Which region, how many days, trains or a driver, when to go and what it costs: how we plan a wine trip in France, from the two of us who do it for a living.
By Emily Erin and Nicolas Fouilleroux
Wine travel in France works differently from Napa, the Barossa or the Yarra Valley. There are few cellar doors open for walk-ins and no shuttle from one winery to the next. French vineyards are a patchwork of villages, abbeys and estates of every size. The person who welcomes you might be the grower, a member of the family or someone who looks after visits, and often you taste in a working cellar.
That is what makes a wine trip here so good, and why it needs planning. Without it, you meet locked cellar doors, trains that do not quite connect and restaurants closed on Mondays. With it, you sit across from the grower, walk villages most visitors never find, and taste bottles you cannot buy at home.
We are in the business of experience, and wine is the crossroads. A glass in France leads you to the family who made it, the village around the cellar, the market and the table, and centuries of history. We build each trip at that crossroads, so the days feel full and easy at once, and they work for everyone travelling, whether or not they love wine as much as you do.
We plan these trips for a living. Emily is an American sommelier who has lived and worked in French wine since 2017: in Paris, for three years in Burgundy, and in Lyon. She holds French Wine Scholar and Bourgogne Master Level and has taught at the Burgundy School of Business. Nicolas holds the WSET Diploma, reached Stage 2 of the Master of Wine programme and teaches WSET courses up to Level 4.
Most of the people we plan for are marking something: an anniversary, a retirement, a milestone birthday. Many have already done Napa or Tuscany and want to see France properly. Travel advisors and agencies also bring us in to design trips for their own clients.
This French wine travel planner is everything we would tell a friend planning their first serious wine trip in France. Use it to plan the trip yourself. If you would rather we plan it with you, the last sections show how that works.
1. Choose your region
Pick one or two regions, not five. France is bigger than it looks on a map, and a week split between Bordeaux, Burgundy and Provence is a week spent mostly in trains.
Some regions sit close enough to share one trip: Lyon, Beaujolais and Burgundy; the Southern Rhône and Provence; Paris, Champagne and the Loire; the Loire with Normandy or Brittany; Burgundy and the Jura; Lyon and Savoie, with the Jura or Beaujolais. Bordeaux pairs well with Paris thanks to the fast train.
| Region | Why go | Combine with | Main grapes | Go deeper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burgundy | The vineyard map the monks drew: climats recognised by UNESCO, with famous villages a few minutes apart | Lyon and Beaujolais to the south, Chablis to the north | Pinot Noir, Chardonnay | Burgundy travel planner and The Burgundy Guide |
| Champagne | Chalk cellars under the grand houses, and growers in the villages above the Marne | Paris, then the Loire | Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier | Champagne |
| Northern Rhône | The birthplace of Syrah, slopes the Romans planted across the river from Vienne, and Condrieu, one of France’s great whites | Lyon, just to the north, and Beaujolais | Syrah, Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne | The Rhône in autumn |
| Beaujolais | Ten crus on granite hills, from Fleurie to Morgon, at Lyon’s door | Lyon and southern Burgundy | Gamay | Lyon in Layers |
| Southern Rhône | Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the popes’ wine town, and village wines from Gigondas to Vacqueyras | Provence | Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre | The Rhône in autumn |
| Provence | Far more than rosé: Bandol reds for ageing, Cassis whites, markets, painters’ villages and the coast | The Southern Rhône | Grenache, Mourvèdre, Cinsault | The Provence Letters |
| Loire Valley | A chain of wine areas along the river: Muscadet, Saumur’s tuffeau cellars, Vouvray and Chinon, Sancerre | Paris, Champagne, Normandy or Brittany | Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc | Ask us |
| Alsace | A border region with French and German history, one wine route along the Vosges and 51 Grand Cru vineyards, with Colmar as a base | Paris, by TGV to Strasbourg | Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer | Ask us |
| Bordeaux | The Médoc’s châteaux, Saint-Émilion’s limestone and a great city to stay in | Paris, about two hours by TGV | Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc | Ask us |
| Jura | Vin Jaune aged under a veil of yeast, Arbois and Château-Chalon, and the dairies of Comté. Best for a second or third wine trip | Burgundy, or Savoie and Lyon | Savagnin, Chardonnay, Poulsard, Trousseau | Ask us |
| Savoie | Alpine vineyards between lakes and mountains, for travellers who want wine and the outdoors together | Lyon, with the Jura or Beaujolais | Jacquère, Altesse, Mondeuse | Ask us |
Burgundy is for travellers who want depth. Its vineyards are divided into climats, small parcels recognised by UNESCO, and a Pinot Noir from Chambolle tastes different from one grown in Nuits-Saint-Georges next door. Do not stop at the Côte d’Or: Chablis and the Côte Chalonnaise are part of the same region, with fewer crowds and gentler prices.
