Loire Valley: Châteaux, Gardens and Wine from Amboise and Saumur

1. Day 1: Arrive in Paris

   Paris Charles de Gaulle or Orly airport to your hotel in central Paris

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Paris
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) or Orly (ORY), where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the transfer into the city, about 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic. We stay one night in a central hotel within easy reach of Montparnasse station, so tomorrow's train is a short ride away and nobody crosses Paris with luggage at dawn. Rooms are usually ready from mid-afternoon; if you land early, leave your bags at the hotel and walk to the Luxembourg Garden or the cafés of the Left Bank. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week: which mornings start early to beat the crowds at the big châteaux, how the optional bike ride on day 6 works, and what to pack for cool wine cellars. Then we walk together to a neighbourhood bistro for a welcome dinner.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) or Orly (ORY)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner at a Paris bistro

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about 3 pm to reach the briefing; the latest arrival time is confirmed with your final itinerary.

2. Day 2: TGV to the Loire, Amboise and Leonardo

   Paris Montparnasse by TGV to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, then Amboise

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Amboise
   Day 2 details

   After breakfast a short transfer takes us to Paris Montparnasse for the TGV to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, the station for Tours, about an hour away. Our van and driver meet the train, and twenty-five minutes up the Loire we reach Amboise, our base for three nights. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the old town below the château. In the early afternoon your guide takes you through the Château Royal d'Amboise, where Charles VIII was born and died and where the young François I grew up; from its terraces you look straight down the river. In the small Chapel of Saint-Hubert on the ramparts lies the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci. From there it is a ten-minute walk along Rue Victor Hugo to Clos Lucé, the manor where Leonardo lived from 1516 until his death in 1519, with his bedroom, his workshops and a park of full-size models built from his drawings. The evening is free in Amboise.

   Included

   • TGV from Paris Montparnasse to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, standard class
   • Sit-down lunch in Amboise
   • The Château Royal d'Amboise with your guide, and Leonardo's tomb in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert
   • Clos Lucé, Leonardo da Vinci's last home, and its park of models

   Easier option: Skip the walk through the Clos Lucé park and sit in its garden café, or return to the hotel, a few minutes' walk away.

   Free time: Evening free in Amboise

   Activity: About 5 km on foot, with the ramp up to the château and some stairs inside.

   

3. Day 3: Chenonceau at opening and a Vouvray cellar

   Amboise to Chenonceau, then Vouvray and back to Amboise

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Amboise
   Day 3 details

   We leave Amboise early to be at the gates of the Château de Chenonceau, twenty minutes south, when it opens (around 9 am for most of the season), ahead of the tour coaches. The château spans the River Cher on a row of arches, and the long gallery Catherine de' Medici added in the 1570s runs right across the water. Your guide tells the story of the women who shaped it, Diane de Poitiers and Catherine, as you walk through the bedrooms, down to the kitchens built into the bridge piers, and out to the two formal gardens named after them. After a sit-down lunch nearby we drive about forty minutes to Vouvray, where Chenin Blanc vines grow on the slopes above the Loire and the cellars are cut deep into the soft white tufa stone. A family producer walks us through the galleries and pours its still and sparkling wines. We are back in Amboise by late afternoon, with the evening free.

   Included

   • Château de Chenonceau at opening with your guide: the gallery over the Cher, the kitchens and the gardens of Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de' Medici
   • Sit-down lunch near Chenonceau
   • Cellar visit and tasting with a Vouvray wine producer

   Optional experiences

   • Hot-air balloon flight over the Loire at dawn or dusk, weather permitting, booked ahead with the price shown at booking

   More active option: After the château, walk the Chenonceau park and the path along the Cher while the group has coffee.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Amboise

   Activity: About 5 km on foot on garden gravel. The tufa cellars stay cool all year, so bring a layer.

4. Day 4: Chambord and Cheverny

   Amboise to Chambord, then Cheverny and back to Amboise

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Amboise
   Day 4 details

   Chambord is the biggest of the Loire châteaux and the one that fills fastest, so we drive about fifty minutes from Amboise to be there at opening. François I began it in 1519 as a hunting palace inside a walled forest park, and its double-helix staircase, where two people can climb without meeting, is often linked to Leonardo's ideas. Your guide takes you up through the state rooms to the roof terraces, a skyline of chimneys, lanterns and turrets with views over the forest. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the château. In the afternoon we drive twenty minutes to Cheverny, a classical château finished in the 1630s and still lived in by descendants of the family who built it. Its furnished rooms feel used rather than staged, its kennels hold a pack of hunting hounds, and Tintin readers will know its facade as the model for Marlinspike Hall. We are back in Amboise by about 5 pm, with the evening free.

