Top 10 things to do in Champagne France without a car

We visited the Champagne region in France without a car. We flew to Paris and took the train from the airport to the train station in the city Reims. Reims is located in the Champagne district.

Top 10 things to do in the Champagne region, without a car

1. Stroll around in the beautiful city of Reims.
We stayed in the centre of the city at the Best Western Premier Hotel de la Paix. It was an ordinary hotel with a great location.
Make sure you book a hotel with air condition if you travel during the summer.  

2. Visit the Champagne houses in Reims. There are many you can visit for a tasting and or a wine cellar tour. Some also show their production.
I recommend that you reserve the tastings and the wine cellar tours in advance. 

My recommendations are:

• Pommery. They have daily tastings and a nice shop to buy some souvenirs to bring back home. I bought some lovely Champagne glasses.
• Champagne Lanson, https://www.lanson.com/index-en.php 
• Champagne Mumm, https://www.mumm.com/fr-fr/
• Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin - Visitors Center, https://www.veuveclicquot.com/en-au/practical-informations
• Champagne Louis Roederer, https://www.louis-roederer.com/fr
• Champagne Taittinger, https://www.taittinger.com/en
• Champagne Krug, https://www.krug.com/
  

3. Visit the Cathedrals in Reims. There is a free light show in the evenings close to one of the Cathedrals.

4. Visit the wine cellars. Reserve a wine cellar tour or two.
Picture from one of of the wine cellar tours

5. Visit the one of the Champagne production sites and the wine yards. You can book a tour in advance.

6. . Take a taxi and go to the nearby town Epernay. We stayed at a lovely small luxurious hotel that had a wonderful garden. The name of the hotel is Au Jeu de Paume, address; 8 Rue du Paulmier. https://www.aujeudepaume.fr/

This hotel was such a nice place to rest after a day on the Avenue de Champagne (the Champagne street).

Make sure you book a hotel with air condition if you travel during the summer. 

7. Visit the Avenue de Champagne in Epernay. There is a street with a lot of the famous Champagne houses. You can visit them for a tasting. I recommend you to reserve the tastings in advance if you have any favorites you would like to visit.

You can visit for example Moët & Chandon, Pol Roger and Eugène Mercier. 

My favorites after the tastings were 

• Moet et Chandon, https://www.moet.com/en-int
• Mercier, https://www.champagnemercier.com/en/legal
• Champagne Boizel - Atelier 1834, https://www.boizel.com/en/
• Champagne Collard-Picard, https://www.champagnecollardpicard.fr/en
• Paul-Etienne Saint Germain, https://www.pauletiennesaintgermain.fr/en/home-champagne-paul-etienne-saint-germain/

8. Take a taxi from Epernay and make a short trip to HAUTVILLERS - the village of DOM PÉRIGNON. This village is the birthplace of Champagne. It is a beautiful small village. You can take a lovely walk, and eat a nice lunch in one of the restaurants and visit the shops. https://en.reims-tourisme.com/visites-guidees-d-hautvillers-village-de-dom-perignon/hautvillers/fmacha051v50iktc

9. Cheese tasting. Buy french cheeses in the supermarket or a food shop and arrange your own cheese tasting, or go to a restaurant and ask them for a selection of their best cheeses.

10. You are very close to Paris so I suggest you end your trip with a day or two days in Paris. Walk around in the beautiful city, and do not miss the Seine and the Eiffel tower. 

Top 10 things to do in Linköping

Top 10 things to do in Linköping

1. The cathedral of Linköping, Linköpings domkyrka, is one of the main attractions in Linköping. It is situated in the middle of the town and easy to access. At the time of the writing of this blog post the opening hours are all days 9-18. But you better check the link below before you visit so it is open. It is located next to the castle of Linköping.
https://www.kyrktorget.se/domkyrkan.linkopinghttps://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link%C3%B6pings_domkyrka

Trip advisor about Domkyrkan, Linköping cathedral

2. Fika. Fika is a popular thing to do in Sweden. We meet with family or friends, drink coffee and eat cookies and the traditional kanelbulle (bun). You can find the best fika in town at:

• Babettes bakery and cafe. This is a very popular cafe for fika or lunch in Linköping close to the Trädgårdstorget square. It is a nice place to meet a friend for a coffee or lunch, read a book or study. They serve locally produced food and focus on quality. Try the vegetarian burger. It is really nice. http://babettes.se/
• Simons rosteri cafe this is also a popular cafe for fika or lunch in the city centre. They focus on making wonderful coffee and home made bread and cookies. It is located on Storgatan pass by the Folke Filbyter statue and walk towards the castle. Simons is on the right side of the street.  http://simonsrosteribageri.se/

3. Gamla Linköping is the old town of Linköping. This is situated a couple of kilometers from the city square. When Linköping was modernized some of the old houses in the city center were moved to this part of Linköping. This i now an open air museum with old shops, cafe, waffle cafe, chocolate shop etc. A nice place to visit with kids, especially the science centre Fenomen museum. No entrance fee. It only takes a few minutes by bus from the city square Stora torget or the train station.

