My wife and I will be on our honeymoon december 21-28 and would like to stay at a chateau one night during our trip. We will be in Paris, but would love to see the Loire Valley. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what night to stay in a chateau during that time period? We are worried about chateaux and chateaux tours being closed that time of year. We are also looking very closely at the chateau la bourdaisiere. If anyone has any suggestions on that chateau, that would also be terrific!

..try relais et chateaux

Search under my username, replacing the lowercase word with the appropriate punctuation and you will find a thread on this from '00.
Chateau de Pray was fantastic and central for sightseeing. Stay in the Chateau itself in the ground floor room that has a private entrance from the garden. Pretty special.

-Craig

The website is very nice and we are definately interested in this chateau. The website makes no mention of bathrooms. Are they located within the rooms, or are they shared?? Also, how is the weather that time of year, and what tours are available?

Read the comments on this site - I infer that the rooms are "ensuite"...
http://www.france.com/hotels/hotel.cfm?hotel_id=2579

Personally I would select the Chateau Rochecotte. Half board roughly 280 euros. That is really a bargain considering what a comprable Paris dinner in a similarly elegant setting might cost.

I would probably take the train to Tours and rent a car, then visit Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau and possibly Usse [if there is time] on the way to the hotel. One the next day I would probably consider visiting Montresor, Valencay and Chenonceau on the way to Amboise. There I would drop the car and take a train back to Paris. This not to say that there is not a better place to catch the train.

You would need to check to see what chateaux are open on the particular day, and be prepared to ammend plans [including scrapping the entire idea]if the weather is poor.

Thanks, I think we may actually stay at Rochecotte, I was just worried that it was too far out of the way. Are chateaux opened on the weekends? The final days of our trip, 26th-27th, would be ideal for our trip.
Thanks

RonZ
The 26th and 27th are on a Sun and Mon. would it be possible to leave Paris on Sunday morning, take the train to Tours, rent the car and visit the Chateaux on the way to the hotel on Sunday? We could then stay at Rochecotte on Sunday night and visit the other Chateaux on our way to Ambiose on Monday before heading back to Paris on Tuesday to head back to the States.
When you say bad weather, are you referring to snow???

You would need to check to see when the chateaux you wanted to see were open. As to the weather, I was thinking that negotiating the narrow roads in the area in the midst of a raging storm might not be a lot of fun.

I beleve there is an early train to Tours that arrives before 10am. The chateaus I mentioned are pretty much on the way to the hotel.

I mentioned Valencay because it is one of my favorites, but it is a bit out of the way. Chennonceau is one to definitely try to see. I thought of Amboise for the return, but another might be better.

Since you are planning a December trip, any references to gardens should be taken with a grain of salt. Villandry is interesting because of its garden, which will be dead in that month. Similarly, I do not think that a private "garden" entrance has any particular appeal except that it is private. You are also going when days are very short, which means that hours are probably shortened and you can visit fewer chateaux in one day. But even with long days I would not recommend more than two per day.

One more thought: the provinces can be cold and dreary at that time of the year. The Loire valley is best seen during the warmer months. I would reconsider your plan and think of doing day trips from Paris to visit chateaux: Versailles, Fontainebleau, Vaux-le-Vicomte, etc.

The day trip idea is something we have considered. We are definately going to Versailles. Do you have any other day trip recommedations? Normandy, Champagne, etc?
My wife to be definately would love to stay in a chateaux, but if there is one in another province that has more favorable weather, we would definately be interested. Any suggestions?