How to Plan a Champagne Wine Tour – Tips and Advice

Is there any wine region more famous than Champagne? This is debatable, of course, as there are several regions that could fit that bill. But at the end of the day, Champagne is one of the most popular regions for wine in the world, and it is easy to see why- producers here make the world's best sparkling wine!

If you are planning a trip to Champagne, there are many things you may want to consider before you go. We've got you covered in this guide with tips from our visit!

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Where to Stay in Champagne for Wine Tasting – A Big Region

When planning our trip to Champagne, we have to admit we didn't kow where exactly we wanted to make our base. This famous region has wineries all over that we would've happily booked a tasting, so planning where to stay in Champagne required some extra thought.

Although we settled on Epernay primarily for a small town feel and easier access to some of the Champagne houses we actually booked, we could've just as easily booked a stay in Reims or any number of other small towns nearby.

So in this one, we wanted to talk about planning logistics for Champagne and how that impacts where you may ultimately want to stay!

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Where to Stay in Alsace for Wine Tasting – Strasbourg or Colmar?

If you are planning a trip to go wine tasting in Alsace, you will likely be thinking about where to make your base, as the region itself is quite large.

We went back and forth on whether we wanted to stay in Strasbourg, in the north, the smaller city of Colmar, to the south, or find an even smaller town somewhere in between. We were visiting both in tandem with Christmas markets during the holidays (which have special considerations we'll get into later), and really struggled with the best choice of where to stay.

Ultimately, we settled on Colmar, and we were quite glad that we did- it was the perfect location for wine tasting and Christmas markets!

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Where to Stay in the Douro Valley for Wine Tasting

If you're planning a wine trip to the Douro Valley, odds are good one of the earliest questions will be about where to stay.

The good news is that the Douro Valley has numerous options for all budgets and interests. The bad news is that the Douro Valley is, in a word, massive, and driving around the steep patamares can be quite challenging and, just as important, time consuming.

So in this one, we want to take a look at some considerations for choosing where to stay in the Douro Valley!

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Where to Stay in Napa and Sonoma – Drive Times Add Up

When it comes to planning a wine trip to Napa and Sonoma, you'll naturally come across one very important question- where do you stay?

The good news is that these two counties have no shortage of options, most of which are easily accessible to just about any winery in either county in 30 to 75 minutes (or a bit more). The bad news is, that may make figuring out where to stay harder, not easier, as you can almost stay just about anywhere and have a great time.

So in this one, let's break down more details on what you should consider when planning on where to stay in Napa and Sonoma for a wine trip, and share why keeping the drive times and hotel prices in mind may be the most important factors!

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Where to Stay in the Finger Lakes for Wine Tasting

To call the Finger Lakes region sprawling is an understatement. The twelve lakes in the region span a length of about 60 miles as the crow flies, and the rural back roads that loop each lake can make for some considerable driving time when exploring.

It is due to this reason that being strategic in where you stay can make or break a trip as drive times can add up before you know it.

Thankfully, for those who are visiting for wine, odds are good you'll be clustering your visit to the 100+ wineries located on just three lakes, Cayuga, Seneca, and Keuka. While this helps with planning to some degree, the simple truth is that between driving to (and around) these lakes can still mean a lot of car time.

So, how do you plan where to stay in order to get the most out of your visit? We have some thoughts!

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Where to Stay in Sicily for Wine Tasting – Etna and More

If you're planning a trip to Sicily, you must allocate some time to go wine tasting. The island is home to some of the world's best wines, and, as a wine blog, we'd be remiss if we didn't advocate for visiting wineries as much as your time allows.

So, where do you stay in Sicily if you want to go wine tasting?

Well, we have good news, more good news, and a bit of bad news. The first good news? There are wineries all over Sicily. The better news? They're often easily accessible from most major tourist towns and cities via a rental car. The bad news? The wine is so good, particularly around Mount Etna, that you also should plan to spend a bit of time in the heart of it all (so, we suppose, it is only bad news for those who may be short on time, like I was on my first trip).

So in this one, we thought we'd take a dive into where you may want to stay when exploring Sicily's wine scene and take a more focused look at the logistics of exploring the Etna region in earnest.

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How to Plan a Wine Tasting in Sicily – Tips and Advice

There really is something special about Sicily. This Italian island in the Mediterranean has just about everything- beautiful landscapes, incredible food, and, of course, even better wine.

It is because of this (and more) that Sicily draws us back again and again. I've visited the country on immersive visits twice, and am already planning a third because no matter how much time you spend on the island, it never seems to be enough.

So let's dive down into how to plan a trip for wine tasting in Sicily- what you can try, where you should go, where you should stay, and what else there is to do outside of tasting wine!

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How to Plan a Wine Tour in Piedmont – Tips and Advice

If you're like us, your first thoughts when it comes to booking a wine tour in Piedmont is all about Barolo. Arguably one of the most famous wines in the world, and the most acclaimed Nebbiolo on the planet, Barolo has lifted Piedmont's reputation as a fine wine producing region to the likes of Burgundy and Napa in recent decades.

But Piedmont wineries offer far more than fine, ageable Barolo and produce numerous grapes, styles of wine, and in many regions spread throughout Piedmont as a whole.

So in this Piedmont wine region guide we wanted to take a look at the wine region overall, the grapes and wines produced, give tips for planning a visit, share highly rated wineries you may want to visit, and more!

If you're planning a trip to Piedmont to go wine tasting, this guide is for you!

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Where to Stay in the Piedmont Wine Region for a Tasting Trip

If you are considering visiting Piedmont on an upcoming trip to go wine tasting, the odds are good you may be wondering where to stay.

Not only are there several great wine regions to explore, Barolo, Barbaresco, Dogliani, Asti, and more, but there are also several villages within each you may want to consider as a possible base.

While we cannot tell you what wine region is the best to stay in as that may depend heavily on your ideal itinerary (we were Barolo heavy ourselves), we can give some broad thoughts on where to stay in Piedmont in several categories based on your interests.

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