This 4 day driving route separates the Reims and Épernay tasting days from the Verzy–Verzenay car day. The 35 minute LeShuttle crossing is the fixed published duration; motorway travel and tolls require the actual departure and vehicle-class calculation.
Suggested reservation slots
The times below are suggested reservation slots for Taittinger, Mercier and the Phare de Verzenay. The operator’s calendar supplies the actual departure; the paid ticket is tied to that departure. Numbered map points follow the Champagne stops. Allow extra time for stops between the numbered map points.
Day 1 booked crossing — LeShuttle
Folkestone terminal to Calais terminal. LeShuttle’s published crossing takes 35 minutes. Its Calais-to-Reims guide routes the journey through northern France; obtain the current motorway toll quote for the vehicle class instead of using an unsourced toll range. The schedule starts with a booked crossing, not an assumed departure hour.
LeShuttle’s Calais–Reims guide gives a drive of under 3 hours; the booked crossing itself takes 35 minutes. Traffic, the terminal exit and breaks are outside the crossing time. Official driving route
Day 2 10:30 — Taittinger
9 place Saint-Nicaise, Reims. Park the car for the Reims tasting day. Instant Rosé is 70 minutes from €40 with Brut Réserve and Prestige Rosé. Use Reims city transport, a taxi or walking for the day; the person drinking at the tasting does not drive afterwards.
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Route to Brasserie du Boulingrin: about 2.3 km, 31 minutes on foot. Open the route
Day 2 12:30 — Brasserie du Boulingrin
31 rue de Mars, Reims. Book the €27 (checked October 2026) formula advertised by the brasserie, which includes 3 courses, a drink and coffee. The address is in the Boulingrin district, separate from the Saint-Nicaise cellar quarter. Reserve this as lunch on a Monday–Saturday service day.
Official information and booking for Brasserie du Boulingrin.
Next booked address: Faux de Verzy discovery trail, Parking des Faux, Verzy. Use the operator’s arrival directions; a measured transfer time has not been verified for this leg.
Day 3 10:00 — Faux de Verzy discovery trail
Parking des Faux, Verzy. The regional park marks a 3 km discovery loop through the twisted beeches. The Parking des Faux is the direct entrance; the Parking des Pins is another access point. Keep this morning free of tastings while the car is being used.
Official information and booking for Faux de Verzy discovery trail.
Route to Phare de Verzenay: about 2.9 km, 6 minutes by car. Open the route
Day 3 14:00 — Phare de Verzenay
Rue du Phare, Verzenay. The combined lighthouse and museum adult ticket is €9; lighthouse only €3, museum only €8. The lookout is 25 m high. January is closed, with reopening advertised for the first February weekend; this countryside day therefore needs a different museum plan in January.
Next booked address: Mercier, 68 avenue de Champagne, Épernay. Use the operator’s arrival directions; a measured transfer time has not been verified for this leg.
Day 4 10:30 — Mercier
68 avenue de Champagne, Épernay. Leave the car at the accommodation and book Mercier’s 45 minute Founder’s Tour from €25. The cellar visit uses a panoramic lift and driverless train. For a non-drinking adult option, contact Mercier directly; the driver should not assume a tasting ticket is compulsory.
Verified purchases and the unpriced parts
Reims’s specified visit and lunch total €67:Taittinger €40+Boulingrin €27. The Verzenay combined ticket adds €9 on the separate countryside day. Mercier’s entry experience adds €25 on the Épernay day. These listed purchases total €101 per adult, excluding fuel, tolls, crossings, parking, other meals and accommodation. Prices checked October 2026; availability and selected options determine the booking total.
Accommodation for the named base
Search accommodation in Reims through Find stays in Reims ↗. The accommodation directory lists named properties by town; Booking.com supplies the current room terms and dates.
Book the route in this order
Reserve the LeShuttle crossing with the correct vehicle and passenger details, then the Reims and Épernay overnight addresses. Book Taittinger on the parked-car Reims day and Mercier on the Épernay day. The Verzy–Verzenay car day has no Champagne tasting planned before the driving is finished.the house directory to open the actual producer calendar. For this 6-stop route, reserve the paid appointments first, then the named restaurant, transport and accommodation. No 9:00 or 10:30 slot above becomes a ticket until the operator accepts it.
Access on this route
The Phare de Verzenay lookout is reached by 101 steps; the museum-only ticket is a separate €8 product. ONF describes the Faux de Verzy trail as a 3 km accessible circuit with a stony surface. Mercier reserves wheelchair spaces by direct contact with its visitor team.