Champagne is the easiest region to add to a Paris trip, about 45 minutes from Paris to Reims by TGV. Grand houses give polished tours. Grower producers in the villages pour wines you will rarely see exported.
The Northern Rhône is where Syrah comes from. The Romans of Vienne planted vines on the steep slopes across the river, where Côte-Rôtie still climbs above Ampuis. Just south, on the same bank, Condrieu makes a white from Viognier that wine lovers travel for. It is close enough to combine with Lyon on the same trip.
The Southern Rhône is a different landscape and a different pace. When the popes moved to Avignon in the 14th century, their summer castle gave Châteauneuf-du-Pape its name, and its vines still grow among large river stones. Around it, Gigondas and Vacqueyras sit under the jagged Dentelles de Montmirail, and Tavel makes a rosé with real structure. Avignon is the natural base, and Provence is close enough to share the same trip.
Provence is the region where wine is one thread among many. Mornings are for markets and olive oil mills, afternoons for the Roman arena in Arles, the theatre in Orange or the light Cézanne painted on Mont Sainte-Victoire above Aix. The coast adds the Calanques between Marseille and Cassis, and on the Riviera, Picasso’s rooms in the Château Grimaldi at Antibes and the monks who still farm vines on Île Saint-Honorat. The wines follow the landscape: Bandol reds, Cassis whites, tiny Palette outside Aix, and rosé that is far more varied than its reputation. It is the easiest region to build around a couple or a family who want more than tastings.
The Loire is best planned by stretch, not as one region. It is a chain of separate wine areas along the river: Muscadet near Nantes and the Atlantic, the tuffeau cellars of Saumur, Vouvray and Chinon around Tours, and Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé far upstream. Pick one or two stretches and a base such as Tours or Saumur. Vouvray can even work as a day trip from Paris: an early TGV reaches Tours in a little over an hour, and the vineyards and their cave cellars are a short drive from the station. The Loire is also where wine sits easily beside châteaux and history: Chambord, Chenonceau, and the house in Amboise where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years. That makes it a natural choice for families and couples who are not all wine people, and an easy region to pair with Normandy or Brittany.
Alsace is one of France’s most underrated wine regions, and one of the richest. French and German in turn, it carries that history in its villages, its food and its wines, which are labelled by grape, rare in France. One wine route runs along the Vosges, with 51 Grand Cru vineyards and half-timbered villages such as Riquewihr and Eguisheim minutes apart. Expect dry Riesling built to age and serious Crémant. Colmar is the easiest base, a TGV ride from Paris. If you are coming for wine, skip the December Christmas markets: the crowds and traffic are enormous.
The Jura sits just east of Burgundy and is one of the most rewarding regions in France for people who already know wine. Its signature is Vin Jaune, made from Savagnin and aged for more than six years under a veil of yeast, with flavours of walnut and spice that nothing else tastes like. Around Arbois, where Louis Pasteur grew up, small growers also make light reds from Poulsard and Trousseau, and the same farms feed the cows behind Comté. We would not choose it for a first wine trip in France, but it is an easy and memorable addition to Burgundy, or to a route through Lyon and Savoie.
Savoie is the region for combining wine with nature. Vineyards climb the slopes around Chambéry and above the Lac du Bourget, with Annecy close by, and the wines are fresh Alpine whites from Jacquère and Altesse and peppery reds from Mondeuse. Days can mix a tasting with a lake swim, a mountain walk or a table of Beaufort and Reblochon. It is an easy reach from Lyon, and we have built trips that join Lyon and Savoie with the Jura or Beaujolais.
2. How many days you need
Give each region at least two full days on the ground, plus a travel day between regions. Two producer visits a day is the right pace: a morning visit, a long lunch, an afternoon visit. Three is possible, but by the third you stop tasting and start drinking.
| Trip length | What fits |
|---|---|
| 1 day | A day trip from Paris to Champagne or to Vouvray in the Loire, or from Lyon to Beaujolais or the Northern Rhône |
| 3 days | One region done properly: Burgundy from Beaune, Alsace from Colmar, Bordeaux from the city, or the Southern Rhône from Avignon |
| 5 days | Neighbouring regions, such as southern Burgundy, the Northern Rhône and Beaujolais from Lyon, or the Southern Rhône and Provence from Avignon |
| 7 days | A route through three to four regions, such as Lyon, the Rhône and Provence, or Paris, Champagne and the Loire |
| 10 days or more | Two parts of France joined by a travel day: Paris and Bordeaux by fast train, the Loire with Normandy or Brittany, Burgundy and Lyon followed by the Southern Rhône and Provence, or Lyon with the Alpine vineyards and lakes of Savoie |
Leave at least one afternoon empty. The best moments on a wine trip are often the ones nobody planned: a market, a long lunch, a grower who says “come and see the cellar”.
