My daughter and I are planning our first trip to France in August.
We put together a list of the things that we each wanted to do in France.
1)Visit Castles
2)Do a wine tasting
3)Visit a goat dairy/cheesemaker
4)Do Paris in a day.
After doing some research we decided that Loire Valley was the place for us. So we decided that we are not city folk and the things that we want to experince in France would have to be done a small town/village. We would like to find a Bed and Breakfast or Gite, that was within walking distance of resturants, shops and the train station. We would like to travel to the different castles by train and/or bus.
Blois sounds interesting, as does Amboise, can somebody familiar with area, help us out with some information on these things?
Keeping in mind, we are the same two women that can%26#39;t remember where we parked our car in the parking lot of Walmart.
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The Loire Valley is spread out, and having a rental car is a big advantage. Train and bus only is going to be tough.
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I agree with the car thing - doing farms by public transport (and to visit a cheesemaker means visiting a farm) will be nigh on impossible. You will have to travel to the south of the Loire Valley, but Ste Maure de Touraine is probably the most famous (and justifiably) of the chevres. Check out …wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Maure_de_Touraine It%26#39;s made on hundreds of farms in the area, you just have to find them while driving. Most of them will have a sign by the road - you don%26#39;t need an appointment, just call in.
Don%26#39;t worry about losing the car in a carpark - stay away from the real tourist hotspots and the carparks will be manageable. Assuming you can find them, which shouldn%26#39;t be too hard...........
Chenonceau, Loches, Montpoupon and Villandry are all easy to get to by car (well signposted) and well worth visiting. Blois is good, but you may find navigating harder (It%26#39;s an easy get by train though) Amboise I would avoid, because the station is about 1/2 a mile away from the town, and it is heaving with tourists all getting nowhere (assuming the roadworks are still happening). It%26#39;s also not really that interesting compared to most chateaux in the area.
To do a winetasting you really have to visit the winemakers individually - the places which offer tastings for a whole region are shops that are less interested in selling you a good wine than shifting stock they will make the most money on.
Paris in a day is doable - take a TGV from Tours early, return late - but I would ask why? It will take a day out of your holiday, and really you will only have time to touch the edges - the Eiffel Tower, the Champs, and 1% of the Louvre. Depending on the day you go to Paris the train tickets could be quite expensive - Ausgust is holiday month, and a lot of trains will be booked solid as soon as the tickets come on sale.
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In terms of location, it seems to me that you should be looking at Tours. Looking at your list:
Chateaux - Tours is very central to Amboise, Azay le Rideau, Villandry, Ussée, Chenonceaux, Chinon, etc
Wine tasting for white wines is very close in the Vouvray area
Goats Cheese - one of the most famous areas for goats cheese is around Sainte Maure de Touraine, just south of Tours.
Paris is 55 minutes away by TGV train.
It is difficult to do all of the first three things without having a hire car. Some chateaux are visitable by public transport. There was some helpful advice on this in a recent thread
tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187130-i1347-k185…
But you will be struggling to do the rest by public transport.
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Thanks for the helpful information.
The reason for Paris in a day, is that so we can say %26quot;Yeah we went there.%26quot; My daugther has also promised her professor that she would have French Onion Soup in Paris,just for him and I promised my son that we would visit the Effie Tower.
Thanks also for the information on the cheesemakers, that is very helpful! Not alot of information on the net in regards to cheesemakers.
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The big issue with your trip is the public transportation. Trying to figure out the schedules, directions from to/from the stations, etc. can be trying. Driving in the Loire Valley is not difficult, excepting maybe getting in/out of Tours which is a large city and can be a little confusing. Tours is a fun city to visit and shop in, especially the old area around Place Plumereau. If you%26#39;re not staying there, I think a car rental would enable you to see all sorts of small towns and villages as well as the beautiful castles and chateaux in the area. Don%26#39;t rule out the Western Loire, where you can visit Azay Le Rideau, Saumur and other spots along the river. The Paris in a day idea is doable but you will be exhausted. Spend at least one night there if you do this. Amboise is a charming place and Chenonceaux is stunning.
