Chateau de Chambord Review

Read our Loire Valley sights reviews. Or post your own.

Château de Chambord

Fodor's Review:

The "Versailles" of the 16th century and the largest of the Loire châteaux, the Château de Chambord is the kind of place William Randolph Hearst might have built if he'd had the money. Variously dubbed "megalomaniacal" and "an enormous film-set extravaganza," this is one of the most extraordinary structures in Europe, set in the middle of a royal game forest, with just a cluster of buildings—barely a village—across the road. With a facade that is 420 feet long, 440 rooms and 365 chimneys, a wall 32 km (20 mi) long to enclose a 13,000-acre forest (you can wander through 3,000 acres of it; the rest is reserved for wild boar and other game), this is one of the greatest buildings in France. Under François I, building began in 1519, a job that took 12 years and required 1,800 workers. His original grandiose idea was to divert the Loire to form a moat, but someone (perhaps his adviser, Leonardo da Vinci, who some feel may have provided the inspiration behind the entire complex) persuaded him to make do with the River Cosson. François I used the château only for short stays; yet when he came, 12,000 horses were required to transport his luggage, servants, and entourage. Later kings also used Chambord as an occasional retreat, and Louis XIV, the Sun King, had Molière perform here. In the 18th century Louis XV gave the château to the Maréchal de Saxe as a reward for his victory over the English and Dutch at Fontenoy (southern Belgium) in 1745. When not indulging himself with wine, women, and song, the marshal planted himself on the roof to oversee the exercises of his personal regiment of 1,000 cavalry. Now, after long neglect—all the original furnishings vanished during the French Revolution—Chambord belongs to the state.

There's plenty to see inside. You can wander freely through the vast rooms, filled with exhibits (including a hunting museum)—not all concerned with Chambord, but interesting nonetheless—and lots of Ancien Régime furnishings. The enormous double-helix staircase (probably envisioned by Leonardo, who had a thing about spirals) looks like a single staircase, but an entire regiment could march up one spiral while a second came down the other, and never the twain would meet. But the high point here in more ways than one is the spectacular chimneyscape—the roof terrace whose forest of Italianate towers, turrets, cupolas, gables, and chimneys have been compared to everything from the minarets of Constantinople to a bizarre chessboard. The most eye-popping time to see this roof is at night, when the château is spectacularly illuminated with slide projections; the presentation, called "Les Claires de Lune," is free and held nightly during July and August from 10 PM to midnight. During the year there's a packed calendar of activities on tap, from 90-minute tours of the park in a 4x4 vehicle (EUR 15) to guided tours on bike or horseback. A soaring three-story-tall hall has been fitted out to offer lunches and dinners.

  • Cost: EUR 9.50
  • Open: Apr.-Sept., daily 9-6:15; Oct.-Mar., daily 9-5:15
Find more sights in The Loire Valley »

Member Reviews and Ratings

Add your own review

Get Advice From Other Travelers

Visit the Travel Talk forums for help on planning your trip



Get the Fodor's Newsletter

For more travel ideas, tips, and deals, sign up for the Fodor's newsletter here. Read the current issue. Browse previous issues.




Copyright © 2009 Fodor's Travel, a division of Random House, Inc.