Here is the best itinerary to visit the Loire Valley Castles in a few days !

The map of the Loire Valley Castles

You’ll find below the map of the Loire Valley Castles: the most beautiful castles, the royal castles, the most essential ones.

There is no official count, but there are about 3000 castles in the region. Well, the objective is not to visit them all, but we can already categorize them and highlight the 11 royal castles and the 21 most important ones.

The map of the Loire castles is made on Google maps, I give you all information about the content, how it works, the layers, in this article, so you can easily keep it aside on your phone to reuse it when you are there

They are placed here on the map and it is easy to understand why they are called “Loire castles”

Suggested itinerary for the Loire Valley Castles

• Day 1 morning : Chenonceau
• Day 1 afternoon : Clos-Lucé
• Day 1 evening : Amboise
• Day 2 morning : Azay-le-Rideau
• Day 2 afternoon: Ussé (or Villandry or Langeais)
• Day 2 evening : Tours
• Day 3 morning : Chambord
• Day 3 afternoon : Cheverny
• Day 3 evening : Blois

Chenonceau : useful information

Price: 14.5€ (free for children under 7)
Reservation: tickets available here
Opening hours: the castle is open all year round, between 9:30 am and 7 pm with variations according to the month (more info here)
Parking: there is a free parking lot at the entrance.
Note: tripods are accepted

 you want to stay around Amboise, you can spend the morning at the castle of Amboise which is worth a visit. It’s not as amazing as Chenonceau, but it’s still a great time. You can also visit the Gaillard castle and the Pagode de Chanteloup.

Otherwise, you have just next door the suuuperb castle of Chaumont. I preferred its visit to the one of Amboise castle. It’s less than 10km along the Loire, so it’s super easy to get there.

For this second day, let’s go a little further west, an area full of beautiful castles!

Morning in Azay le Rideau

Although it is truly magnificent, Azay-le-Rideau is not a royal castle. For me, it is easily one of the most beautiful, very emblematic of the French Renaissance. Not as original as Chenonceau, not as extravagant as Chambord, it has a true charm, on its little island in the middle of the Indre. This gives great pictures with the reflection of the castle in the water.

The interior is a bit kitschy with wax statues, but the visit is interesting. Less intriguing than in Chenonceau however.

The castle of Ussé is a bit different. It is not an Italian Renaissance style like Azay-le-Rideau, but a medieval part and the other one a classical Renaissance.

It would be from this castle that Charles Perrault would have been inspired for his tale “Sleeping Beauty” when he stayed there. Later, Disney was inspired by the castle of Neuschwanstein to create the castle of the Disneyland park.

Inside, we find a whole staging of the tale with wax statues in the tower and the walkway. A little kitsch.

Other options nearby: Villandry and its superb gardens, medieval Langeais

Price: 14.5€ (free for children under 25, more info here)
Reservation: book your ticket by following this link
Opening hours: the castle is open all year round, from 9am to 6pm (5pm in low season). It seems that the park is open all the time.
Parking: you have to pay, it is better to go to P2, the cheapest one (4€ a day), more places and nice view on the castle.
Note: tripods are not allowed inside the castle, as they are considered as pro equipment. On the other hand, in the free part, the gardens, no problem.

Comic book fans are bound to cringe when they see Cheverny. This castle was the inspiration for the castle of Moulinsart, in Tintin, where Captain Haddock lives, and the scene of several albums such as The Secret of the Unicorn or The Treasure of Rackham the Red.

But Cheverny is a castle that surprises in the Loire Valley. A lot of charm, of course, but a totally different architecture. Much more classical, far from the Italian Renaissance style that we can see in many places.

Hunting place, there is also a big pack of dogs and we can attend their lunch.

Price : 12,50€, free for children under 7 years old. More info on their website. Free parking.
Note: the schedules are not the same between winter and summer season!

A nice alternative would be the beautiful castle of Chaumont or Blois.

Close to the castles of Chambord and Cheverny, Blois is famous for its beautiful castle (and its famous staircase). But it is also a nice little town to spend the evening, especially thanks to the banks of the Loire (and the nice view from the other side). It’s not the equivalent of Tours, Orleans or Amboise, but it’s still a nice place to stay without driving too far.

For these 3 days, I wanted a single accommodation which is central. That is to say, not too much travel each day, not far from each castle. I targeted the area between Tours and Amboise, and I preferred the “castle life”. If you’re going to be in the Loire Valley Castles, you might as well sleep in a castle. So I found the Château de la Bourdaisière, a sublime little renaissance castle in the small town of Montlouis sur Loire. In addition, we are very well received. Next time, I will try the Relais de Chambord to wake up in front of the castle!

We will have other castles like the superb Châteaux des Arpentis, the Manoir Saint Thomas in Amboise or the magnificent Prieuré d’Orchaise.

In the more classic (and also less expensive) hotels and bed & breakfasts, we will find the Castel Fleuri or the Best Western in Tours, the Sans Souci Bed & Breakfast in Luzille for example.

The offer in the region is really great and of high quality. I advise you to look here for a list of what you can find in the Loire Valley.