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I just came back from the Loire Valley and had a fantastic time. I was about to post a variety of things about my trip when your post caught my eye.
Forget the car: BIKE. it%26#39;s the best thing and it%26#39;s loads of fun. I booked my trip with Detours de Loire (http://www.locationdevelos.com/). I took the train to Tours, walked to the bike shop and was greeted with a bike (fully equipped, also included an emergency # if i had problems), maps, and a packet of information about the Loire valley, including some restaurant recommendations (I did ZERO research except on them as a company).
I spent two days. On Day 1 I biked from Tours to Villandry and then to Azay-le-Rideau. On Day 2: Azay-le-Rideau-Usse-Chinon. It might have been more leisurely to have a day in A-l-R and another in Chinon. I carried my camera, a book, a raincoat (never used), my wallet/purse on the bike in a handy waterproof bag on the side of the bike. Detours de Loire transported my luggage which was always there when I arrived.
The biking was flat/easy, fun, and absolutely gorgeous and completely unforgettable. I should mention that I did have a little trouble following their directions, but I%26#39;m about to email them about that. It ended up fine and it might have been easier had I been with another person (I was by myself).
I highly recommend staying at Hotel Diderot in Chinon. For breakfast (included with the lovely and reasonably priced room), I had:
a) fresh goat cheese with honey and walnuts
b) bread with butter and several of the varieties of jam made fresh by the owners
c) fresh yogurt
d) freshly squeezed apple juice
I recommend the ice cream stand outside of the Chateau Villandry - try the lavender ice cream made with fresh lavendar from the gardens.
La Bonne France in Chinon was also an excellent meal, worth the price.
I really hope you go... forget the car, seriously.
-monica
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I hope I%26#39;m not too late, but many of the comments here sound great. I%26#39;ve just toured the region on my own with a rented car, and didn%26#39;t have any troubles.
I stayed two days (one night) in Blois, three nights in Tours and one in Fontevraud-l%26#39;Abbaye. Blois has a wonderful bus that goes to Chambord and Cheverny many times a day, so I rented the car from Tours on.
You can see Tours by walking, and drive from there to most of the castles around. I didn%26#39;t take any highways, just stayed in the local small routes, they are slower and cuter, and you can stop for information whenever you need it (not that you%26#39;re going to need it, because there are signs everywhere.)
The Best Western Central in Tours is a nice hotel and very well situated: a couple of blocks from the river, so you don%26#39;t have many troubles leaving and entering the city. The roads that go to the castles are usually along the river, so it%26#39;s really easy.
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Thanks everybody for their kind suggestions, hints and tips! We are flying out this coming Friday to arrive in Paris in the morning of August 9th. We are renting a car from CDG and driving to Chenonceaux. We will be staying there and basing out of there for 4 days. Then we will travel up to Amboise for two days, where we will drop the car on the second. The following day we will take the TGV to Paris and stay there for two nights before returning to the states on the 18th.
We decided to rent the car in Paris, so that we can see as much of France as we can in the little time we have. If we see a shop, goat farm or anything else that strikes our fancy, we can stop and check it out.
I am pretty excited about it, as this is the first vacation that my daughter and I have ever taken together (I was a single parent) and at the age of 41, the most adventerous thing I have done.
Two women tearing off to France for a week! Not orginal for most, but certainly out of character for us!
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Im interested that youre bothering to relocate from Chenonceaux to Amboise - its only a 10 minute drive - and quite frankly, Amboise is a bit of a trap........ You will find it inpossible to move tehre at this time of year it will be so full or tourists, and IMHO it%26#39;s not a very inetresting place
You will find yourself driving through there occaionally on your trips out of Chenonceaux. Don%26#39;t be tempted to drive through town, traffic is appalling. Use the ring road (less interesting, but up to 30 minutes faster)
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Because my daughter wanted to stay in Amboise and when I told her what you had said about it she replied %26quot;Aren%26#39;t we tourist?%26quot; She had me there!
Anywho, Europcar has a drop off there, so we can drop off the car and hop the train to Paris the next morning.
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