La Villa Eugene
Epernay · 4★ · $$$
A champagne family's mansion with a garden
Check availabilityHotel Jean Moët sits on the Avenue de Champagne itself in a restored house, with the cellars of the great names running under the street outside.
Hotel Jean Moët
Avenue de Champagne · 4★ · $$
On the avenue with the great cellars under the street
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The chambres d'hôtes among the vineyard villages are excluded, and in a region of grower-producers they are often the best way to meet the people making the wine. They are guest houses rather than hotels.
What to do
Book cellar tours in advance. The large houses run scheduled visits; the growers, who make some of the most interesting champagne now, usually require an appointment and are worth the effort.
Go down into the crayères. The Roman chalk pits at the largest houses are extraordinary spaces, cathedral-scale, at 10 degrees, and they are the reason the wine exists in this form.
Drive the Côte des Blancs, which is the chardonnay slope south of Épernay, through Cramant, Avize and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.
See Reims cathedral, which held the coronations of French kings and has Chagall windows in the apse.
Understand the difference between the houses and the growers. The big names blend across the region; the récoltants-manipulants make wine from their own plots and are where the region has got interesting.
Practical notes
Reims is 45 minutes from Paris Gare de l'Est by TGV, which makes the train the obvious route. Charles de Gaulle is about an hour and a half by road.
May, June and September are ideal. Harvest is late September and the region is closed to visits during it at many estates. Winter is cold and quiet and the cellars are the same temperature regardless.
Take a driver for tasting days.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Champagne Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Reims or Épernay?
Reims for the cathedral, the city and the biggest cellars. Épernay for the Avenue de Champagne and a shorter walk between houses.
Can you visit the small growers?
Yes, by appointment, and they are where the most interesting wine is being made.
Is it a day trip from Paris?
It can be, at 45 minutes by train, and a night lets you do a proper tasting and a dinner.
How many nights?
Two. Three if you want both towns and the Côte des Blancs.