SashaFierce

My fiancé and I are planning a 2-week honeymoon in France, beginning with 5 days in the Loire and spending the rest of our time in Paris. We selected the Loire for the first leg of our trip because we wanted to start off with somewhere that was relaxing and not too far from Paris. Plus, we both love wine and have been drinking and loving a ton of Loire Valley wine this past year.

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around where we should stay during our trip. We both really like the idea of hopping around to several different towns/cities to get a feel for a variety of areas in the region, but we certainly don't want to spend hours on end driving from point A to point B. Here is my initial itinerary:

Day 1: Land in CDG in the morning. Rent a car and drive to somewhere near Blois/Cour-Cheverny. See Chateau de Chambord.
Day 2: Spend the day relaxing at Domaine des Hauts de Loire, have dinner there, stay overnight
Day 3: Stay in/near Vouvray (see Chenonceau this day)
Day 4: Stay in Chinon
Day 5: Stay in Saumur
Day 6: Drive to Paris

How does this sound, to someone who has been here before?

PalenQ

I'd consolidate one-night stands to two bases - Amboise for Chambord and Chenonceau and Vouvray

Chinon for Saumur

otherwise spend a lot of time relocating.

And you could take train CDG to St-Pierre-des-Corps (Tours main station) as may be jet-lagged and pick up car there for short drive to Amboise -to me the nicest utilitarian base possible for first part.

Similar return car in St-P-Corps and blast into Paris sans car and hassles endemic with that.

Anyway think about trains - book own tickets online at www.voyages-sncf.com-check www.seat61.com for lots on that - general info trains and Loire check also www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

If driving back to Paris from Saumur check out Chartres on the way.

Christina

There is no need for you to be moving hotels so often. Saumur and Chinon aren't that far apart, why would you do that in that case? They are only about 35 km apart!

I agree about the car thing, I wouldn't drive to the Loire nor from the Loire to Paris at all. I'd take the train to/from St Pierre des Corps. YOu can get a direct train from CDG to there. In fact, presuming you can drive a manual, you could probably rent it in Blois and save one day's rental cost.

StuDudley

Staying in a different hotel/location every night for 6 straight nights does not sound relaxing to me. We did that on our first trip to Europe in 1977 - and my wife almost divorced me. You start with a 2 1/2 hr drive after landing at CDG (jet lag?), and end with a 3 1/2 drive that finishes in Paris. Have you ever driven into Paris??? Also, I hope you love chateaux. We do - and we've spent about 8 weeks exploring the chateaux of the Loire. We've also spent over 3 years total visiting other regions in France. IMO, the Loire countryside is not nearly as scenic as the other places we've visited. None of the larger cities (Tours, Blois, Angers) would be in the top 70% of similarly sized cities we've visited. And of the smaller towns - only Chinon would be in the top 70%. But if you love chateaux - then this does not matter. Some people get "chateaued out" after about 5. Don't forget the garden at Villandry (forget the chateau there).

>> We selected the Loire for the first leg of our trip because we wanted to start off with somewhere that was relaxing and not too far from Paris. Plus, we both love wine<<

I mentioned the 2 1/2 hr drive to the Loire and the 3 1/2 hr drive to Paris. Do you realize that you can take the TGV train to Provence & be there in 3 hrs, and get back to Paris in 2 3/4 hrs? We find trains to be very relaxing - especially after a long flight. They have wine in Provence too (Chateauneuf du Pape/Cote du Rhone). There are perhaps 2 dozen villages in Provence that would be in my "top 20%", and 3 cities in my "top 20%". If you're planning your trip for late June or July - the lavender will be in bloom.

Stu Dudley

Underhill

Big question: what time of the year?

PalenQ

Yeh taking trains to say Blois or S=P=d=Corps and back to Paris will give you at least a day more in the Loire.

Bourgeuil was the largest collection of vineyards I saw in many trips all over Loire - Vouvray neater because of caves and nice little town there. Do both if wine lovers. When driving along Loire check out "champignons" signs as it means you can stop and see how mushrooms are cultivated in the numerous caves hewn out of limestone (?) ridges along Loire.

It is far easier and quicker to take train CDG direct to S-P-d-C - then pick up car - Blois would take another hour or so.

SashaFierce

Noted on the train issue - we'll take the train to Tours! We'll be going in late May. @StuDudley, we considered for a long time whether to go to Provence or Loire but ultimately wanted to save Provence for a longer trip where we could really do it justice.

It sounds like Chinon may be the best bet for a place to stay West of Tours, and perhaps Amboise for the area to the east?

JulieVikmanis

Check out Chateau de Rochecotte in St. Patrice as an alternative to staying in Chinon. The hotel with restaurant is fantastic.

PalenQ

Noted on the train issue - we'll take the train to Tours!>

Well to St-Pierre-des-Corps in Tours not Tours in-town deadend station - SPC is well out of an oft congested Tours and on way to Amboise or Chinon.

