Hi, I will be visiting Reims for 4 days in October with another member of our champagne club. We are staying in Hotel Crystal for 4 nights (any positive feedback on that?) and will then also visit Epernay and perhaps rent a car to see the outlying houses. Anyone who has been out there, any advice re good restaurants, places to taste champagne without having to go on a cave tour (how many can one go on?) and just the general vibe of Reims? Is it really as cool as I can imagine dans le centre de champagne to be?
Any advice welcome!
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Reims is a pleasant city.
I have been to the Brasserie Flo, which I really liked:
http://www.floreims.com/
and walking up that pedestrianised street from the Flo towards the Cathederal, on the left hand side there is a %26#39;rustic%26#39; restaurant that does great Coq au Vin and Cassoulet as well as many other French standards at reasonable prices (but I can%26#39;t remember the name of the place, it had red %26amp; white chequed tablecloths last time I was there - how original!)
%26#39;THE%26#39; place for Champagne tasting is the bar of the Mercure Hotel, but you can buy Champers allsorts at almost any decent bar. Otherwise you will get tastings at the Champagne Houses and Vineyards.
Drive the Champagne Road:
tourisme-en-champagne.com/route_touristique_…
and definitely stop in Troyes.
And here are some other useful websites:
http://www.reims-tourism.com/
http://www.champagnemagic.com/index.htm
maisons-champagne.com/traduction/english/lim…
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I agree with EssexWanderer - drive the champagne route. It is well signed from Epernay, plus Tourist Office will have maps, and you will find many independent producers who are proud of their wine.
You don%26#39;t say when in October you are visiting. The harvest traditionally starts mid-September (but will move a week or two depending on the seasons weather) so you may see the grapes being picked, taken to the local presses, and the juice in big plastic tanks pulled by tractors to the big houses.
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Have done a bit of an internet %26#39;trawl%26#39; and think that the other restaurant I have been thinking about is %26#39;Aux Coteau%26#39; ont the Place Dront D%26#39;Erlon:
monsite.orange.fr/auxcoteaux/index.jhtml
and if it%26#39;s not that exact one, then it%26#39;s very nearby!!
Opposite is a bar that sells the beautiful Belgian Leffe beer.
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Four days is a good length of time to visit the area and I would recommend that you rent a car for at least 2 days. If by any chance you are there over the 3rd week of October, it%26#39;s %26quot;La Semaine du Goût en Champagne%26quot; when lots of cellars open their doors for tastings without appointments (www.champagne-tourisme for details).
Not sure about %26#39;cool%26#39; but others have recommended some suitable bars - a restaurant that Tom Stevenson, who writes for my guides recommends that might well be worth a visit for something different is %26quot;le Cul de Pot%26quot; (literally %26#39;the hen%26#39;s arse%26#39;). Bistrot Henri IV is another recommendation.
In terms of cities, Reims is of course the most interesting, but the car will allow you to visit not only Epernay, but also outlying Champagne villages such us Ay (famous for being where Bollinger is based, but there are other producers there) or Bouzy in the Montagne de Reims area and also villages in the %26#39;Cotes des Blancs%26#39; such as Les Mesnil-sur Oger.
For something non-vinous and a walk, try the %26quot;Les Faux de Verzy%26quot; - near the village of Verzy - lots of beautiful/eerie fungus-covered trees
Here are links to some other posts where I and others have given further information:
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187137-i902-k1604…
This one about restaurants in Reims:
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187137-i902-k1667…
Hope this helps!
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If you are in Epernay and desire to purchase champagne, a very good (and interesting) retail outlet for advice, price, and selection is :
ETS SALVATORI
11 RUE FLODOARD
EPERNAY
Téléphone :
03 26 55 32 32
This was was recently written about the shop and proprietress :
%26quot;Jacqueline Salvatori : 80 bougies et une flamme prodigieuse à Epernay.
%26quot;Jacqueline Salvatori va fêter ses 80 ans en famille. Caviste dans l’âme, sa boutique est devenue un lieu mythique d’Epernay. Référencée dans tous les guides du monde, Jacqueline Salvatori a su transformer une petite épicerie fine en lieu de culte.%26quot;
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Thanks to you all, you%26#39;ve been really helpful. One more question: we are spending a Sunday in Reims. From what I can tell, it looks like everything closes on a Sunday, including a lot of champagne houses and also restaurants. Is it better to rather leave Reims on the Sunday and venture back to Paris? I don%26#39;t mind having a %26quot;quiet%26quot; day, but I would like something to eat!
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Hello again - you will certainly find many restaurants open for Sunday lunch, and the French enjoy a long Sunday lunch so you can linger! The problem on Sundays (and this applies to Paris too) is finding a good restaurant open on a Sunday evening - so it%26#39;s best to have a good meal at lunchtime and perhaps find a brasserie or simply a hotel-restaurant for the evening.
There are some Champagne houses that do tours/visits on Sundays, you just have to check them out - amongst the ones recommended on my guides, it looks like Taittinger, Piper Heidsieck and Delaunois are all open on Sundays ... but do double check nearer the time because things change.
Hope this helps.
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That%26#39;s good news, as I would like to spend a bit more time in Reims. It%26#39;s still months away, but I can hardly wait!
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If you hire a car, you could always go for a drive on Sunday, the Champagne Road as previously suggested, OR take a drive to Laon. The older Cathederal makes an interesting comparison with the one at Reims, and the old town is interesting, wending it%26#39;s way up the hill.
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Sounds lovely, but coming from South Africa, where we drive on the left, the thought of keeping right after several glasses of champagne makes me intensely nervous! I assume by your reply that even some of the houses in the country are open on a Sunday? Perhaps the tourism office in Reims has a day trip of some kind that will visit various champagne houses in the country? We plan to take the train to Epernay on the Friday and walk around the town and from one house to another. I assume there will be many trains running between Reims and Epernay?
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