Old town Linköping web site h

Trip advisor about the old town of Linköping.

The Linköping bus time schedule 

Fenomen museum science center for kids

Not far from the old town is Lill-Valla, a large new playground for kids. There is also a mini-zoo with some animals like rabbits to look at. It is within walking distance from Gamla Linköping. No entrance fee.

Website about The playground 

4. After work in Linköping. If you are going for an afterwork in Linköping. You should check out the bars and restaurants on the main square Stora torget in the summer. In the winter restaurant Brasseriet and the Gallo wine bar are very popular places. If you like rock the Mörners bar is the place to visit. And for sports you probably will enjoy the Legends sports bar. If you like beer and smörrebröd (small sandwich) try the beer cafe Backen. All these place are in the city centre and close to the main square Stora torget.  

5. Rent a Kayak, in the summer. You can paddle through Linköping on the Stångån, Kinda kanal, river. Or in one of the lakes close to the town. Contact the Kayak company for more details. There are also a lovely area for walking around Stångån in the middle of town, in the Tinnerö area Östgötaleden and along Kinda kanal in the country side. In Tinnerö you also find places to barbeque. 

6. Enjoy music. There are several concerts every week in Linköping. The symphony orchestra plays classical music and there are also local bands or national artists visiting to perform in Linköping.

Check you the local calendar for this weeks concerts in the Concert house/hall of Linköping

The churches offer a lot of concerts without entrance fee:

Music concert program in the Sankt Lars church, in the city centre, same street as the Forex office

Music concert program in the Domkyrkan, cathedral of Linköping in the city centre.

http://kammarorkestern.linkopingsdomkyrka.se/

https://www.facebook.com/pg/linkopingsdomkyrka/events/?ref=page_internal

https://www.kyrktorget.se/domkyrkoforsamlingen.linkoping

http://domkyrkokoren.linkopingsdomkyrka.se/

7. The farmers market. In the weekends after the summer there are a local farmers market, Bondens marknad, in the city centre. They sell locally produced vegetables, honey, food, cheese, flowers etc. A wonderful place to visit. It is on the square in front on Linköping castle. Close to Domkyrkan. 

If you have a car you can also visit the small producers around Linköping to taste and buy their products. On the west side of Sweden you can make a nice tour by car to visit: Löts mejeri makes cheese, Brunneby musteri makes juices, non-alkoholic cider, marmelads, jam etc and Boställets bageri bakery and cafe in an old stable in the countryside, 

8. Enjoy food. You can enjoy very nice food at:

The best burger is served at Flott restaurant. Close to the main square Stora torget in Linköping.

The best Italian food is served at Le Borgate. A 10-15 of minutes walk from Stora torget. It is located in Övre vasastaden. 

9. Culture. There some museums in Linköping. The Gamla Linköping old town open air museum, The Östergötland museum, Linköping castle museum Linköping slottsmuseeum and the Flygvapenmuseum the air force museum are the most popular ones. In the city centre is the lovely Passagen Art Museum (free entrance). 

There are also many castles in and around Linköping which are nice to visit for a guided tour. The closest by are Ekenäs slott, Bjärka säby slott, Linköping castle. On the way to Bjärka säby slott you can stop for an local produced ice cream at the Stavsätter ice cream production. There is a lake by Bjärka säby where you can swim in the summer and ice skate in the winter.

There is a local theatre Östgötateatern and also music concerts in the music hall which is called Linköping konsert och kongress.

On Storgatan 41 there is a shop called Hemslöjden where you can see and buy local traditional craft. 

10. Wine tasting. There nice wine tastings at some of the restaurants in Linköping. The large wine shop Systembolaget in Linköping also arrange wine tastings every month with special themes. 

