Hi all! Thanks so much for everyone's help so far...I've made a lot of progress in just a few days.

My next question is, where are the best areas to be in the Loire at night? We don't need "nightlife" per se, but what are the best towns that have cafes open at night (until around 10 PM) and a bustling atmosphere? Ideally we'd like somewhere that is visually pleasing where we can have a cafe creme and take in the surroundings, whether it's a chateau, the Loire river, or a charming town.

Thanks in advance,
Anna

Don;t know when you'll be there but many of the chateaux have interesting - some spectacular - son et lumiere performances at night. I would check the scheduled of those while you're there. (They generally happen only certain nights.)

We found that most of the smaller towns roll up VERY early (at least to a New Yorker). We closed a bunch of restaurants at 10:15 or 10:30. But perhaps one of the larger ones has something open later.

Every town in the Loire will have cafés open at night and a more or less bustling atmosphere depending on the time of year. Things will be open way later than 10 pm. People don't normally eat dinner in the summer until 8 or 9 pm, and it stays light much longer than that. I don't think this will be an issue.

If it's a river view you want, Amboise and Blois would be good choices.

When are you going? Several of the chateaux have son et lumiere shows - but only in July and August.

We'll be there in October, so I guess we'll need to look at other options.

As I have said in your other post, we were in the Loire Valley last year in mid-October. We stayed in Amboise. I don't think the town was very happening at night. True, people were out having dinner at 8pm but the only places we saw people were <i>inside</i> the restaurants or cafes, but not walking on the streets (unless they're walking to/from the restaurants).

Most cafes have outdoor tables during the day when the sun is out, but it does get nippy in the evening so I don't recall cafes having outside tables in the evening.

hi, anamikamc,

Saumur was pretty lively [for a loire town] when we stayed there a few years ago.

Angers and Tours would be much livelier at night, as would orleans.

if your witching hour is 10pm, you shouldn't have too much difficulty finding a bar with a cafe and digestif - it might be a little cold that time of night to sit outside.

regards, ann

... Sundays in small towns will be very quiet, and many restaurants will be closed.