PalenQ

Amboise's chateau is neat too and has a lot of history behind it, being home to Francois 1er who brought an aging Leonardo da Vinci to Amboise as kind of a metaphorical bringing of the Rennaissance to France.

PalenQ

Loches' chateau is quite unlike the other Loire chateaux which were mainly built for pleasure and good looks but Loches is a real chateau-fort - defensive castle with ramparts, etc.

It is not the prettiest chateau in the Loire but to me the riveting attraction was inside -the notorious Hanging Cages of Louix XIV where in a dark dank dungeon he literally hung some of his enemies out for years in cages hung from the ceiling that were so short inmates could not even stand up.

There was a replica of such a cage hanging in Loches' dungeon when I visited.

Loches is a fairly untouristed town for the Loire - if time visit Loches!

PalenQ

One thing that seems so intrtusive on the Loire Valley near Chinon is EDF's (Electricite de France) huge nuclear reactor - a different kind of monument and one that can be seen for kilometres away - quite a contrast this modern-day monument to the ancient chateaus!

https://nuclear-energy.net/nuclear-p...chinon-b1.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=chin...w=1745&bih=864

France of course gets a large mahority of its electricty from nuclear plants -perhaps more than any country in the world?

Scootoir

I did not care much for Tours where we picked up a rental car on our first trip to the Loire and would stay in Amboise or at a chateau hotel.

We enjoyed our stay at the Chateau de Rochecotte: https://www.chateau-de-rochecotte.fr/en/

I thought the Chateau d'Artigny looked beautiful for a future visit:
http://www.grandesetapes.com/en/cast...yAAEgJntfD_BwE

candj83

Thank you for the great suggestions! I will do some more research and make a shortlist of these ideas to keep in our pocket so we can visit if time allows. Really appreciate it!

PalenQ

Tours evokes vastly different responses here - some love it some don't - it is a large city with really no lovely Loire areas and is a pain driving into and out of.

Yes an Amboise would for many be much nicer and better located for chateaus most folk gravitate to.

WeisserTee

We have a soft spot for Vendôme, which never seems to get much traction here. A pretty town to wander around, a very nice hotel, some shopping (but not a lot), on the Loir rather than the Loire. We think it makes a much less touristy base than Amboise (the city we've liked least on our LV trips, but others here prefer it).

The hotel: http://www.hotelvendome.fr/

And of course, Angers. The first French city I ever visited and still one of my favorites.

StuDudley

Vendome is indeed a pleasant town to visit. Non-touristy. We spent most of a day there. It's not very centrally located to the places you plan on visiting, however. But still - don't visit in on a Sunday or Monday.

Stu Dudley

PalenQ

Chateaudun is a similar town to Vendome IME and has a rather nice chateau with few tourists.

But yes not centrally located either.

candj83

Funny you should bring that up because I have ironically started to second-guess our decision to base in Tours. I think we would really enjoy the old part of the city in the evenings but I am concerned the driving may be a bit stressful from everything I've heard. The only experience we've had driving in a large city in France has been Paris on our last trip when we returned our rental car. It was a bit stressful since we missed our turn and had to loop around to get back while finding ourselves in the middle of a lot of traffic. I don't know how Tours compares but I know that I don't want to add any unnecessary stress to our holiday. Besides those problems we found driving in France to be a wonderful experience. I've read such mixed feedback on Amboise I'm really not sure about it either. My gut tells me that I think we'd probably prefer Chinon but two of our three touring days involve chateaux located in the east so it may not be as practical for this trip. I'm going to spend some time on Google maps to see if I can get a better feel for the roads and cities/villages.

WeisserTee, I checked the location of Vendome and Angers and while they sound great, I'm afraid they'd be a bit far out as a base for our limited time and the chateaux we want to visit?

StuDudley

If I had to rank all the larger cities in France that make it into popular guide books - Tours would be at the bottom of the list. The "old town" got heavily bomber in WWII and it was not re-constructed very well. The 3-4 cross-timbered buildings you see in pictures of the "main square", are about the only interesting buildings you see in the entire city (IMO) - except for the church. IMO, Amboise or Chinin would be the best cities to stay in. If you wanted to stay near a chateau instead - Auberge du Bon Laboureur in Chenonceaux would be my choice. You would be the first-in-line at the Chateau when it opens - for sure.

We stayed in a gite near Blois for 2 weeks a few years ago - and Blois is a little difficult to get in & out of.

Stu Dudley

PalenQ

I've been in lots of French large cities that I'd say were not as nice or whatever than Tours -Orleans for one where I had to stay for weeks and weeks as my son grew up there.

And some here on other threads say they liked Tours.

But I agree for a base for Loire for lots of reasons several towns would make better choices, logistically and wow factor.

annhig

Pal got in before me with his suggestion of seeing Richelieu - we just stopped off there one day and after a gentle stroll round the town ended up having the archetypal french meal in a small family hotel there; this is many years ago so no idea whether it still exists!

I was also going to suggest Villandry as a place to visit after Chenonceau. I wouldn't leave the Loire area without seeing it.

PalenQ

Yes Villandry is super for its vast ornate formal gardens if not its chateau:

https://www.google.com/search?q=vill...w=1745&bih=864

annhig

As Pal says, if you go to Villandry, don't bother with the chateau. it's really not worth it. the garden's the thing.