PalenQ

late-May is perfect IMO - everything so green and lush and places like Amboise with much fewer tourists than in mid-summer - Amboise has its own great chateau - looming high above the river and the Clos de Luce -Leonardo da Vinci's final dwelling place when Francois Ier enticed the aging Leonardo here as a literally bringing the Renaissance to France - today many of his inventions are on display at the estate, just a short walk from the chateau.

Unique digs literally to stay in in Amboise are troglydyte B&Bs dug into limestone ridges, with some right behind the chateau. No AC needed! With a car there are dozens and dozens of cave B&Bs in vicinity of Amboise.

https://www.google.com/search?q=trog...w=1536&bih=759

Even a stroll down a troglydyte street behind the chateau could be fun - some are restaurants I believe.

geetika

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

We spent a week in the Loire this September, we stayed about 15 kms from Amboise and found it central enough to make day trips as far east as Chambord and west to Fontvraud Abbey and Chinon. I'd advise against shifting bases so often, IMO you don't even really need 2 bases to cover the places you want to see.

Since you like wine I strongly recommend winery visits in Vouvray and Chinon/Bourgeuil. Vouvray has an excellent sparking wine and we opened a bottle of this most evenings before graduating to reds later on, bliss!

There's a wine cooperative just outside Chinon where you can sample produce from several local vitners. In Vouvray we had a very enjoyable visit and wine tasting at Maison Peltier, call in advance for an appointment. (maisonpeltier.fr)

As for the castles Chenonceau of course, and Chambord. Villandry for the gardens, we didn't even go inside. As Stu says the Loire isn't particularly scenic or beautiful, except for a few stretches here and there. But we greatly enjoyed wandering around the little towns, most days we'd try the prix fixe lunch special at one of the local restaurant. Almost always very good and excellent value, a three or four course meal with wine for under 20 euros.

bigtyke

I'd stay the first three nights in Onzain, no need to change to Vouvray. Chenonceau is close enough to Onzain

annhig

honestly I would pick just one place to stay and stick to it. The area of the Loire that you can see in 4 days is not so large that you need to change hotels, and staying in one place is far more relaxing than moving about.

That said, I would never want to dissuade someone from spending time in Paris but have you thought that possibly the 9 or so days you've dedicated to Paris on this trip might be a bit much? You might have a better balanced trip were you to extend the non-Paris part - which would give you longer for the Loire where your 4 days will soon be eaten up by castle and garden visiting, not to mention vineyards. Then it might be worth splitting your trip into western and eastern bases.

PalenQ

After umpteen trips to Loire when living once in Orleans off and on for several years I think the Loire is perhaps over-romanticized and after a few days becomes rather un-awesome. Folks doing wine treks will surprisingly find few vineyards relative to other French wine disricts and after a few chateaus...the countryside in between rather boring.

4 days to me would be enough. But if really into history of the place and chateaus well then but for average traveler I think a few chateaus are enough.

jerseysusan

I recently spent a week in the Loire Valley with my son. We split our time between Amboise and Chinon. We actually spent a night in a chateau near Amboise. We loved there, so beautiful, and the food was delicious. As it's your honeymoon this might be an option you'ld like to consider. This is where we stayed

https://www.google.com/search?source....0.i5ldUWLOJoU

PalenQ

And many here have raved about their stays at the Chateau de Pray,
within walking distance of Amboise chateau:

http://www.chateauxhotels.co.uk/chateau-de-pray-11

If two bases Chinon and Amboise would be my choices.

burta

Our surprise on visiting the Loire a few years ago was that Chenonceaux has its own wine, and quite good at that. We happened onto a tiny little restaurant on a side street next to the Amboise castle, and it was available there. The owner didn't have enough to sell us bottles, but referred us to the chateau. There is a little wine shop on the chateau property. It's not open all the time, but if it is when you are there, you might try the wine. At that time, the wine was only available there. Perhaps this has changed.

PalenQ

Chenonceaux the town has its own AOC wine designation:

http://www.touraineloirevalley.co.uk...nes-is-growing

Sue_xx_yy

You can buy the wine produced at Chenonceau at the Carrefour (supermarket) in Amboise.

bilboburgler

For wine there are some interesting options

In Muscadet the tiny AC of Le Pallet and the two joined sub ACs are doing some fantastic things to the pretty horrible Muscadet grape, think medium level Chablis for the price of Petit Chablis.

Coming east then the whole Saumur, Saumur Champigny, Champigny ACs roll into view, not the greatest wines in the world but they drink well and the taste of privet hedge is exceptional. Their white (chenin and fizz) are ok. Wine tasting on the docks saves on travelling

More interesting Chenin is Quart de Chaume.

Chinon is big in America so you probably will visit it, but Bourgueil and St Nich-B next door are more interesting and better value.

Vouvray is very good with the COOP offering good fizz but some of the smaller producers are worth visiting if they are open.

The correct behaviour is, if the tasting is not free, then buy something, they just gave you some of their time, you should pet for it somehow, a little sweety, a box of glasses.

Don't miss out Quincy Sauvignon Blanc while in the area.

I could go on.