Howard

The more I research the Loire chateaux the more I feel we'll want to spend more than a day there on our two-week trip to Paris in May. What's the easiest way to accomplish this without renting a car....and without breaking the bank? I've already contacted French Adventures, Paris Plus, Paris Vision and Tour Evasion, though I'm not sure if they can help. Any suggestions?

dena

Howard,<BR>In order to see many of the chateaux in the Loire, I think it is necessary to have a car. While they are not that far apart, I don't know how you could do it any other way. There may be some bus service, but I'm not sure about that. I think you would enjoy the countryside more if you can stop and go wherever you please. I've been there twice and both times rented a car in Tours. We had taken the fast train from Paris. Good luck with your trip!

Beth

Do rent a car - there is so much more beauty in the Loire than "just" the chateaux. Driving through the middle of a vineyard, or down a road with a vineyard on one side and sunflowers on the other as far as the eye can see - just gorgeous. Try to visit one of the limestone caves - we did one in which mushrooms were being grown, but you can also have dinner in some. The driving is easy, just make sure you keep a good map at hand.

David

I was in the Loire valley by myself last spring for a couple of weeks. I did most of it without a rental car, because I wanted to do wine tasting.<BR><BR>Chateaux easily seen without a rental car are Blois, Amboise, Chinon and Saumur. I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones I saw. Even Chenonceau has a train station, but there is NOTHING else to do there.<BR><BR>Blois would be a great place to position yourself. As I recall busses run to Chenonceau from there. And it's an easy train ride on down to Amboise, which also has the Clos de Luce. That was Da Vinci's residence for the last few years of his life. For that matter Amboise would be a great base.<BR><BR>Use www.sncf.com to check train prices and schedules. They're quite reasonable. The site doesn't list prices out very far, but train fare on a Tuesday next month will be pretty close to the cost of train fare in June this summer.

Chris

We stayed in Tours (took the TGV from Paris) and rented a taxi for a few hours (about $100, if I remember correctly) and did one of the Tour Evasions the next day. Felt we had enough time to go through the chateaux -- but Usse is a time based tour (starts at a certain time -- no wandering around on your own) and is in French (we did that chateau by taxi).

lisa

I took an early TGV from Paris to Tours for the day, and upon arriving in Tours, stopped at a tourist office that I seem to recall was right at the train station. They recommended a guided bus tour which turned out to be very good. We got guided tours of three chateaux with a little time to explore each on our own, and a guided tour of Balzac's house, were driven back to Tours and caught the TGV back to Paris and were back by around 7 or 8 pm. I can't remember which company we used but our guide was a French woman who spoke good English and we thought it was well worth the money. I have also heard of some people biking to the chateaux but we were trying to see as much as possible in only one day so we chose not to go that route.

Howard

Thanks for your responses thus far. They are appreciated. After reading them, hearing from two of the tour companies and doing some more research, we are leaning towards taking the TGV early one morning to Tours, staying overnight in a hotel in Tours and selecting from two of the many options we would have for one-day tours or minivans to the various chateaux.<BR>(After hearing from two of the tour companies, we eliminated that option as being too expensive. The cost would be around $1,000 or more for the two of us!<BR>And, in one case, the tour included stops other than what we wanted.)<BR>I've got a list of over 50 hotels in Tours (from www.france-hotel-guide.com). Unfortunately, however, the list does not include email addresses or individual websites, only phone and fax numbers. I'll keep researching this, but I have question for Chris: How did you find/select your hotel in Tours? Our obvious criteria are the quality of the hotel and its location (i.e., convenient to the station, the pickup point for the tours and other conveniences).

greg

I have also looked into this, I believe I found a company that starts a tour from Tours called ACCO something which I got from Rick Steve's book. I ended up not taking it because it went to more chateaux than I cared for and that it did not return early enough to catch the Sons-et-Lumiere show. Also depending on how many and which chateaux you are planning to visit, you might not even need to take a tour at all. Chenonceau, for example, can be reached by train from Tours.

David

For hotel reservations in France, I like these websites:<BR><BR>www.logis-de-france37.com<BR>www.gaf.tm.fr<BR><BR>They have lots of choices. I usually research hotels on sites like these, then see if I can find an email address or website and contact the hotel directly to book. <BR><BR>Tours is a great choice. It's a major rail hub for the Loire valley and you can easily train to Chenonceau, Chinon, Blois, Amboise, etc. if you can't find a tour you like.<BR><BR>In Tours, the chateaux supposedly isn't that much. I didn't even bother to go there, because I read that it now houses an aquarium. However, the cathedral is spectacular. The Beaux Arts Museum is quite nice too. Has a lovely garden area next to it.

Christina

I've done that exact same thing, a long weekend in Tours to see chateaux without a car, it's very possible. Tours is a hub for both bus and rail transportation, it's not difficult. There are also the specialized bus tours of chateaux, as you've found. I saw Blois, Amboise and Chenonceau easily which, with Tours sightseeing, was plenty for me in a couple days. Oh, I also went to Azay-le-Rideau by train but wouldn't recommend that unless the schedule has changed, the times aren't that convenient and it's about a mile walk from the station. I like seeing other things than just the chateaux in these towns, so also saw churches and other things in both Blois and Amboise. I just did this on my own by finding out the bus/train schedules and reading a guidebook to decide what I wanted to see (Michelin Green). There is a bus from Tours to Chenonceau which is fairly convenient as you get off right at the chateau.<BR><BR>You can find all the schedules and tours etc in the Avignon train station easily enough once you get there. As for hotel, it was important to me to be within walking distance of the bus/rail station, of course. So, I picked a hotel based on location near the station (which I ascertained by using a map) from a guidebook which described them (Frommer's France as I recall). Now with the internet, it's a lot easier. (minor note, I don't think sunflowers bloom in May, anyway, so don't think that matters as to why you have to have a car, they bloom in July)<BR>

David

Oops. I forgot to tell you how I find the hotel e-mail addresses.<BR><BR>Sometimes I just key in the hotel name like www.hotelmoderne.com But be careful, this particular hotel moderne is in St. Dennis, not Tours. It surprises me how often this works.<BR><BR>After that I type the name of the hotel and city into a search engine like www.google.com, www.lycos.com, etc. Then I look at the results and see if I can find the hotel I'm looking for.