The crossing and the two Paris-free city days
LeShuttle carries the vehicle between Folkestone and Calais in a published 35 minutes. Its own Reims driving guide describes the onward run as under three hours, but a motorway toll depends on the selected road and vehicle class. The UK departure and French arrival clocks differ by one hour. The itinerary’s Day 1 therefore starts with the booked terminal arrival and crossing time; it does not assume a single fixed door-to-hotel driving duration for every UK starting point.
Reims and Épernay each have a central station, so the parked-car tasting days also have a rail alternative. SNCF’s 24 October 2026 Reims–Épernay examples include 34-minute stopping TER services and one 20-minute direct train. The stopping route calls at Rilly-la-Montagne, Germaine, Avenay and Aÿ-Champagne. The actual date search determines whether that train replaces a car transfer. It supplies no permission for the driver to taste and then collect the vehicle.
What the Verzy route actually is
ONF’s Balade des Faux is a three-kilometre circuit with an indicative duration of one hour thirty minutes. The official access point is Parking des Faux on the RD34 between Verzy and Louvois; the regional park also identifies Parking des Pins as another connection to the forest walk. The route has Tourisme & Handicap recognition for four disability categories. ONF describes a stony surface without a steep gradient, so accessible does not mean a smooth indoor floor.
The regional park counts more than eight hundred twisted beeches in the Verzy forest. The trees are the Faux, not the ordinary straight beeches elsewhere in the woodland. The marked discovery circuit is the named visit on Day 3; the paths through the reserve and the trees’ root areas are not interchangeable shortcuts. ONF also offers the ONF Découvertes application for an offline visit. This forest morning has no producer tasting before the planned drive to Verzenay.
Verzenay: a tower ticket or a museum ticket
The Phare de Verzenay stands on rue du Phare. The lookout rises twenty-five metres and requires 101 steps. Its adult tariffs separate three products: €3 for the lighthouse, €8 for the museum and €9 for both. The tourist-office listing gives an average visit duration of ninety minutes and identifies parking, a picnic area, terrace, shop and tasting space. The Day 3 cost calculation uses the combined €9 ticket, not a glass of Champagne at the tasting counter.
From 1 October to 31 March, the lighthouse operator advertises Tuesday–Sunday opening at 10:30–17:00; from 1 April to 30 September it lists daily opening at 10:00–18:30. January is closed, with reopening on the first February weekend. These are the published October 2026 arrangements. A January road trip can still include the Verzy forest route, but the Phare interior cannot serve as the Day 3 afternoon appointment during that closure.
Épernay after the car is parked
Mercier’s 68 avenue de Champagne visitor entrance is about 1.3 km from Épernay station on the mapped walking route, estimated at eighteen minutes. The official Avenue length is 1.5 km; that street length is not the distance from every car park or hotel. At 46, Boizel’s €40 Millésime visit adds the cellier, vat room and cellars with Brut Réserve and Grand Vintage 2019. That is an alternative paid stop, outside the €99 listed-purchases subtotal.
For an overnight on this walking circuit, Le 25bis is at 25bis avenue de Champagne and A. Bergère’s rooms are at 38–40. The hotel search also lists central Épernay options away from the Avenue. In Reims, Continental Hotel’s 93 place Drouet-d’Erlon address and Hôtel de la Paix’s 9 rue Buirette address serve the central restaurant district. Ask the selected property about its particular parking offer; an address on a pedestrian square is not evidence of a freely accessible private car park.
A house detour that has to replace another appointment
Canard-Duchêne receives visitors at 1 rue Edmond Canard in Ludes, within the Montagne de Reims. The official house account dates its foundation to Victor Canard and Léonie Duchêne in 1868. Ludes is a producer stop distinct from the Verzy woodland and Verzenay lighthouse. To add a tasting here, replace the car-driving afternoon with a booked driver or a non-drinking visit arrangement; the €9 Phare admission in the cost calculation is not a Champagne-house visit.
The Côte des Blancs offers a different road excursion south of Épernay, through Chouilly, Cramant, Avize, Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oiry. Avize’s De Sousa reception is 12 place Léon Bourgeois; Larmandier-Bernier’s is 19 avenue du Général de Gaulle in Vertus. Both need direct appointment arrangements. The PR116 Boucle d’Avize is a separate 9.1 km walking circuit with an indicative three-hour duration, connecting Avize and Cramant. None of these additions is included in the four-day driving route or its listed €99 purchases.
Numbered stops on this itinerary
- Taittinger — 9 place Saint-Nicaise, Reims
- Brasserie du Boulingrin — 31 rue de Mars, Reims
- Faux de Verzy discovery trail — Parking des Faux, Verzy
- Phare de Verzenay — Rue du Phare, Verzenay
- Mercier — 68 avenue de Champagne, Épernay
Map points from OpenStreetMap address data, checked 23 October 2026. Use the booking entrance stated by each operator.
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