Amboise v. Blois
 

A friend is coming to visit next month and we're taking him to visit the Loire Valley. The first few nights we're staying in Angers (for Angers itself, Fontevraud, Saumur, etc). The next two nights are a coin toss: Amboise or Blois. Which would be a better base town? We're going to visit Chenonceau and Chambord then (after checking out in the morning) take the back roads up to Chartres for lunch and to visit the cathedral before driving home to Brussels.
Thanks!

Hi BTilke. Nice to see you're making it back to Angers. Have you been on the Cointreau liqueur tour there?

You've picked a tough question. My first inclination is to say Amboise because it's a smaller town and will be a nice contrast to larger Angers. However I'm usually a bigger city person and Blois is larger.

With Blois I liked the history around the castle. It's more of a "real" castle and not as much a pleasure palace like many of the Loire chateaux. (Amboise's has a lot of history too.) I liked the museum of WWII resistance, the magic museum was interesting and the main pedestrian shopping street was very nice.

If in Amboise don't forget the Clos de Luce and the Enchanted House. The Enchanted House is a quirky, privately owned museum. It's a little tricky to find. You go in through a courtyard that looks like an abandoned parking lot. It has several rooms that are overflowing with toys, mechanical toys, dolls, puppets and anything else you might think of in that vein.

Blois is a bit more centrally located for your trips to Chenonceau and Chambord and closer to Chartres as you depart. Not that things are terribly far apart in the eastern Loire valley.

Guess I haven't helped much. Wish I had you dilemma! :-)

For me the choice would be very easy. I have been to both Amboise and Blois and would much prefer the small town charm of Amboise to the bigger city of Blois. Although the castle at Blois makes an interesting visit I found the city to be very ordinary. I am planning to return to Amboise but have no desire to see Blois again.

Larry J

BTilke,
We spent a week in the Loire in early June, beginning in Tours and used two 3 night bases, the first in Amboise and the second in the west in Saumur to do wine tasting, visit the Cadre Noir and spend time in wonderful Angers for the Angers chateau, Apocalypse tapestry, Chateau de Brissac, Fontevraud and also to do the Cointreau thing. On our move east to west we managed to see Chinon, Azay-le Rideau and Langeais.
On the eastern side we did travel to Blois for the chateau and cathedral visit but were very happy we made our base in Amboise at the elegant and just about perfect Le Manoir les Minimes right below the Chateau. We enjoyed Amboise' s small town flavor and found it a fine base to do all our touring on that side, to Chambord, Loches, Chaumont sur Loire, Chenonceau, Cheverny-the last 2 being our favorites, by far. Like Larry, I'd enjoy returning to Amboise but have no real desire to do Blois again.

Hi Indytravel and Maribel,
Thanks for the info. I think we'll go with Amboise, as we want to try the restaurant Le Manoir St. Thomas for Sunday lunch (unfortunately, it's not open Sunday or Monday nights, when we'll be there). As you pointed out, the small town atmosphere of Amboise will make a nice contrast to the city buzz of Angers, where we spent nearly two weeks last Oct/Nov.

Oops, sorry LarryJ, I didn't mean to overlook your input. Sounds like Amboise get unanimous approval!