PalenQ

It is easy to do the Loire, whatever that means sans car and I have done it many times - I go by bike but for most the many many mini-bus tours that leave from towns like Amboise and Tours and presumbly Chinon take you on half-day or full day jaunts to some of the best of the Loire castles. So to say you cannot do justice to the Loire sans car is just misinformation.

And if Chinon does not offer these then a short train or bus ride to Tours will hook them up with any of several companies offering mini-bus tours from the train station there.

I will see if I can drag up some of the companies.

lalecture

All the input is extremely helpful. It seems like our itinerary needs to be altered if we are to travel by train from Loire to dordogne. I see what st cirq means about takin train from Paris straight to dordogne. The only chink in that is we want to tour France in a sort of circle, ending in Paris. We have a flat in Paris for 5 days at the end of the trip. We could travel eith clockwise or counter clockwise. I don't think it matters that much.
Our goal in taking the train has more to do with experiencing the culture and people than anything else. And maybe avoiding a long drive.

PalenQ

It seems like our itinerary needs to be altered if we are to travel by train from Loire to dordogne- well it is a fairly straight forward trip by train though it will take about six hours from Tours to Sarlat - only one change of train at Lilbourne - six hours may seem long but you can go from Loire to Dordoge in that time - going back to Paris and taking train will be just as long.

PalenQ

http://www.tours-tourisme.fr/en/sejo...minibus-1.html

Here is the Tours Tourist Office offerings of mini-bus tours to various Loire chateaus - easy to get to Tours from Chinon by train or bus - and do not neglect at least a few hours in Tours itself - check out the videos of this interesting town with a really neat Old Town with a plethora of nice restaurants.