Best Chateaux in the Loire Valley, France

The Loire Valley has long been famed as the perfect day trip from Paris. Known as the Garden of France, the Loire Valley is full of rolling fields and orchards. With more than 300 chateaux, the Loire Valley is the perfect place to visit if you want to see an abundance of castles in France.

I was worried about getting castle fatigue while visiting the Loire Valley castles. Happily, I was proven wrong. Each chateau offered a totally different experience. I would have visited more chateaux in the Loire Valley if I had time. To experience the best of the Loire Valley, this is the perfect destination for a short road trip from Paris and can easily be done in a weekend. Read on for the best Loire castles I visited and advice on how to best explore the Loire Valley.

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How to Visit the Loire Valley

Using a Rental Car

I visited the Loire Valley as part of a road trip, you can read about my Loire and Normandy itinerary here. Renting a car in Paris and driving to the Loire Valley is going to give you the most flexibility in exploring the Loire Valley. If you have the time to spare, it’s definitely worth spending a few nights.

I used Discover Cars to find the best deal on a car as I could easily compare between prices for local and international rental companies.

By Hot Air Balloon

From Amboise, there are hot air balloon rides that will take you over either Chennonceau or Villandry castle. It’s definitely a bit of a splurge but a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see the Loire Valley from above.

Tours from Paris to Loire Valley Chateaux

If you don’t want to rent a car or only have time for a day trip, consider joining a day tour of the Loire Valley. It would be best to book these before your trip as they do fill up. This tour of the Loire Valley from Paris looks amazing as you get to view three chateaus and includes lunch.

Tours from Amboise to Visit Chateaux

You can also get the train to Amboise and then join tours from there to see the chateaux. If you are staying in Amboise, this tour takes in Chenonceau and Chambord, while this tour takes in Villandry and two other chateaus.

If bus tours don’t appeal to you, some chateaus are reachable using bikes. Chateau Chenonceau can be reached by bike and is only a 3-hour loop of biking from Amboise.

When to Visit Chateaus in the Loire Valley

I visited in late summer and had fantastic weather and found that it wasn’t too crowded. For the best experience in the Loire Valley visit in spring (April-June) and Autumn (September-October). It gets very hot during summer (July-August) so it won’t be as nice to explore the gardens of the chateaus.

How Long to Spend in the Loire Valley, France

While it is possible to visit and see some castles of the Loire Valley on a day tour, I highly recommend spending at least one night in the area. There are so many different chateaux to see and the area is perfect for spending a couple days leisurely driving around and enjoying the relaxing pace of the countryside.

Best Places to Stay in the Loire Valley

Amboise

Amboise was the perfect town to base in for visiting the Loire Valley. It’s close to some of the most famous chateaux including Chenonceau and Chambord as well as a reasonable distance to others. The town also has its own impressive chateau and lots of dining options. Great experience staying in this smaller town.

I stayed at Hôtel Le Blason which was perfectly placed in Amboise to walk to the local sights. It’s a great budget hotel and I would stay there again. The downside is that not all rooms have AC.

Here are some alternative places to stay that will suit any budget:

Shoestring: Hotel Lanex is affordable, walking distance to everything, has AC and includes a buffet continental breakfast.
Budget: Chaptal Hotel looks affordable, centrally located and has great reviews for being quiet and having AC.
Luxury: Le Manoir Les Minimes would be my pick. It’s got gorgeous rooms, a terrace to sit in and rooms have views of the Loire River and Chateau d’Amboise

Another luxury pick is Le Clos d’Amboise. This mansion is close to Clos Luce, Leonardo da Vinci’s home. The rooms here look seriously gorgeous and there is a sauna as well as an outdoor heated pool.

Saumur

Saumur looks like a great place to base yourself to visit chateaus in the lower Loire Valley. It’s closer to chateaus like Chateau d’Anger, Brissac, and Usse. Saumur also has its own turreted chateau that sits above the town.

Shoestring: Citotel le Volney looks like a fantastic budget hotel with A/C located right in the heart of Saumur.
Budget: Anne d’Anjou Hotel and Spa looks like a great place to stay. Some of the rooms are in the original style from the late 1700s and it’s possible to book a room with a river or castle view.
Luxury: Demeure de la Vignole is located 9km outside of Saumur but offers up such a unique experience it should be considered. Some of the rooms at the hotel are carved out of the rock so there are “cave rooms” and there’s an indoor heated swimming pool carved out of rock.

Loire Valley Chateaux Map

Most Beautiful Chateaux in the Loire Valley

Chateau de Chenonceau

Chateau de Chenonceau is the most visited chateau in the Loire Valley. It’s famous now for its arches that span the River Cher. This impressive chateau was built in the 16th century by Thomas Bohier and Katherine Briconnet. Since then, it has housed many famous ladies including Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici. Touring Chenonceau will give you a background to the history it had with all the ladies that lived there as you tour the bedrooms and gardens of the chateau.

One of the more interesting rooms is actually the kitchen. It’s a huge area that has a butchery and pantry. It definitely has a working feel to it and it’s easy to imagine how busy the kitchen would be when it was working.

The gallery of Chenonceau is a long hallway extends over the River Cher. It’s 60 m long and has been used to host parties in the past by famous women like Catherine de Medici. In the First World War, the gallery was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers. Apparently, one of the things the soldiers would do to pass the time was to tease the fish that lived in the river below. Chenonceau also played a role in the Second World War. The gallery was used to escape occupied France. One side of the river Cher was occupied while the other was free so resistance members could use this to pass between the two territories.

The fascinating history to be learned inside Chateau de Chenonceau as well as two huge flower gardens, a maze, and a vegetable garden gives visitors lots to do. It’s easy to spend a few hours here.

