Loire Valley

A hilltop wine town above the Loire's upper reaches, ringed by steep vineyards of Sauvignon Blanc that produce some of the most famous dry white wine in France. The old centre is a knot of lanes, wine shops and tasting rooms around the Tour des Fiefs, the last remnant of its castle, from which you can see across the valley to Pouilly-sur-Loire on the opposite bank. Nearby Chavignol, a village tucked in a fold of the hills, is known both for wine and for its small, tangy goats' cheese, crottin de Chavignol.

TipSancerre is well east of the château country, so it suits travellers driving down from Burgundy or arriving by car from Paris; the Loire à Vélo route also starts close by, at Cuffy.

The city that Joan of Arc relieved from an English siege in 1429 still celebrates her every spring with the Fêtes johanniques, culminating around 8 May. Its Cathedral of Sainte-Croix is a grand Gothic building, largely rebuilt in the 17th to 19th centuries after Protestant iconoclasts wrecked it, with stained-glass windows telling Joan's story. Around it, the rue Jeanne d'Arc, the riverside quays and the restored half-timbered houses of the old quarter make for a good half-day, and the fine arts museum has a strong collection of French painting.

TipOrléans is about an hour from Paris by train and is the gateway for Chambord if you are not driving; buses and bike hire link the two in season.

The largest of the Loire châteaux was begun in 1519 for François I as a hunting retreat, and it was always more a statement of power than a home. Its roofline is a fantasy of chimneys, turrets and lanterns, like a small city on the skyline, and at its heart is a famous double-spiral staircase, two flights winding around each other so that people going up and down never meet; the idea is often attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. The château stands in a walled forest park larger than the city of Paris, where deer and wild boar roam and where you can walk, cycle or ride.

TipFor 2026 the château lists a full adult price of €21 for EU and EEA visitors and a higher €31 rate for non-EEA nationals who are not residents, so check which applies before booking. Arrive at opening for the roof terraces, and stay into the evening for the park.

Unlike most of its neighbours, Cheverny has been lived in by the same family for most of its history, and its interiors are furnished and lived-in rather than empty halls. The pale, perfectly symmetrical façade dates from the 17th century and inspired Marlinspike Hall, Captain Haddock's house in the Tintin books, a link celebrated in a permanent exhibition. The château still keeps a pack of hunting hounds, whose daily feeding is a popular, rather noisy spectacle.

The royal château of Blois is a textbook of French architecture in one courtyard: a Gothic hall, a brick and stone wing built for Louis XII, a Renaissance wing for François I with an open spiral staircase carved like lace, and a classical wing by François Mansart. Seven kings and ten queens lived here, and the rooms are full of stories, among them the assassination of the Duke of Guise in 1588. Below the château, the old town falls in stairways and lanes to the river.

TipOn spring, summer and autumn evenings the château's courtyard is used for a sound and light show; opposite, the Maison de la Magie celebrates the illusionist Robert-Houdin, who was born in Blois.

A storybook château on a bluff above the river, once owned by Catherine de' Medici and later by Diane de Poitiers, whom Catherine pushed out of Chenonceau. Today the estate is best known for its International Garden Festival, held every year since 1992 from spring to autumn, when designers from around the world create experimental gardens around a theme, and for contemporary art installations in the château, stables and park.

The royal château of Amboise rises above a bridge over the Loire, and although much of it was demolished after the Revolution, what remains, with its round towers and terraced gardens, is magnificent. Charles VIII grew up here and brought Italian craftsmen back from his wars; François I held court here in his youth. The small, late Gothic Chapel of Saint-Hubert on the ramparts holds what is said to be Leonardo da Vinci's tomb. Amboise itself is a lively small town and one of the best bases in the valley.

TipBook the most popular châteaux online in summer, especially for mornings; Amboise's terraces are at their best in the late-afternoon light.

A few minutes' walk from the château, this brick manor house was where Leonardo da Vinci lived from 1516 until his death in 1519, as the guest of François I. The rooms recreate his bedroom, studio and kitchens, and models of his inventions, from flying machines to a tank, fill the lower floors. In the park, large working models built from his notebooks invite visitors to turn wheels and pull levers, making it one of the best Loire visits with children.

