The short version
- Cognac has no TGV. From Paris Montparnasse the fast trains reach Angoulême in about 2 hours, 13 direct a day from 6:06, and the TER on to Cognac takes 40 minutes, 11 a day; the 6:06 puts you in Cognac at 9:53. The last way home with a fast train is the 18:25 from Cognac, in Paris at 22:02.
- Our Cognac Day Tour builds the day around upgraded visits at two of the three great houses, Hennessy, Martell and Rémy Martin: the Paradis cellar and a private tasting at Hennessy, blending and bottling your own cognac at Martell, the founders’ cellars at Rémy Martin, with the pair set by the day of the week and the season before your card is charged, $575 per person, eight guests at most, rail arranged on request.
- Every house wants a booking. Hennessy, on the quay across the river with a boat crossing from April, runs visits from €25 and opens Wednesday to Saturday only from November 1 to December 18. Rémy Martin’s two-hour Anniversary visit is €35, Monday to Saturday, by reservation. Martell, ten minutes from the station, starts at €25 and keeps Tuesday to Saturday hours in winter. Tastings are for adults; children walk the cellars free or at a child rate.
- The Château de Cognac, where François I was born in 1494 and Baron Otard has aged cognac since 1795, is €25 for the Renaissance rooms and the riverside cellars, daily from May to December. The Musée des Savoir-faire du Cognac on the ramparts explains the vineyard and the stills for €6, Tuesday to Sunday afternoons; the walls of the old town are black with the fungus that lives on the evaporating angels’ share.
- The vineyard covers some 87,000 hectares in six crus, with Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne the two that age longest. By the official rules, a VS has spent at least two years in oak, a VSOP four, an XO ten and an XXO fourteen. The harvest runs from mid-September to mid-October and the stills work through the winter to a March 31 deadline, which is when the distillery visits run.
- The Fête du Cognac fills the Parc François-1er with concerts, melon, oysters and six bars from July 21 to 24, 2027, and Cognac Blues Passions plays the town and Jarnac from June 30 to July 3. The tourist office is at 48 boulevard Denfert-Rochereau, Monday and Wednesday to Saturday 9:30 to 17:30 in winter, Tuesday mornings only.
What to see
Hennessy, founded by an Irish officer in 1765, is the big one: the visits start on the Quai Richard Hennessy in the old town, cross the Charente by boat from April to November, and go through the historic cellars to a tasting. The Initiation is €25 for an hour and a half with the V.S and the V.S.O.P, the Immersive Initiation €35 with the X.O, the Prestige €60, and the private Paradis and Richard tours €330 and €550, with the Founder’s Cellar and canapés. In autumn the doors are open Monday to Saturday; from November 1 to December 18 it is Wednesday to Saturday, closed November 11 and December 24 and 25, and in 2026 the house shut for the whole of February.
Rémy Martin has made Fine Champagne cognac, Grande and Petite Champagne grapes only, since 1724, and its historic house on rue de la Société-Vinicole is a seven-minute walk from the station: the Anniversary visit, two hours with the Isly and Francis cellars, the V.S.O.P and the X.O with small bites, is €35, Monday to Saturday, reservation required; the Louis XIII introductions start at €300. Martell, the oldest of the great houses, founded in 1715 by Jean Martell from Jersey, is ten minutes from the station on the avenue that carries the family name: Discovery visits at €25 and €35, the Savoir-Faire at €75 where you bottle your own 20-centiliter flask, and the Heritage at €290 with a blending workshop and the Chanteloup XXO, two people minimum. The Fondation Martell in the old bottling plant has the Indigo rooftop bar.
The Château de Cognac on boulevard Denfert-Rochereau is the house with the history: the room where François I was born, the Renaissance vaults, and the damp cellars by the river where Baron Otard and D’Ussé age. At the Heart of the Château is €25, Cellar Secrets €75 with three Otards, Royal Flavours €380 with a chef in the king’s apartments. The smaller houses are the winter fallback: Meukow pours three cognacs for €12 on weekdays all year, Bache-Gabrielsen opens free by appointment Monday to Friday, Camus runs May to September only. Jarnac, nine minutes by TER, has Courvoisier, Hine, Delamain and the house where François Mitterrand was born, €8.
The town itself takes an hour on foot: the rue Grande from the half-timbered Maison de la Lieutenance, Saint-Léger with its zodiac carved around the door, the two towers of the Porte Saint-Jacques on the quay, which open on winter weekends for a guided climb, the seven-hectare Jardin public and the king on his horse on place François-1er. The two town museums, the Savoir-faire on the ramparts and the merchant’s house by the park, are €6 each or €9 for both, closed Monday. From July to October La Demoiselle, a flat-bottomed boat, does two hours on the Charente for €10.
Drink pineau first, the Charentes aperitif of three parts grape must to one of cognac, an AOC since 1945, cold with melon in summer. Then the cognac neat in a tulip glass, or long with tonic as the houses now pour it. Eat cagouilles, the small snails stewed in wine and garlic, grillons, the coarse pork rillettes, Marennes oysters with Charentes butter, and a galette charentaise or a tourteau fromager from the market.