Things to do in Linköping with kids or teenagers

If you are visiting Linköping with young kids I also recommend:

• swimming in Linköping simhall in the city centre (entrance fee)
• visit the large playground in the park Trädgårdsföreningen in the city centre (no entrance fee)
• Busfabriken indoors playground or Leos lekland (entrance fee)
• Flygvapenmuseum, outside the city centre, museum with aircraft (entrance fee)
• The kids corner at Östergötlands museum, in the city centre, (entrance fee)
• Bowling at Strandgatan (entrance fee)
• The old town Gamla Linköping (no entrance fee)
• The Lill valla playground (no entrance fee)

If you are looking for activities for older kids and teenagers I can recommend:

• Outdoor go cart (25 minutes from the city centre by car)
• Indoor the Prison island adventure (20 minutes from the city centre by car or 30 by bus), 
• Indoor Laserdome 10-15 minutes walk from Stora torget
• Indoor gocart (15 minutes from the city centre by car or 30 by bus)
• Indoor Escape house (in the middle of the city centre by the square Trädgårdstorget) 
• Outdoor Höghöjdsbanan (20 minutes from the city centre by car or 30 by bus).

Top 10 things to do in Toscana Chianti without a car

Are you visiting Florence or Sienna and want to go on a wine tasting tour without renting a car?
No problem. You can reach the small town Poggibonsi by train from both Sienna and Florence.
This is the perfect place for wine tasting in Chianti without a car.

You can stay at one of the hotels in Poggibonsi and one or two nights up in the hotel in the wine district hills. There are no taxis outside the trains station so chose a hotel close to the train station.
We stayed at hotel Toscana Ambassador. It was a modern hotel and at a very good price.
There are several nice restaurants and small wine bars in Poggibonsi where you can have lunch or dinner.

Ask the hotel reception to pre-book a taxi for your wine tour trip before you trips. There are not many taxis, so you should pre-book. A good taxi in Poggibonsi is Chianti drive. You can reach the taxi driver on +39 333 284 9710. Or email ciappi.stefano@virgilio.it

You should also call the wine estates and pre-book a wine tasting before you trips.

TRAVEL PLAN 

Day 1. 
Arrival in Florence or Sienna and sightseeing.

Day 2. 
Take the train to Poggibonsi from Florence or Sienna. The train costs less than 10 euro single way.
The train takes approximately 1,5 hours from Florence.
Check in at Toscana ambassador hotel.
Address: Via Salceto 11, 53036 Poggibonsi, Italy.

The picture below is from Poggibonsi city centre.

Wine tasting 1
Go for wine tasting at Castello di Monsanto. This wine tasting in a old italian castle is very nice. It costs approximately 20 euro for the wine tasting per person and the taxi costs 20 euro single way.
The wine tasting experience also included an interesting tour of the wine cellar and wine production area. This is approximately 15 minutes by taxi from Poggibonsi.
https://www.tripadvisor.se/Attraction_Review-g616195-d195905-Reviews-Castello_di_Monsanto-Barberino_Val_d_Elsa_Tuscany.html

The pictures below are from Castello di Monsanto.

Wine tasting 2
At walking distance from Castello di Monsanto you can also find another wine estate. If you want to do two wine tastings in the same day. The second wine estate close to Monsanto and on the same road is Castello della Peneretta. This is on walking distance.

A bit further on the same road, for you who like a long walking distance, there are also two more wine estates: Quercia al Poggio and Isole & Olena.

Taxi back to Poggibonsi.
In the evening you can have dinner in one of the many great Italian restaurants in Poggibonsi.

Day 3.
Check out from hotel Toscana ambassador.

Taxi transport and check in to the Hotel Villa San Giorgio.
Address: Località Cinciano, 53036 Poggibonsi, Italy.
The Hotel Villa San Giorgio also has a nice small restaurant.
The taxi costs 25 euro single way.
This is approximately 15 minutes by taxi from Poggibonsi.

Take a walk about 10 minutes from the villa San Georgio to the wine tasting.
Wine tasting at wine estate Fattoria di Cinciano.
Address: Località Cinciano 2, 53036 Poggibonsi, Italy.
Theres is also a nice restaurant for dinner och bistro for lunch.
This place also has a lovely hotel if you prefer to stay here instead of Villa San Giorgio.
The wine tasting costs approximately 10-25 euro per person depending on how many wines you want to taste. Their olive oil is amazing. They sell both wine and olive oil in the wine shop/reception.
The wine tasting experience also included a small tour of the wine cellar and wine production area.

The pictures below are from Fattoria di Cinciano.

Day 4
Take a walk about 10 minutes from the villa San Georgio to the last wine tasting.
Wine tasting at Fattoria Le Fonti. This place has a bit more rural feeling and has no restaurant.
Address:  Loc. Le Fonti, San Giorgio, 53036 Poggibonsi, Italy.
The wine tasting costs approximately 10 euro per person. The wine tasting was free if you buy wine when we were there.

Checkout from San Georgio hotel.
Taxi transport to Poggibonsi train station.

This is the end of your wine tasting in Toscana without a car.

Train back to Florence.

The picture above is from Florence.