Just curious - why won't you have a car? I was in Paris and the Loire Valley for the first time this past summer, so I am certainly not an expert. We did have a car for traveling through the Loire Valley. My daughter's fiance is French, and he picked us up in Paris in his car. But if he wasn't available to travel with us, we would have rented a car. We really enjoyed the Loire Valley and I think it is worth seeing, but based on our experience, I think it would be difficult to sightsee in the Loire Valley without a car. We loved driving around the countryside and stopping whenever & wherever we wanted to stop, when we saw something interesting and beautiful. From what I recall, I don't remember seeing train stations next to the chateaus. Some of them, such as Chambord, are in the middle of nowhere. I think there is bus service but then you are dependent on the bus schedule. Is there any possibility you could rent a car?

Depending how you defined "Loire Valley," it is not necessary to have a car. With such short time, it is possible to just hit where you can reach by trains/taxi such as Amoboise, Blois, or Chanonceau or use a local tour such as Acco-Dispo by staying in Amboise or Tours.

For some reason, you feel you must stay in one place after taking one transport of some kind: stay where ever you land, stay wherever after one train ride, etc. Why is this necessary? Look at train schedule at www.bahn.com (It is a German train site, but has all the European train info and is by far the easiest to use. To actually look at the price or book ticket use www.tgv.com or www.voyages-sncf.com) So you are staying in Paris,Tours,Paris,Avignon,Paris? If your plane arrives in Paris early, you can get to Tours from the CDG airport in 2-2.5hrs. Considering that if you arrive in Paris early, you probably cannot check-into a hotel early anyway, then convert time to kill into time to travel.

By going straight to Tours upon landing, and travel straight from Tours to Avignon, your stays will be reduced to Tours,Avignon, and Paris. I am not saying this is ideal for 8 days. You have not stated why it is necessary to put 2 additional stays in Paris.

Thank you for the replies. I will definitely think about what you said..

There is one TGV itinerary that does not involve changing train stations in Paris. It goes from St. Pierre de Corps (outside Tours) to Marne-la-Vallée where one takes the TGV to Avignon.

No, you don't need to go back to Paris. There are trains from Tours to Avignon just about every hour all day long. You can see the schedules and prices at the SNCF website greg gave you above. Buy your tickets 3 months out from your date of travel for the cheapest prices.

A mere day and a half in the Loire is going to be a challenge. You're going to have to plan your tours carefully. And when you get to Avignon, are you just going to stay there, or take public transportation to outlying sites? I know people do it,, but I can't imagine touring the Bouches-du-Rhône area without a car.

Staying in Tours to see the Loire is also not ideal, hence the reason to get a car. Chambord, Cheverny, Chenonceau are all closer to Amboise than to Tours. The best chateaux (qua chateaux, as opposed to Villandry's gardens) are Chenonceau, Chambord, Amboise, Cheverny and probably Azay or Blois, depending upon your interest, and all of those are closer to Amboise than to Tours.

In 1.5 days you won't have time to tour the chateaux, the vineyards and the caves (if you desire all three) and also see the Abbey d'Fontevreaud. And Tours has a distinct lack of charm for France generally and the Valley specifically.

There are trains from Tours to Avignon just about every hour all day long

Maybe in the summer. I used www.tgv.com to see if one could avoid changing stations in Paris, plugging in Tours and Avignon for a December itinerary. But www.voyages-sncf.com gives the same information. A change must be made in Marne-la-Vallée, or Paris proper, or CDG.

Hmmmm...I just picked an arbitrary date, a Wednesday, in February, and got a 9:36 train, a 10:03, an 11omething, and so forth, all day long (using www.voyages-sncf). I chose Paris - toutes gares and Avignon - toutes gares.

Paris, not Tours?