The advantage of the tourist areas is that you will find a lot of accommodation outside hotels. There is a good offer, very varied, and not particularly expensive. On top of that, you will find some quite atypical and central accommodations. Here are some examples: a nice troglodyte house near Vouvray, the famous castle of la Bourdaisière, or the superb castle of Verrière in Saumur.

Find homestays, exceptional accommodations,. and low prices here.

So this is a question that I am asked more and more regularly. Is it that the castles of the Loire Valley will please the children, which are those to privilege and why, some small councils.

I’m going to do a much more complete article about it, but here’s what I can tell you already. I think you know it better than I do, kids get bored quickly, so you need a little bit of a wow factor. But already, don’t try to do too many things, really I think staying on two castles a day is a maximum. Here are the ones that I think would really interest them:

• Le Clos Lucé, because it is the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci and they have put plans of his works, miniature reproductions and especially some to scale, especially in the large garden. So you can see his inventions and it’s very interesting
• Chenonceau of course, for its impressive arches over the Cher. There are 2/3 small walks to do on the banks of the river and the gardens are nice
• Villandry for its gardens, I haven’t been there since I was an adult but I have great memories of it as a child
• Ussé is a pretty castle and there is a whole staging around the tale of Sleeping Beauty because it would have served as inspiration for Perrault.
• Azay le Rideau is nice, already a very pretty and classy architecture, water around and automatons that reproduce the scenes of the time, especially the meals.
• Chambord to a certain extent and especially for its staircase which will really interest the children! And in the good season you can go on with the stag’s bellow
• Cheverny if your children are fans of Tintin, because it is this castle which was used as a model for Moulinsart. Moreover, there is a beautiful permanent exhibition. There is also a huge kennel with more than a hundred dogs that can be seen during the visit.
• Chaumont can be nice for two reasons. First of all its massive side with big towers which is totally different from what we can find. Then for its garden festival and its tropical greenhouse. It is surprising!

It’s easy! All seasons are good. I really like spring and fall, because they are flowery seasons and not too (too) touristy. Some castles have beautiful gardens like Villandry or even Chenonceau, so if it’s something important to you, winter might not be recommended.

But the big advantage of winter, from November to March, excluding school vacations, is that there are not many people. So it’s great to be able to visit the castles of the Loire Valley in peace.

June, July and August are the most touristy months of course, until the first week of September. But it is a fantastic time to see them. For the gardens, the nature, the blue sky. But it can be very crowded.

For the big castles, I advise to arrive at the opening. You will arrive before the bulk of the tourists and the tour buses. So really, come early.

End of the day is as well, as well as at lunch time.

But from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, and 2 pm to 4 pm, there will be a lot of people.

It’s easy, almost ALL castles have a train station nearby.

First of all, you have to reach Orleans, Tours or Angers. From there, you are on a train line that will connect many castles:

• Blois / Chambord (same station)
• Cheverny
• Chaumont
• Amboise / Clos Lucé
• Chenonceau
• Saumur
• Chinon
• and many others!

Ussé is the only one for which I have not found a solution other than the car or the bicycle.

I advise you to look at this article to see the train lines and schedules.

An entrance to a castle costs on average 13€.

• Tip: if you want to visit several castles, some PASSES exist to pay less expensive. For example this Château Pass with Chambord/Chenonceau/Blois

A night in a hotel costs on average 100€ (well, it goes from 50 to 400€, but at 100€ you can have something really nice)
For the transport, count either 40€ of train from Paris (for example) for the round trip, or 70€ of car (toll + gasoline) from Paris also round trip.
A nice restaurant will cost 35€ per head, with a glass of wine (it’s cheap and it’s good in the area!). A lunch snack, not much. Let’s count 10€ per head.

So it can give, for 2 people and 1 day:

• 2 castles (4 tickets) = 52€.
• return trip (car or train, for 2) = 80€.
• 2 snacks = 20€.
• This gives about 150€ / 2 people / 1 day. We see that the transport is expensive.

For 2 people, 2 days and one night, this would give approximately:

• 2 castles per day per person (4 castles so 8 tickets) = 104
• 1 night = 100€.
• 1 nice restaurant for 2 in the evening = 70€.
• 2 lunchtime snacks = 40€.
• Transport = 100€ (to the basic transport I add the transport between the castles of the 2nd day)
• We are on 415€ for 2 days / 2 people by indulging in the visits, the restaurant and accommodation

Over 2 days, the two big adjustment variables are accommodation and food. For the accommodation, we can have a small price around 50€(examples here) or be pleased with for example the superb Château des Arpentis.

And I repeat that the transport is to come from Paris, if you do not have to take the highway, it will cost you much less. You have to pay attention to the toll and the gasoline, the estimates are on Mappy.

It’s possible !

Let’s say that in one day you will have to leave early and return late, but you can discover 2 castles. I recommend castles that are close to each other. For example :

• Amboise and the Clos Lucé (+ visit of the beautiful city)
• Chambord and Blois
• Chenonceau and Amboise or Chaumont
• Azay le Rideau and Chinon
• Angers and Saumur

And I’m only talking about the most famous ones!

If you don’t drive and you don’t want to take the trouble, there are organized tours that make the visit from Paris, by bus.

For example, with this excurtion, you can discover 3 castles from Paris for 140€ with a guide:

• Chenonceau
• Blois
• Chambord
• And a wine tasting