Howard

Greg, David and Christina....You guys are great. Thank you all very much. That's just the type of information I'm looking for.<BR>I've a followup question: How can I determine what's a desirable location and what's not in Tours when it comes to picking out a hotel?

David

In Tours, I stayed in the area around the train station. I did it for convenience because I didn't have a car. It actually turned out to be a very pleasant and popular part of town. There's a visitors bureau there and a convention-type venue so it's bustling.<BR><BR>East of the city center down by the river and by the Chateau, Museum of Fine Arts and Cathedral was a nice looking area too, more quite than the train station area.<BR><BR>I walked quite a bit of the city center and didn't ever feel uncomfortable. It all seemed safe.<BR><BR>I use www.shellgeostar.com for mapping. I plug in the hotel address and see where it comes up on the map. As I zoom out I can see if the hotel is near the city center or train station or other big venues. Or most importantly that the hotel isn't out on the bypass road and terribly inconvenient for someone without a car. <BR><BR>

amy

Hi Howard,<BR>It's ironic that we, who always avoid renting a car, did rent a car in the Loire Valley. But when I saw your post having been in Tours, I think it's the ideal location to go "carless."<BR><BR>More specifically, we did the Loire Valley on a Backroads biking trip with a few days pre- and post- on our own. The meeting place to begin the tour was, of course, Tours. Backroads recommended the Univers (as it is referred to on this Fodor's site on the Rants and Raves page)Hotel as good quality with a convenient location to the train station. We would agree. You also have good access to the tourist office and Loire Valley bus tours. Check out this site's Map of Tours for specifics.<BR><BR>The downside is that you end up away from the charming side of town, and we happened to think the cathedral had some beautiful stained glass that's easy to overlook. We thought the little History of Tours museum was a great introduction to the history of the Loire Valley, too.<BR><BR>We rented a car for our post trip to Blois, Chevergny, etc., but nothing is that far away and I think the bus tours are entirely feasible.<BR><BR>Other posters have talked about Amboise and Blois as centers for action, but as much as we enjoyed those towns, we think your options for tours by bus or rail from Tours would be more extensive.<BR><BR>Have a great trip.<BR><BR>Amy

Chris

Hi Howard -- I can't remember how I chose the hotel, probably through Travelocity or Trip.com, something like that (one where I could see photos of the hotel). We stayed near the train station (within walking distance) at a Best Western (it's right across from the bus depot -- which wasn't a problem). It was a little dicey at night, but nothing horrible. I liked the hotel, the staff was really great -- we were stuck there an extra night because of a train strike and wanted to have our own rooms (travel with a friend, even your best friend, can be a bit of a strain). I was given 3 keys and told to take whichever room I preferred.<BR><BR>I believe that if you do a search on the Best Western website, you'll find the hotel -- I think that's where I wound up making the reservations.

Howard

I must be doing something right to get such great responses! Thank you all.<BR>Chris, since my initial question to you, I have been able to locate some very helpful websites. (I did something so obvious, I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. I simply did a search typing in "Hotels in Tours, France"! I found several helpful sights.) And, I have already found info on the hotel you recommended.<BR>Now that we've pretty much decided to go for the two days, staying overnight in Tours, I've a couple followup questions:<BR>1. We are going to Paris May 8-21 and would like to hold off making a hotel reservation in Tours until we're in Paris. The reason: We don't want go if the weather is not "cooperative." Thus, we'd make the reservation once we got the long-range forecast. Do you think we'll be

Howard

Ooops, my fingers strayed....Continuing:<BR>Will we be able to get a room in Tours if we wait until then?<BR>2. Chambord and Chenonceau top our list of must-see chateaux. We decided on two days because we wanted to see more than just those two. I know that Chenonceau is easily reachable by public transportation. What about Chambord and the others? I am trying to figure out which ones we can reach ourselves and which ones I should find tours or minivans for. <BR>Thanks again for all your help. (This why I love this website!)

lisa

Loved Chenonceau and Azay-le-Rideau. Trying to remember which other chateau we saw...

Grasshopper

Howard, would you consider staying in a chateau? It's less expensive than you might thing. We stayed at Chateau de Jallanges in Vouvray which is about a 15 minute drive from Tours. I bet you could taxi to it from the Tours train station. It was a great experience and made the whole chateaux exploration way more fun. There are comments about Jallanges here if you do a search.

Eva

I had 3 tours with Evasion.Villandry- Azey ( I was the only tourist), Chenonceau- Amboise, and Cheverny- Chambord.Even when I was the only pax, I paid the reduced group entrance fee.At the the entrance we were given a detailed English pamphlet.Free time was enough for a visit and to buy postcards etc, but NOT enough to have a coffe, or take a rest in the park.<BR>For the morning tours they wait for the first TGV from Paris.(If they have not enough guests)