   Included

   • Château de Chambord at opening with your guide: the double-helix staircase and the roof terraces
   • Sit-down lunch near Chambord
   • Château de Cheverny, its furnished rooms, gardens and kennels

   Easier option: Stay on Chambord's lower floors and gardens instead of climbing to the roof, and rest at a café while the group tours Cheverny.

   More active option: Hire a bike at Chambord for an hour on the estate's forest tracks before lunch.

   Free time: Evening free in Amboise

   Activity: The busiest walking day: about 7 km on foot, with Chambord's stairs to the roof terraces.

   

5. Day 5: Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau and Chinon to Saumur

   Amboise to Villandry and Azay-le-Rideau, then Chinon and Saumur

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Saumur
   Day 5 details

   We pack up and head west along the Loire. First stop, about 45 minutes away, is Villandry, the last of the great Renaissance châteaux built on the Loire and now best known for its gardens. Joachim Carvallo, a Spanish-born doctor, bought the estate in 1906 and recreated terraced Renaissance gardens: box-hedged ornamental parterres, a water garden and a kitchen garden of vegetables and flowers in geometric beds. We arrive close to opening, climb to the belvedere for the view over the patterns, then walk them at ground level. Ten minutes south, Azay-le-Rideau stands on an island in the Indre, its white facade reflected in the water around it; we visit inside, then have lunch in the village. In the afternoon we walk the half-timbered lanes of Chinon below the royal fortress where Joan of Arc met the future Charles VII in 1429, then drive thirty minutes to Saumur, our base for two nights. The rest of the day is free.

   Included

   • Château de Villandry and its gardens, close to opening
   • Château d'Azay-le-Rideau
   • Sit-down lunch in Azay-le-Rideau
   • Walk through Chinon's old town with your guide

   Easier option: Skip the Chinon walk and wait at a riverside café on the Vienne.

   Free time: Early evening free in Saumur

   Activity: About 6 km on foot. Four short drives, none longer than about 45 minutes.

   

6. Day 6: Fontevraud Abbey and a ride along the Loire

   Saumur to Fontevraud and Montsoreau, then back to Saumur by bike or van

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Saumur
   Day 6 details

   Fontevraud Abbey, fifteen minutes from Saumur, was founded in 1101 and led for most of its history by abbesses, and we are there when it opens. In the abbey church lie the painted effigies of Henry II of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine, their son Richard the Lionheart and Isabella of Angoulême. Your guide leads you through the cloister, the chapter house and the Romanesque kitchen with its ring of stone chimneys. Lunch is in Montsoreau, a riverside village below a white château, close to where the Vienne joins the Loire. In the afternoon, choose: ride about 12 km back towards Saumur on bikes or e-bikes along the signposted Loire à Vélo route, past houses and chapels cut into the cliffs at Turquant and Souzay-Champigny, or ride in the van with the guide. Both groups meet at a family cellar dug into the tufa for a Saumur-Champigny tasting, then return to Saumur. Tonight is the farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Fontevraud Abbey at opening with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Montsoreau
   • Bike or e-bike for the ride along the Loire, with a helmet
   • Cellar visit and Saumur-Champigny tasting
   • Farewell dinner in Saumur

   Easier option: Ride in the van with the guide, with a stop at a troglodyte village on the way to the cellar.

   More active option: Cycle the whole way from Montsoreau to Saumur, about 12 km on a mostly flat riverside route.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Saumur before dinner

   Activity: The ride is optional and gentle; e-bikes are available for anyone who wants help on the short rises.

7. Day 7: TGV back to Paris

   Saumur to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, TGV to Paris Montparnasse, then the airport

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 7 details

   After breakfast there is time for a last walk along the Saumur riverfront under the château before our van takes us about an hour east along the Loire to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps (the day's 2 hours on the road include the Paris transfer to the airport), the same station where the week began. The TGV reaches Paris Montparnasse in about an hour, and a driver meets the train to take you to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Orly (ORY) or a central Paris hotel if you are staying on. We aim to reach Paris around midday or early afternoon, depending on the train times on your date. Your guide travels with you to Paris and makes sure everyone is in the right car before saying goodbye. Many guests add a few nights in Paris, or join our Normandy trip for the D-Day beaches and Mont-Saint-Michel. Ask us when you book and we will quote the extra nights or the combination.

   Included

   • Van from Saumur to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps
   • TGV from Saint-Pierre-des-Corps to Paris Montparnasse, standard class
   • Drop-off at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Orly (ORY) or a central Paris hotel

   Free time: Free morning in Saumur

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm from Charles de Gaulle or 4 pm from Orly; the train times for your date are confirmed with your final itinerary.

Wildlife and weather: April and May bring fresh green, the first plantings at Villandry and fewer visitors. July and August are warm, with the biggest crowds at Chenonceau and Chambord, which is why we go at opening. September and October bring the grape harvest around Vouvray and Saumur and cooler, clearer days. Rain is possible in any month.

• Paris1 night
• Amboise3 nights
• Saumur2 nights