You can purchase your tickets to Chenonceau in advance here. A unique way of experiencing Chateau Chenonceau is to take a hot-air balloon ride above the castle.

Seeing Chenonceau for Free

If you aren’t interested in visiting and only want a view of the castle, it is possible to do. I do highly recommend going into the chateau though as it is a great experience.

Chenonceau is visible for free from across the river. To get to this viewing point, it’s best to use GPS. Set your GPS to “Parcheggio per Belvedere del castello di Chenonceau.” There is a road to access it that is very easy to miss as it is a small side road. Even though it looks like on Google Maps you can take Parc de Chenonceau to the viewing point, this road is actually gated. Go a bit past this to an unnamed road across from Rue du Cher. The road will take you next to the river into a small wooded area. You can view Chateau de Chenonceau from here for free. There is no access to the Chateau however as the bridge is locked from this side of the river.

Chateau Villandry

Most people visit Villandry to see the phenomenal gardens. When you visit, you can choose to pay to visit the gardens or to see both the gardens and chateau. When I visited I chose to only visit the gardens because of time constraints.

Villandry was bought by Joachim Carvallo in 1869 who had a desire to restore the gardens to their Renaissance state. The effect at Villandry is gorgeous. To start with, you stroll through nine huge vegetable gardens. The vegetable gardens are each done up with geometric patterns to make them beautiful as well as functional. After the vegetable gardens, there are an herb garden, arbors with grapes, a maze, and a children’s play area. There’s also an enormous water garden surrounded by lime trees.

A small walk up the belvedere and woods gives you a view of the most gorgeous of the gardens, the ornamental garden. Villandry’s ornamental garden can only be appreciated from above. There are four of them and they each represent a different type of love. Tender love, passionate love, flighty love, and tragic love. It’s worth visiting Chateau Villandry just to experience the gardens and the care that has gone into developing the grounds.

You can purchase tickets for Villandry here.

Chateau d’Usse

Chateau d’Usse is a beautiful fairytale-like castle that sits on a hill over the Loire Valley. Again, visiting Usse will give you a totally different experience than either Chenonceau or Villandry. Chateau d’Usse is best known for being the inspiration behind Sleeping Beauty’s castle. The author, Charles Perrault, wrote the story while he was staying at the castle. Indeed, the turrets of the chateau do have a fairy-tale feel to them.

The tower has been reserved for telling the story of Sleeping Beauty. It’s probably one of the most child-friendly chateaus because of it. Even as an adult I enjoyed the effort that went into this display. Walking through the tower shows you different rooms where mannequins and props are set up to show the story of Sleeping Beauty. It’s well done and enjoyable to read the story.

My favourite part of the tour was actually walking through an old attic area. It wasn’t part of the story but there were assorted old objects there and it was interesting to see the exposed beams.

Inside the other parts of the chateau, there are traditional furnishings and artwork to tour. They also have a collection of clothing from different time periods that they display on a rotating basis. It was 1920’s clothing when I visited and it was very interesting to see the different dress styles.

Chateau d’Usse doesn’t sell tickets online but you can check prices here.

Seeing Chateau d’Usse for Free

If you don’t want to pay tour the chateau, its very easy to see for free. Drive across the bridge across from the Chateau d’Usse and pull over just after the bridge. From here you will be able to look up and see the entire chateau.

Chateau d’Amboise

Chateau d’Amboise sits above the town of Amboise on a rocky outcropping. It’s impossible to miss this castle if you visit Amboise. This chateau was at one time a residence for King Louis VII of France and was also where King Francis I was raised.

The most interesting part of Amboise castle’s history is the Amboise conspiracy. While the castle is gorgeous now, in 1560, between 1200-1500 corpses were hung on hooks outside the Amboise chateau to punish those who stormed the castle and plotted to abduct the king. The Amboise conspiracy is one event that led to the French Wars of Religion.

History aside, to get the best view of the castle, go across the river so that you can see the River Loire and Amboise castle. To get the bridge into the castle, walk alongside the shore in either direction from the bridge.

Chateau d’Angers

Chateau d’Angers is completely different than the previous chateaus. Unlike the others, it isn’t in a rural setting at all but right in the middle of the city of Angers. I ended up wishing I had allotted more time to see this castle as it has some very interesting artifacts and exhibits inside.

The castle in Angers is one of the older chateaus, the site has actually been occupied since the Stone Age (12,000 years ago!). Chateau d’Angers is really more of a fortress and was built in the 13th century for royal troops. It’s also very large at nearly half a kilometre long and has 17 towers. These massive towers of slate and limestone are very impressive to see.

Inside the Chateau d’Angers it’s worth seeing the Apocolypse Tapestry. The tapestry is kept in a temperature and light-controlled room and is an impressive 100 m long. Afterward, walk through the different exhibits of the castle. There’s an emphasis on the holy wars fought in France as well as on Joan of Arc. The long history of Angers is very interesting to learn about. It’s also great to walk along the parapets of the castle and get a view from the top of the walls.

I spent an hour here but wish I had given myself 2 hours. The city of Angers also looked nice to explore. Chateau d’Angers looked the most handicapped friendly as they had elevators in place to view the Apocalypse Tapestry as well as ramps within the castle grounds.

You can purchase tickets to Chateau d’Angers here.

Seeing Angers Castle for Free

Because it is in the middle of the city, you can walk around the whole exterior of Chateau d’Angers for free. Parking is paid but there is a free public washroom.

Best Castles in the Loire Valley

While I can see how it’s possible to get castle fatigue, the Loire Valley has a variety of castles to choose from, each offering something different to experience. If you choose carefully, you can vary your experience so it’s more than just castle after castle.

Make sure to leave some space in your itinerary as the Loire Valley is a great place to explore slowly, leaving room to find hidden gems.

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