Is there a pass available for visiting the various chateaux in the Loire (similar to the British Heritage Pass)?

I have found this information online about something called a Passeport Val de Loire a.k.a. "La Clé des Temps."

<The handy Passeport Val de Loire (130F/€19.82) contains ten entrance vouchers which allow you to visit ten national monuments in the Loire Valley over the course of a year. At some monuments, you may use the vouchers to admit friends or family, and, since the passport is not personal, you can lend it to another person. You may purchase the passport at any participating site, including the châteaux at Angers, Azay-le-Rideau, Chambord and Chaumont, George Sand's residence at Nohant-Vic and the Abbaye de Fontevraud: a full list of sites is available at www.monuments-france.fr .> (That link doesn't work for me.)

I think the price is now 25€ and the covered chateaux are

> Château d'Angers
> Abbaye de Fontevraud
> Château d’Oiron
> Château de Fougères-sur-Bièvre
> Château d’Azay-le-Rideau
> Cloître de la Psalette à Tours
> Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire
> Château de Talcy
> Château de Chambord
> Château de Chateaudun

As you can see, some of the major ones like Chenonceaux, Blois, Amboise are not covered but I would think that if you were going to visit 3 or 4 of those listed it would be worth it. And it sounds like you might be able to use the passeport for two or more people visiting the same chateau. If I learn any more I'll post again.

Thank you, Betty, for your reply. I couldn't click on the link either, but I did see the information on a couple of the individual chateau websites.

Looks to be quite a deal, getting 10 entries for 25 Euros, instead of 6 Euros or so each normally. (Although I realize they're not all included.)

I really appreciate your help!

You're welcome, swisshiker. I think that link was supposed to be (or has changed to) http://www.monuments-nationaux.fr/ This site has lots of good info about these castles as well as many other monuments, but I could not find any mention there of this "passeport."

I'll be in the Loire with eight others this June and was wanting to find out if all nine of us could be admitted to the same chateau with one such ticket. If so, I'd just buy one for each of those chateaux we wanted to visit and that would be a very good deal, at less than 3€ per personne. I guess I'll just have to ask when we get there.

Yes, I thought the same thing. There are 4 adults in our party, so we'd probably get at least a couple of those passes as we will be in the Loire for a week (mid-April).

Ah! My good luck that you're going before me! Do post back here and let us know if you buy that pass and whether it was possible to use it for several people at the same chateau. I'm sure I am not the only one who would be interested.

Good idea, Betty! Will do!

I couldn't get that link to work, but it is on this one
www.chateauxtourisme.com

I don't actually think is is very useful for most people, as it costs 25 euro and the chateaux covered on it are not the ones most people go to, except for Chambord. If you do plan to go to four on that list, you would about break even, but most people would not. Most of those entries are only 6.5 euro.

You might go to Chambord and Azay-le-Rideau, only two of them.

oh, the website makes it clear that you cannot use it for several people at the same chateaux. Basically, they give you one coupon for each of the chateaux on the list.

I've also heard about a national monuments pass that is annual, but hardly any of the chateaux are actually national monuments. I think most are private. I can't find any info on that now on the French national monuments website, anyway.

hi, swisshiker,

as well as the two already mentioned, i would certaily try to go to angers [the tapestry plus the gardens are worth the visit] and fontavraud for the plantaganets and the garden.

chaumant has a garden festival every year [spotting a theme here?] in the grounds which you might be interested in. the chateau itself isn't very interesting but when we were there, it had a stunning exhibition of silk flowers.

regards, ann

Thanks, Christina, for that link. Lots of good information there! (Hot air ballooning for 190 E per person - yikes!)

Well, if the pass can't be used from person to person, then we'll probably not get it. Even though we're there a week, I'm thinking our brains may go into chateau freeze if we visit 10 of them. However, the breakeven point would be 5, so perhaps.

annhig - we'll definitely be visiting Angers. We were there about 5 years ago, so this place is high on our return list. And I love flowers and gardens, so I've taken note of your recommendations!

Thanks to all of you!

hi again, swisshiker,

if you like gardens, then don't miss villandry - the archetypal potager.

regards, ann

Well, that's too bad. Thanks for that website, Christina. The paragraph I copied is obviously out-of-date so I wonder if they changed the rules recently because too many were trying to do what I was suggesting.

Christina's website does say "Valable un an dès la première utilisation, en vente dans les monuments ci-dessus à l'exception de Chambord et Chaumont.
Le passeport n’est pas nominatif mais il n’est utilisable que par une seule personne à la fois. Il y a dans le passeport un seul coupon pour chacun des monuments."

However, I did look up entrance fees for the 4 on that list that I am hoping to visit and found Chambord 9.50€, Angers 7.50€, Azay-le-Rideau 7.50€ and Abbaye de Fontevraud 5.50€. That comes to 30€ total so if we do visit all of those the passeport would still save each person 5€. (whoopee!) Ah well, every little bit helps, right?

oh, sure it's worth it if you know you'll be visiting four of them. I didn't think most people go to Fontevraud and Angers isn't usually on the same itinerary as Chambord, etc. for most people. But I really liked Angers myself, but did it as a day trip from Paris.