If like me you've been to Paris a dozen times and are looking for something new to do then this might be the article for you. I recently took my girlfriend to drink Champagne in Champagne, France. The main champagne houses are spread out across Reims, Epernay and Ay. Reims is the more attractive city, about an hour away from Paris by train from Gare de l'Est.

We stayed at a rather basic hotel in Reims close to the train station, the Novotel hotel. It's not a very romantic hotel unfortunately. And whilst I didn't mind, the girlfriend was a bit indifferent to the quality of the bed and pillows.

First let me tell you how we went about booking a tour of the champagne houses.

Why Book?

You might just want to cruise in and out of the Champagne Houses on the notorious Champagne Avenue in Epernay and do tastings. That is fine. You'll typically get 3 different glasses to try from any house, the average price will be from 20-24 euros. The tastings come in very generous sizes and we toured 3 different houses whilst in Epernay.

If you luck out with the weather (and we did, beautiful sunny day) you'll get to sit in their gardens and in the words of Withnail, drink some of the finest wines available to humanity. A waiter will bring out the champagne, give you the options and walk you through some of the notes. It's brief, it's fun and if you fancy a platter of cheese and meat, that is also on the menu. I recommend that.

However, with these tastings you won't get the full experience of the houses. We took one tour of the Moet Chandon caves whilst we were in Epernay, tickets priced at 35 euros each. We booked on the day, and were probably quite fortunate to get a slot. If you arrive in Epernay without a booking I suggest you go early to one of the houses and find out what slots they have available.

The tour typically lasts 1.5 - 2 hours and you get a full walk through of the cellars. Epernay has underground cellars of 110km. It's really a subterranean city of wine cellars, (although separated by their separate houses of course).

The tour is well worth it, although it will be quite dark and no filming or flash photography is allowed. You are allowed to take photos, but without flash the quality will be limited.

So I recommend you do at least one tour of one of the champagne houses in Epernay, and as many separate tastings along the avenue. You don't have to be a connoisseur to enjoy the tastings, and I recommend you also drink water along the way to keep things upright. If we were to do our time again I'd look at getting a hotel in Epernay and doing more tours of houses and tastings here.

However, going to Reims is a must. In Reims you have a lot of the marquee named brands such as Veuve Cliquot and Taittinger. Again these will need to be booked in advance. We didn't book any house tours in Reims due to time restraints and availability. Note: Very few if any houses are open on a Sunday.

However, one of the lures of Reims is the cathedral and the light show in the evening. The front is illuminated by some innovative pyrotechnics bringing the ornate furnishings to life in a magical way. Again, remember your umbrella. We were told it rains 200 days out of the year in Champagne country. It rained hard and fast at several times, however, it was never cold and added to the adventure for me. (Not for my girlfriend though who much prefers sun).

TIP: I'd look to book trains between Reims, Epernay and Ay the day before. They are not as regular as you might think (some are two hours apart) and this could hamper your day. Tickets are booked at the machine. If you find the train is fully booked go to the desk and ask if there are any spare tickets. We did this and t our relief there was spare tickets. Also be mindful not everyone at the train station speaks English.

What about Ay?

I did mention Ay didn't I? Ay is the sleepiest towns of all. Very little happening but some big names are in Ay like Bollinger. They were fully booked sadly so we booked a tour at Henri Giraud. Everything is a short walk from the train station, (ten minutes max).

We booked the tour through Champagne Booking, and paid in full after we did the tour and tasting. Again this was actually a stroke of good luck because it introduced us to a wonderful brand, and we will be buying bottles of Henri Giraud once we are back in the UK. The tour was about 1.5 hours long and our guide Anne was interesting, chatty and a good listener. She was worldly on other wines having previously worked in another house. Henri Giraud is a smaller house compared to the named brands, they make their wines in oak barrels as opposed to stainless steel so you'll have some woody finishes. A tour and tasting was 75 euros each but it was a private tour and we had four glasses.

I considered this excellent value.

Back to Paris?

We spent a few days in Paris, a few days in Reims and one more night in Paris as it was easier to get to the airport from Paris without a car. If you hire a car then you'll probably find it easier to get between places, although will stymie your enjoyment in tasting the champagnes and then driving legally.

Once we got to Paris airport, we got the train to Gare De Nord and walked 20 minutes to the hotel. This was fine, we were travelling light. We stayed at Le Robinet d'Or. Cosy hotel, not too pricey, decent bed and pillows and excellent shower. Breakfast was an additional 15 euros and that was fine. The main hook for staying at this hotel was it being a very short walk to Gare de l'Est which will take you to Reims or Epernay. (Again check the train schedule the night before, trains are not regular here. Plus the ticket machines are not intuitive if you've not used them before). We found trains ran every couple of hours, and it was a huge effort in the end to get to our desired locations.

TIPS:

Definitely check train times from all stations when travelling to or from Epernay, Ay, Reims or Paris. You can do this from the Trainline APP.
You should definitely book at least one tour of any of the champagne houses.
Drink water and take Ibuprofen throughout the day. We did and negated any hangovers.
Take an umbrella and comfy shoes. We walked on average 15km a day.
Catch the cathedral light show in Reims, 10.45 at night. Ask locals about times and days and be sure. (We asked one local and he gave us the wrong date and time, so maybe ask a couple to confirm).