3. Where to base yourself and how to get around
By train to the regional hub, then by car or with a driver.
Take the train to a regional hub, then use a car or a driver from there. France looks compact on a map, but a tucked-away domaine in the Côte de Nuits or a vineyard above Cassis is a long way from any station.
| Base | For | Reach it by |
|---|---|---|
| Paris | Champagne as a day trip, the Loire, and Bordeaux by fast train | Any international flight |
| Reims or Épernay | Champagne’s houses and grower villages | TGV from Paris |
| Tours or Saumur | The middle Loire: Vouvray, Chinon, Saumur and the châteaux | Train from Paris |
| Beaune or Dijon | Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, and Chablis on the way from Paris or Champagne | TGV to Dijon, then regional train to Beaune (Paris to Burgundy by train) |
| Lyon | Beaujolais, the Northern Rhône and southern Burgundy | TGV, including direct from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport |
| Colmar | The Alsace wine route and its Grand Cru villages | TGV from Paris |
| Avignon | The Southern Rhône: Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Tavel | TGV |
| Aix-en-Provence or the coast | Provence: Bandol, Cassis, Palette and the Riviera | TGV to Aix or Marseille |
| Bordeaux | The Médoc, Saint-Émilion and the city itself | TGV from Paris |
Not sure where to land? Our guide to the best airport for a French wine trip compares the options. For where to sleep in Burgundy, see where to stay in Burgundy.
By train
The TGV is the backbone of wine travel in France. In under two hours from Paris you can be in Dijon, Reims or Lyon. From Charles de Gaulle you can take a fast train straight to Lyon, a good place to start a wine trip, without going into Paris at all.
Book directly through the SNCF Connect app or website. Third-party resellers add fees and make changes harder.
By car
Do not rent a car in Paris. Take the train to Dijon, Lyon, Avignon or Bordeaux and pick up the car there. A car gives you freedom to stop in villages and linger over a market lunch.
France has strict drink-driving laws, and tasting is the point of the trip. If nobody wants to spit, hire a driver so everyone can relax. We arrange drivers for most of our clients.
With a private driver
A private driver changes a wine trip more than any other choice. Nobody has to stay sober, nobody hunts for parking in a village square, and the day runs to the minute, so you arrive at each cellar on time.
This is how we organise drivers for our clients:
- Local drivers we know. We work with the same drivers in Champagne, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Provence and the Rhône, people who know the back roads and the growers’ courtyards. For groups, that means a comfortable van with room for the boxes you buy.
- Door to door. Pickup at your hotel, a TGV station such as Reims or Épernay, or inside the arrivals hall at Charles de Gaulle with your name on a board.
- A written brief. Every driver receives the day in writing before you arrive: pickup times, each address, the lunch table and who to call. You never have to translate directions.
- Drivers drive, guides guide. A driver gets you there. On a private wine day, the guiding and introductions come from one of us or a certified wine professional from our team.
- The evenings too. In wine towns such as Beaune, we book the short ride to dinner and back, so the last glass is not a decision.
On a private wine day the driver is included. With travel design we choose and book the driver for you, and you pay them directly.
4. When to go
For a first trip, go in spring or late autumn. Producers have time for you, restaurants are open and the crowds are thin. The vineyards live by the seasons, and so should your plan.
What our own bookings show. Of the 105 trips we have designed or guided from 2022 to the trips already booked for 2027, September and October account for 46 and April to June for 33. July and August have 11, and November to March only 15. The busy autumn and spring weeks are when cellars, tables and drivers fill first, so book them three months ahead or more. For quieter cellars and more time with growers, look at March, early April, November and December.
