Loire on a budget
 

Hi everyone, quite a while since I last posted but I know what a fantastic help you all are!

Does anybody know the entry prices to the most popular locations?

We've got travel (own car), accommodation and food sorted, but then we are left with a strict budget of 35euros per day, and are based near Tours for a week.

We have a 10 yr old daughter so want to visit the zoo at Doue-la-Fontaine (36 euros!) as well as Samur, Chenonceau (grounds only?), Close-Luce, Amboise and Chambord. She has chosen these areas! (Brought up on a diet of travel and history)

Any ideas for cheap/free days out most welcome. Have picnic and willing to travel. Thanks.

Most places have websites and e-mails. Have you tried that?

Thank you Viajero- now done that - didn't realise they had such comprehensive websites. Had trouble with the one for the zoo, so tried here instead!
Seems prices are within our budget :), but I also wanted personal recommendations for days out eg is the coastline worth a 2 hour drive so we don't get chateauitis? Is the zoo as good as its website claims? I've read which Chateaux are worthy of ex/internal visits. Did anybody else visit with children? What did they enjoy?
Thanks again

Chambord is virtually unfurnished... the staircase (da Vinci?) is interesting and love those 'chimneys' but....
Chenonceau, on the other hand, is very lovely inside and I think it would be an error to only view the exterior. The gardens are nice and typical French execution, but not terrifically 'grand' or anything.
Cheverny is a bit smaller, more intimate also completely furnished.

When we visited the Loire Valley with our 10-year-old son last year, for 3 nights/ 2-and-a-half days, here's the castles we visited. He liked them all, though I think probably liked ___ the best. We stayed outside of Amboise.

Clos Luce (in Amboise) - My son loves everything involving da Vinci, so that was the focus here. The life-sized models of his designs/inventions in the grounds outside are great fun.

Chaumont

Chenenceau - My son liked the maze, which is in the grounds of the chateau

Chambord - This is the biggest chateau, and I think the favorite of all of us. This is the only place where we got an audioguide. My son listened to almost the entire thing.

Cheverny - Interesting because it was lived in so recently.

Fougeres - Interesting because it's the oldest of those we visited, and the only one of those that was built primarily for defensive purposes. Probably my son's second-favorite.

He also loved seeing the houses and wine caves built into the tufa cliffs. There are even some right in Amboise, which you can see as you walk up the main street on the way to Clos Luce.

One wonderful lunch we had (at a place we've been on on a previous visit) was at Les 2 Caves, in Bourre (3 km east of Montrichard on Route D71). The restaurant is a cave carved from the tufa. I didn't write down how much we spent, but I'm guessing it was a budget, but filling, meal. My son loved the cave and the cat wandering around in and outside, and we loved that it was quiet, relaxing, and no tourists.

If you want to see a chateua which is still inhaqbited, has wonderful interior furnishings, and lots of them, AND exquisite gardens go to Villandry.

The outside isn't nearly as spectacular as either Chenonceau or Chambord but overall I think it is worth the drive.