EPERNAY – here you learn to love the tiny bubbles that are synonymous with joy and happiness….

[slideshow] Situated at the heart of the world’s most prestigious vineyards, Epernay, the capital of the Champagne region, attracts over 500,000 visitors every year. With over 30,000 hectares of vineyards, enchanted forests, and bordering the River Marne, this region has the UNESCO World Heritage Site Distinction.

The Town of Epernay, which traverses these famous vineyards, is located between the Marne River and the hills, which is at the junction of the “Tourist Routes of Champagne”. Here, you will find the famous L’Avenue de Champagne “The Avenue de Champagne”. Some of the world’s famous Champagne producers, mansions dating back to the end of the nineteenth century, and large trading houses line The Avenue de Champagne. Beneath this grand Avenue lies 110 kilometers of chalk cellars with over 200 million bottles of Champagne – this makes this Avenue one of the most prestigious streets in the world! Some of the notable Champagne houses located on the Avenue are Moët & Chandon, Mercier, Boizel, Comtesse Lafond, De Castellane Esterlin, Perrier-Jouet, Pol Roger, and De Venoge.

The Avenue was recently renovated and redesigned as an avenue-park creating a pleasant place to stroll and admire the historical buildings with tall ornate gates. With the renovations complete The Avenue de Champagne now has wider sidewalks (almost as wide as the roadway), cycle paths, heritage trees, 
with a special emphasis on lighting (which beautifully enhances the facades and entrances to the Champagne houses). 


Avenue de Champagne is also used for many champagne events, including the upcoming “Habits de Lumière” Christmas lights in December.

A number of the Champagne houses provide one-hour tours and a tasting. Dom Perignon provides a tour in which you will tour historical areas such as the place where Napoleon drank wine. Mercier provides laser-guided tours and elevator rides. Moet and Chandon cellars tours include seeing the million bottles of Champagne stored. The tour of Chandon lasts for about 45 minutes. At Mercier you can see the 160,000 gallon barrel that took about 20 years to complete and stores over 20,0000 bottles of Champagne.

Once you complete a tour and indulge in a tasting, you get to see for yourself that…
Drinking Champagne in Epernay is like listening to Mozart in Salzburg.

How to Get to Epernay

By plane:
international Airports : Paris Orly and Paris Charles de Gaulle

By train:
Epernay is linked with Paris – 10 direct trains a day (1 ¼ hr)

By car:
Epernay is located at the junction of 2 main national roads: 
- RN51, connecting the north countries to the south of France and Europe) 
- RN3, linking the west to the east

Motorways:
1 1/2 hours from Paris and 3 hours from Dijon and Calais
– A4 (Paris-Strasbourg) 
- A26 (Calais Dijon)

Tourist Office Location
Office de Tourisme d’Epernay 

7 avenue de Champagne 

BP 28 
21 201
EPERNAY