We booked our 1st class train tickets ahead of time online for ~$55 roundtrip each. The TGV train between Gare de l'Est and Reims takes about 45 minutes. To go nearly 100 miles meaning its a high speed train. There was a stretch on the way to Reims where we were clearing 320km/hour which is very close to 200mph/hour. Certainly a fun way to travel.
We were able to book two tastings online/via email at Veuve Cliquot and Vranken Pommery. We checked out maps of Reims and it seemed that everything was close enough to walk. More on this later.
We walked from the Park Hyatt to Gare de l'Est which took about 30 minutes. We arrived around 10:15 for our 10:30 train, grabbed coffee and breakfast and waited on the platform until our train was called. Train travel in Europe is awesome.
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| Paris Gare de l''Est |
No security, no lines, no waiting...just show up and get on the train which will leave on time.
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| Paris Trains |
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| Our ride to Reims |
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| Reims bound |
Our seats were on the upper deck and super comfortable. The journey went by (way to) quickly.
We arrived at Reims station around 11:15 and made our way into town for lunch.
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| Yes we are in France |
The town of Reims is really charming - we both enjoyed strolling around on the way to and from the tastings. The walk took us by the Reims Cathedral so we walked around the grounds and snapped some pics.
We made it to our first house (Veuve) 10 minutes prior to our 1:30 PM tour. It was easy to find with a ton of signage as we got closer.
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| Welcome to Veuve! |
We checked in with our tour guide (Raphael who was awesome) and just had to wait a few minutes for the others to show up for our English tour. Veuve offers a ton of different tours - we selected the 30 minute "On the footsteps of Madame Clicquot" which was 50 Euros each and included two tastings at the conclusion of the tour. The tour was AWESOME. We both wished we had booked a longer tour as there just wasn't enough time to see more of the grounds, Champagne caves, artwork, etc...
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| Stairs down to the Champagne Caves |
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| Stairs up from the caves with vintage years on each step |
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| Raphael doing his thing |
Raphael explained the history of Veuve which is worth reading about if you aren't familiar. We made our way down the 80 or so steps into the Champagne caves. Miles and miles of chalk caves containing millions of bottles of aging Champagne. Really, really cool. After the tour we made our way to the tasting room to sample a couple of vintages of Veuve. We picked up a 2004 vintage (the year Emily and I met) and said our goodbyes. If you are in Reims, I would highly recommend a Veuve tour - it was one of the highlights of our trip.
Next up was Vranken Pommery. Located about 10 minutes from Veuve (up the hill) we walked over and relaxed on the grounds for a bit. The entire experience was just okay. Check-in, the organization of the place, the actual tour, the Champagne. I wouldn't recommend Vranken Pommery. That said, we were both happy from plenty of Champagne and decided to walk back to town for some dinner.
From this vantage point, we realized that the walk from town was entirely up hill. So if you're planning a trip to Veuve, you might want to consider a taxi from Reims Station and a walk back.
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We were back in town by 5:30 and we had a 7:45 train so we found another bistro for dinner. By this point, town was crowded (holiday weekend in France) and the scene was pretty fun. We still had some time to kill after dinner so we relaxed in the park next to the station and took a nap for a bit.
The train back to Paris was easy and we were back at our hotel by 9PM. Reims was one of the best day trips we've ever taken. It took a bit of planning upfront but was totally worth it. Highly recommended!
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