Loire Valley, France Help Please
 

We have a week in the Loire Valley, think we want to stay in one place and do day trips. Would appreciate any suggestions as to a good base, would like a village or small town. Does anyone know anything about the town of Saumur, about 3/4hr drive from Angers? Also any suggestions re accommodation, we are thinking of booking a gite? As per usual, thanks in advance for any help!!

Here's a good resource:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/guillonniere/loirevalley/

If there are any places you definitely plan on visiting, that might help decide as to what town to stay in. Saumur would be to far west to be my first choice. But again that depends on what excursions you are planning.

While Saumur is a nice town, it's rather far to do daytrips to chateaux such as Chenonceau, Chambord, Villandry, Amboise, etc. You'll do alot of backtrack driving.I would stay in a more central place in the Loire. When I visited the Loire I stayed in three towns: Amboise, Chinon and Saumur, therefore didn't have too much driving. I was in the area for about 10 days. I'm sure you'll love the Loire Valley, whereever you stay - there is really alot to see.

We stayed in Amboise and found it very central to touring the Chateaux and following the wine route. Amboise is a small city which has a castle, a museum devoted to Leonardo Divinci's inventions and a wonderful Sunday morning market.

Much of the charm of the Loire is doing the local roads/small towns rather than the highways - which means much slower going.

I would either pick a more central town if you really want to stay in one place - or do 3 days in the east and 4 days in the west. That way less driving time and more relaxing, doing/seeing time.