The château that seems to float over the River Cher is one of the most visited châteaux in France, and its long gallery, built on arches spanning the river, is unforgettable from the bank. It is often called the château of the ladies, because a succession of women built, extended and protected it: Katherine Briçonnet, Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de' Medici, Louise of Lorraine, and in the 18th century Louise Dupin, who kept it safe through the Revolution. The interiors are richly furnished and filled with flowers from the estate's own garden, and the formal gardens of Diane and Catherine flank the forecourt.

TipIt is open every day of the year. Come early or in the last two hours to avoid the tour coaches, and walk to the far end of the gallery for the view down the Cher.

Just upstream from Tours, Vouvray's vineyards spread over the plateau above a cliff of soft white tufa, and many producers age their wines in caves dug deep into the rock. Made entirely from Chenin Blanc, Vouvray comes in every style from bone dry to lusciously sweet and sparkling, and the best can age for decades. Tasting in a cave cellar is the classic experience, and the riverside road from here to Rochecorbon is lined with troglodyte houses.

The largest city in the château country is a relaxed university town and the natural transport hub for the region. Its old quarter, Vieux Tours, centres on Place Plumereau, a square of crooked half-timbered houses filled with café terraces. Nearby, the Gothic Cathedral of Saint-Gatien has outstanding medieval stained glass, and the modern Basilica of Saint-Martin sits over the tomb of the 4th-century saint, whose shrine made Tours one of the great pilgrimage centres of medieval Europe. The covered market, Les Halles, is a good place to stock up for a picnic.

TipTours makes the easiest base for the western châteaux if you rely on trains and tours, with regional trains to Amboise, Chenonceaux, Azay-le-Rideau, Chinon and Saumur.

The château is handsome, but people come for the gardens: terraces of clipped box and yew laid out in geometric patterns, recreated in the early 20th century in the spirit of the Renaissance. The highlight is the ornamental kitchen garden, where cabbages, leeks and lettuces are planted in coloured patterns that are changed with each season, so that the garden looks different in May, July and October. Climb to the belvedere for the view over the whole design.

Built on an island in the Indre in the 1510s and 1520s, Azay-le-Rideau is one of the purest early Renaissance châteaux, its white walls reflected in a moat-like stretch of water. It was built not for a king but for a wealthy financier, Gilles Berthelot, who lost it when he fell from royal favour. A long restoration has returned the interiors and the romantic 19th-century park to their best.

A cluster of white towers and pointed slate roofs set against the forest above the Indre, Ussé is often said to have inspired Charles Perrault's tale of Sleeping Beauty, and the château plays up the connection with wax figures in one of its towers. It is still privately owned and has a fine terraced garden attributed to Le Nôtre's school. Even if you don't go in, it is worth stopping on the riverside road for the view.

The royal fortress of Chinon stretches along a ridge above the Vienne river, a long medieval stronghold that was a favourite residence of the Plantagenet king Henry II. In 1429 Joan of Arc came here to meet the future Charles VII and persuade him to let her lead an army to Orléans. The fortress is now partly restored, with digital displays that bring its history to life, and the views over the town's slate roofs are superb. Below, the medieval streets are full of wine bars serving the local Cabernet Franc red.

One of the largest surviving monastic cities in Europe, founded in 1101 and ruled for centuries by abbesses over both nuns and monks. The abbey church contains the painted tomb effigies of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, their son Richard the Lionheart and Isabella of Angoulême, and the octagonal Romanesque kitchen, with its cluster of chimneys, is unique. After the Revolution it served as a prison until 1963. Today the site also holds a modern art museum, a hotel and a restaurant.

Saumur's fairy-tale château watches over the river from its hill, and the town below is elegant and full of white tufa mansions. It is the home of the Cadre Noir, the French national riding school, whose black-uniformed riders give public demonstrations, and of sparkling wine houses whose cellars run for kilometres into the rock. The quarrying of tufa left the hillsides around Saumur honeycombed with caves, and many became homes, chapels, mushroom farms, wine cellars and even restaurants. Along the river at Turquant and Souzay-Champigny, troglodyte dwellings line the cliff, and on the plateau to the south-west, around Doué-en-Anjou and Rochemenier, whole farmsteads were dug down into the ground around sunken courtyards.

TipCaves stay at around 12 degrees all year, so bring a layer even in summer. A meal of fouées, small puffed breads baked in a wood oven, in a troglodyte restaurant is a local tradition.