| Season | What you get | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Spring (March to June) | Budburst, markets full of asparagus and strawberries, producers who usually have time to talk | Easter and other holidays, when some domaines close. A busy time for tourism, so book ahead |
| Summer (July and August) | Long days, lavender in Provence, sunflowers in the Loire | Heat, crowds, and small domaines closed for the August holidays |
| Harvest (September and October) | The energy of the vendanges. Small producers are harder to visit, but it is a wonderful time to be here | Small growers are picking and rarely host visitors |
| Late autumn (October and November) | The Hospices de Beaune auction weekend, truffle season in Provence and the Rhône. The best time to come | Book Beaune hotels months ahead for auction weekend |
| Winter (December to February) | Quiet cellars, Saint-Vincent festivals in Burgundy, Wine Paris in February | Closures over Christmas and the February school holidays |
Harvest, honestly. Everyone dreams of the vendanges. But small growers spend those weeks in the vines from dawn to dusk, and a leisurely tasting is the last thing they can offer. Larger estates may still welcome you, and with the right introductions you can glimpse the harvest. Do not build a whole trip around it.
Winter is our quiet favourite. In January, Burgundy’s Saint-Vincent festival fills a different village each year with processions, tastings and long meals. It is the opposite of a tourist event. Winter does need care: some domaines, restaurants and hotels close for weeks at a time, and it varies by region and by year. We check what is open before we build your days, so a quiet season never means a closed door. See our guide to off-season wine travel in France.
5. How to book producer visits
Almost every visit in France is by appointment, and most need booking weeks ahead. Wine tourism is not the main business for most French producers: many sell everything they make to importers and long-standing clients. Understanding that is the key to a good visit, and our piece on how French wine tourism differs from what you may know at home explains the culture behind it.
| Type of producer | What the visit is like | How to book |
|---|---|---|
| Small family domaine | You may be welcomed by the grower, a family member or whoever looks after visits that day, usually in a working cellar. Less polish, more conversation | Appointment essential, often by email or through an introduction |
| Medium-sized estate | Someone looks after visitors, with a structured tasting and a cellar tour | Book a few weeks ahead |
| Large house | Visitor centre, multilingual staff, set tasting programmes | Book online, often weeks ahead in high season |
In Burgundy, where demand for the wines far exceeds supply, many sought-after domaines have little reason to host casual visitors. Doors open more easily when you arrive with context and an introduction from someone they know.
How far ahead. For private wine days with us, book six to eight weeks ahead at minimum. For a fully designed trip, allow two to three months so we can secure appointments with producers who fill quickly. Summer and harvest need more time.
Etiquette that matters
- Always start with bonjour. It sets the tone for everything after.
- Arrive on time, or a few minutes early.
- Let the host set the pace. A tasting is a conversation, not a checklist.
- Spit if you are driving or have more visits ahead. Nobody will mind.
- No French? Patience and a little effort go a long way. We are here for you.
For more, read our tips for wine tours in Burgundy.
6. What a wine trip in France costs
A designed trip is priced by the day, not by the visit. Travel design starts from €750 a day: we choose and book every producer appointment, table, driver and hotel in your name, write your trip document and stay on hand while you travel. A private wine day adds one of us, or a certified wine professional from our team, beside you from the first cellar to the last. On your own, tasting fees are modest: a visit may be free at one domaine and €150 at the next with a lunch.
| Item | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Travel design with us | From €750 per day, everything designed and booked in your name |
| Private wine day with us, home regions | €800 to €950 per person (Beaujolais, Burgundy, Northern Rhône) |
| Private wine day with us, other regions | €1,100 per person (Champagne, Provence, Bordeaux, Alsace) |
| Planning call with us | €99 for one hour, credited to any service you book |
| Producer visit and tasting on your own | Free to around €50 per person |
Our private wine days include a certified wine professional for the full day, a private driver, two producer visits with tastings and all the day’s logistics. Meals, hotels and gratuities are paid separately. Full details are on our services and pricing page.
For ways to spend less, read how to save money on a wine trip in France.
7. Sample routes
These are the kinds of trips we design, told as what the days feel like rather than as a schedule. The order, the tables and the producers stay in each client’s own trip design, because those introductions are what the trip is built on. The most common mistake we see is trying to do too much, so every trip leaves room for meals, culture and time to wander, and each one is shaped around the people travelling.
Reims, Épernay and the Marne villages: one day from Paris
An easy day from Paris that shows both sides of Champagne: the polish of a grand house and its chalk cellars, the Avenue de Champagne in Épernay, the hillside village of Hautvillers where Dom Pérignon worked, and a family grower farming the same slopes for generations. Lunch is long, on a terrace above the Marne with a glass of blanc de blancs.
More in our Champagne guide.
