The best time to visit Champagne

What is the best month to visit Champagne?

September, for the harvest and golden vines, then June for green slopes and long days. Avoid summer weekends without bookings.

No official body names a best month, so this is our view. September brings the harvest or its tail end, warm afternoons and the first colour in the vines. Early October keeps the colour with fewer people. June has the longest days, flowering vines and pleasant heat for vineyard stops.

July and August are the hottest and busiest months, with an average high around 23 to 24°C (WeatherSpark). Fine, if you book cellar slots and tours early. Winter suits people who want empty cellars and do not mind bare vines.

What is Champagne like month by month?

Cold and quiet from November to March, green and fresh from April to June, warm and busy in July and August, golden and harvest-time from late August to October.

Average highs and lows for Reims from WeatherSpark, with what you see in the vines and at the houses:

December is the wettest month on average. Rain rarely ruins a cellar day, but it can cancel a vineyard walk; the cathedral day's listing says vineyard visits may be dropped in rare bad weather.

When is the Champagne harvest, and can you visit during it?

Usually from late August into September, set village by village. In 2026 it opened on the earliest dates ever recorded. You can visit; the houses stay open.

Champagne is picked by hand. Harvest begins about 90 days after flowering, and the Comité Champagne sets the start date for each village and grape variety (Comité Champagne). Épernay Tourisme gives the usual window as mid-August to mid-September, spread over almost a month. In 2026 the dates, published on 12 August, were the earliest ever observed (L'Info Durable), so by late September most picking was over.

Want to pick? The "Vendangeur d'un jour" experience, run with independent winegrowers, gives you about three hours of picking, a press visit, a cellar visit and a flute of Champagne (Épernay Tourisme). Slots open once the dates are known. More on this year in the 2026 harvest post.

Is winter a good time to visit Champagne?

Yes for the cellars, which stay at about 10°C, and for December events. No for the vineyards, which are bare, and some houses open fewer days.

The Comité Champagne says the region can be visited in any season. The houses trim their calendars: Veuve Clicquot opens Wednesday to Sunday from 30 October; Mumm moves to Thursday to Monday from November and Thursday to Saturday from mid-January to February, with 22 December to 14 January not listed; Pommery closes on 25 December and 1 to 3 January.

December has its reasons to go. Épernay's Habits de Lumière fills the Avenue de Champagne with light shows and Champagne bars on 11 to 13 December 2026, and Reims has a Christmas market of about 150 chalets on the Hautes Promenades (see the Reims Christmas market post). Check which houses are open in the winter opening days post.

How should you dress for a Champagne tour?

In layers, with flat closed shoes. The cellars stay at 8 to 12°C, Pommery has 116 steps, and vineyard paths get muddy. Smart casual is enough.

• A warm layer: a jacket or jumper, even in August. Moët tells visitors to bring warm clothing, and the tour listings say the same.
• Flat shoes with grip: cellar floors are damp and uneven, and Pommery's staircase drops 116 steps to galleries 30 metres down (Reims Tourisme).
• Something for the vines: a vineyard stop after rain means mud. Leave the suede at the hotel.
• Smart casual: nobody dresses up for a house visit, and no house we list sets a dress code.
• Sun and rain: a hat in summer, a light raincoat the rest of the year.

How many days do you need in Champagne?

One full day for one town and two or three producers, which is what a tour from Paris does. Two days for Reims and Épernay at an easy pace.

Épernay Tourisme says one day covers either Reims or Épernay, and two or more covers both (Épernay Tourisme). A day trip from Paris squeezes in both towns plus a grower, at the price of an 11-hour day.

Our advice: one day if Champagne is a side trip from Paris; two if you love the wine, with a night in Épernay or the vineyards; three if you want small growers in the Côte des Blancs as well. Reims or Épernay covers where to stay.

Which days and weeks should you avoid?

Mondays for Veuve Clicquot, the week between Christmas and New Year, and summer weekends without a booking.

Monday is a closed day at Veuve Clicquot, and from late October Tuesday is too. Christmas to early January brings the most closures. Weekends, public holidays and summer are when Épernay Tourisme says booking matters most (Épernay Tourisme).

Tours from Paris run most days, so midweek is the easy win: same price, more cellar slots. The six-glass small group runs daily all year. Every tour here cancels free up to 24 hours before (three days on the private Veuve Clicquot half day), so booking early costs nothing if the weather turns.

Hautvillers in the morning, Pressoria in Aÿ, the Épernay cellars and a tasting among the vines, with a sommelier-guide.

12 to 13 hours

Explore the sommelier-led cellars tour → Tour details

Frequently asked questions