Getting there and around
The direct TGVs leave Paris Montparnasse for Angoulême at 6:06, 6:52, 10:04, 14:14, 16:15 and on into the evening, 2 hours to 2 hours 20; one OUIGO does it in 1 hour 41 at 13:44, and the OUIGOs from Austerlitz and Massy take far longer. The TER to Cognac leaves Angoulême at 9:15, 10:40, 12:40, 14:05, 16:44 and 17:44, 40 minutes on the fast ones and 1 hour 09 on the stopping ones. Coming back, the TER leaves Cognac at 16:30, 17:27, 18:25 and 20:25; the 18:25 meets the 19:16 TGV into Paris at 22:02, and the 20:25 the last OUIGO, in Paris at 23:22. Bordeaux is 1 hour 29 with a change, 13 trains a day. By road Cognac is 465 kilometers from Paris and an hour and a half from Bordeaux.
From Cognac station Rémy Martin is seven minutes on foot and Martell ten; the old town, the museums and the Porte Saint-Jacques are a short walk beyond, and Hennessy’s visits start on the quay in the center. The Château sits at the far end of boulevard Denfert-Rochereau, five minutes by car. The Transcom buses are €1 a ride and €3 a day, Monday to Saturday only, with line E to Rémy Martin’s production site at Merpins; there are e-bikes at the station and no taxi rank fares published. Jarnac is one stop on the TER.
The visits are the schedule. Hennessy says online booking is advised and walk-ins depend on what is left; Rémy Martin takes reservations only; Martell books by email or phone. Each of the main visits runs an hour and a half to two hours, so with the 9:53 arrival and the 18:25 train home a day holds two houses and a walk, not three. On Sundays Rémy Martin and the buses stop, and in winter Hennessy drops to four days a week.
Our days carry the bookings. The Cognac Day Tour sets the two houses for your date. The Hennessy private tours are $315 for the Paradis and $635 for the Richard; the Rémy Martin visits run from $130 to the Louis XIII day at $1,250; the Martell Heritage blending workshop is $260. The five-day Bordeaux and Cognac trip, from $2,450 per person, sleeps at Chais Monnet or La Nauve in Cognac with a private tour of the Château; the three-day private Bordeaux and Cognac trip, $2,325, does Cognac as a van day from a Bordeaux hotel.
When to go
The Charente is Atlantic country: mild wet winters, warm summers, and cellars that stay cool in any month, so bring a layer. The harvest runs from mid-September into October, the stills fire from then until the March 31 deadline, and that is when the distillery visits run: Hennessy’s from October to February, and the Ban de la Distillation opens working distilleries on a weekend in late October.
May to October is when everything is open: the Hennessy boat from April, La Demoiselle on the river from July, Courvoisier’s standard visit from April 3 to October 2, 2027, Camus from May to September, the Château from May to December. The Fête du Cognac is July 21 to 24, 2027, and Blues Passions June 30 to July 3; the Salon des Métiers d’art fills the town from December 11 to 23, 2026, and the Grande Champagne villages hold their food fair at Segonzac on February 5 to 7, 2027.
Plan around the closed days: Hennessy Wednesday to Saturday only from November 1 to December 18, closed November 11, December 24 and 25, and in 2026 all of February; Rémy Martin on Sunday; Martell on Sunday and Monday in low season; the museums on Monday; the Porte Saint-Jacques on weekdays in winter; and every bus on Sunday. A Sunday in winter is the day to avoid.
Our Cognac day runs all year except Christmas, New Year and July 14, with the pair of houses set by what is open on your date; the private Hennessy, Rémy Martin and Martell visits follow each house’s calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cognac a day trip from Paris?
Yes, with the first train. The 6:06 TGV from Montparnasse and the 9:15 TER from Angoulême put you in Cognac at 9:53; the 18:25 back connects to a TGV into Paris at 22:02. That window holds two house visits and the old town. Our day uses it, with the two houses booked and the rail arranged if you want it.
Can you visit the cognac houses without booking?
Not the big three. Hennessy advises booking online and takes walk-ins only when places are left; Rémy Martin is reservation only; Martell books by email or phone. The smaller houses are easier: Meukow on weekdays for €12, Bache-Gabrielsen by appointment. On our day the two visits are booked and confirmed before you pay.
Hennessy, Rémy Martin or Martell?
Hennessy for the scale, the boat across the river and the Paradis cellar; Rémy Martin for the Fine Champagne story and the Louis XIII; Martell for blending and bottling your own. A train day fits two of them; tell us your preference and the day of the week decides the rest. John’s own answer is Rémy Martin.
What do VS, VSOP and XO mean?
Minimum ages in oak, set by law: two years for VS, four for VSOP, ten for XO and fourteen for XXO, counted from the end of distillation. Napoléon sits between VSOP and XO. Fine Champagne on a label means the grapes came from the Grande and Petite Champagne crus only.
Is there a tour from Paris?
Yes. Our Cognac Day Tour is $575 per person for upgraded visits at two of the three great houses, eight guests at most, year-round except Christmas, New Year and July 14. We also book the Hennessy, Rémy Martin and Martell visits on their own, and the five-day Bordeaux and Cognac trip sleeps two nights in Cognac from $2,450 per person.
Our Most Popular Day Trips From Paris
Cellar tours at Rémy Martin, from the entry tasting up to the Louis XIII Experience.
Four nights split between Bordeaux and Cognac. See both regions properly.