Beaune and the Côte d’Or: three days in Burgundy
Three days are enough to taste how much a few hundred metres change a wine. Meursault and Pommard show how clay and limestone shape Chardonnay and Pinot Noir village by village. The Côte de Nuits brings domaines built around farming rather than visitors, a Cistercian abbey and the vineyard map the monks drew, and a picnic among the UNESCO climats. Beaune holds it together: the market, the old town, and a domaine where you hear first-hand why a barrel or a picking date was chosen.
This is the Burgundy we know best. See how we work as your Burgundy travel planner, or read our two-day Burgundy itinerary.
Lyon, the Northern Rhône and southern Burgundy: six days
Six days of the wine country around Lyon. Les Halles and a bouchon in the city; the steep Syrah slopes of Côte-Rôtie and the Viognier of Condrieu; Gamay on granite in Beaujolais, far more serious than the Nouveau suggests; Chardonnay in the Mâconnais and Pouilly-Fuissé; and the Côte Chalonnaise, the part of Burgundy most people drive past, before Beaune and the Côte de Beaune.
Plan the Lyon days with Lyon in Layers.
Lyon to the Mediterranean along the Rhône: seven days
The Rhône from Lyon to the sea in a week. Côte-Rôtie, where some vines are so steep they are worked by winch, and Condrieu, where Viognier has to be picked at exactly the right moment. Further south, Châteauneuf-du-Pape on its river stones and smaller appellations such as Vacqueyras and Lirac (see the Rhône in autumn). Provence finishes it: whites in Cassis with the fish they were made for, and Bandol, where Mourvèdre makes reds built for decades.
Want one of these shaped around your dates? We will design it with you.
8. Do you need a French wine travel planner?
Not always. Plenty of people plan a good wine trip in France on their own, and this guide is written so you can.
You can plan it yourself if you are visiting one region, you are happy with larger houses and a few booked tastings, someone in the group is glad not to drink, and you enjoy the research as part of the trip.
A planner earns their fee if it is your first serious wine trip, you want small family domaines that do not take bookings from the public, you are crossing two or more regions, you are travelling for a milestone and cannot afford a wasted day, or nobody wants to drive.
The real value is access, judgement and how the days feel. We know which growers welcome visitors and when, which tables are worth the detour, and how to build days that flow instead of rush. We also help you choose bottles, collect them from each cellar and ship them home together, so one delivery arrives at your door.
Our growers open their doors because of relationships built over years. We take no commission on the wine you buy, so every visit is chosen for the experience, and for the people behind it.
9. How we plan a trip with you
We work three ways, and many clients combine them.
- Travel design. We design your trip day by day and book it in your name: producers, tables, drivers and hotels, with support while you travel.
- Private wine days. One of us is with you all day, guiding, translating and introducing you to growers we know personally.
- A planning call. One hour on your dates, regions and interests, with a written summary afterwards. You book everything yourself.
From first conversation to your trip:
- Start a conversation. Send us your dates and what you hope to taste, or book a planning call if you would like to talk it through first.
- Receive your proposal. Service options, pricing and a first outline of the itinerary.
- Confirm with a deposit. We start booking producers, restaurants and transport.
- We build your trip. Producer appointments, tables, drivers and a welcome call before you arrive, with a complete trip document.
- Final details. The balance is due 30 days before the trip, and meeting points are confirmed the week before.
Ready to start? Tell us your dates and what you hope to taste, and we will send you a first outline.
Not planning yet? Join our newsletter for new routes and seasonal notes from the regions. Or book a planning call as a smaller first step.
10. Questions we hear every week
What is the best wine region in France for a first trip?
Burgundy if you love detail and history, Champagne if you have only a day or two from Paris, and the Rhône or Provence if you want wine, food and sunshine in equal measure.
How many wineries can you visit in a day?
Two is the right number, three at most. Visits in France often last an hour or more, and a long lunch is part of the day.
Can I visit French wineries without an appointment?
Rarely. A few large houses and village caves take walk-ins, but most domaines, especially small ones, need an appointment booked in advance.
Do I need a car for a wine trip in France?
Not to reach the regions: the TGV gets you to Dijon, Reims, Lyon, Avignon and Bordeaux. Between villages you need a car or a driver.
When is the best time for a wine trip in France?
Spring and late autumn. Harvest sounds romantic, but small growers are too busy to host, and August brings closures.
How far in advance should I plan?
Two to three months for a full trip, six to eight weeks at minimum for a private wine day, and more for summer, harvest or the Hospices de Beaune weekend in November.
How much does a French wine travel planner cost?
With us, travel design starts from €750 a day, private wine days run from €800 to €1,100 per person depending on the region, and a planning call is €99.
One letter a month from French wine country
Written from the regions, no filler
