gj05

My wife and I are planning to spend a week in the Loire Valley in April 2012. Having never been there before, we're hoping we can seek the wisdom of fellow forumites on the options for getting around. We will hire a car if we have to but were wondering if it is possible to base ourselves in Chinon and do day trips from there by train? (We'd rather stay in one place than move every few days).
From the little I've read so far, we're thinking of keeping the Chateau visits to say Chambord, Chenonceau and perhaps Blois? The plan was just to spend the rest of our time enjoying the region as best we can. We both love exploring (walking around) the towns we visit and taking it all in ... well, as much as we can in a week! (We have no plan to try to see "everything". Just want to relax and enjoy our holiday).
Are we being absolutely crazy for even thinking that train-ing is an option?
Would also be grateful for any other suggestions any of you might have for particular towns you think are worth visiting and foods/wines we should definitely not miss.

BigRuss

No. You cannot take a train from Chinon to Chambord or Chenonceau. Staying in Chinon will mean you're way on the wrong side of Tours from Chambord, Chenonceau and Blois.

Stay in or around Amboise, which is further east and has a nice chateau of its own. You can see Chenonceau and Chambord in a day by car (Chenonceau is relatively small) and consider the chateaux at Amboise (take the carriage exit), Cheverny (the basis for Marlinspike Hall in the Tintin series), and Blois. You'll still have time to see the region without rushing.

One place to visit west of Amboise (and Tours) is the Abbey de Fontevreaud. Look it up to see why.

Sarastro

Actually you can take the train to Chenonceaux (via Tours) but it will consume a lot of your valuable vacation time. You can also take the train to Blois from where you can take a bus to Chambord (but again, travelling this way takes time).

If I were to visit the Loire Valley without a car, I would stay in either Tours or Blois from where you can easily take one of the many minibus tours to various châteaux. More information is available here:

http://www.bloispaysdechambord.com/
http://www.ligeris.com/

If I had a car, I would avoid Amboise and its hordes of tourists and stay at the nearby Auberge de Launay, a very charming location with an excellent restaurant:

http://www.aubergedelaunay.com/index.html

I might also consider a base in Loches which is very charming and an interesting visit itself:

http://www.loches-tourainecotesud.com/

Dukey1

The last time we were in that part of the Loire we actually took the train to Blois from Paris (you could also do so to Tours from Paris..ultimately a shorter trip) and rented a car and we DID stay in Amboise because even though you are going to find a LOT of so-called tourists...just like YOU...in ALL of these popular places, at least in Amboise we had found a hotel we really wanted to stay in.

I agree that going to Chenonceau by rail is possible and that it takes a lot of time as opposed to it being an EASY drive. Chambord is out in the sticks and either do it on one of the various bus tours you can get from Blois or Amboise or Tours or rent a car.

If you are relatively near Tours you might at least consider Villandry especially if you like gardens.

Frankly, I think you should re-think the possibility of a car rental because it will make your sightseeing time MUCH more efficient.

avalon

I would not even consider it without a car. Driving in France is great I prefer it to driving here at home. My perswonal preference is to stay at a country monor house or chateau so I can have as much wine with my dinner as I want.We have enjoyed 3 stas at Le Domaine des Hauts de Loire. Every thing was in reasonable driving distance and the rooms and food are lovely!

jamikins

I would definitely recommend driving - it gives you so much more flexibility and gets you to many more places.

We spent 4 days there in June of this year and it was lovely. We chose to stay in Loches and were so happy we did. They have a lovely market, a few great restaurants and was a very pretty town. Its a bit farther afield, but we saw Chambord and Chenonceau with no problem.

You can read our trip report and see our pics here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ance-again.cfm

gj05

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. Really appreciate you taking the time. Guess we'll start looking into rental cars!

nytraveler

You really ned to rent a car to visit the Loire. Many of the chateaux are in very tiny towns with essentially no pubic transit (perhaps 1 bus a day) and trying to get around by train will be extremely time-consuming and frustrating -even to those places that have train service.

If you really don;t want to drive yourselves consider siging up for a series of tours by van.

Christina

I did it without a car, it is very possible. If all you want to do is visit a couple chateaux and walk around whatever town you plan to stay in, there is no problem with that. YOu only need a car if you want to do more and drive around the countryside. I stayed in Tours as it had the best public transport and took the train or bus to several chateaux from there, it wasn't difficult at all (Chenonceau, Blois, Amboise and Azay le Rideau). That was actually enough chateaux for me, I'm not overtly fascinated in big stone houses and a lot of them are not furnished or refurbished especially. I believe I took the bus to Amboise as it had a better schedule.

It really depends what you want to do with your time and want to see. I was interested in seeing Tours in and of itself and am not that keen on staying in country manors.

annhig

well, I'm in the car group. you'll see a lot more IMHO than if you rely on public transport, and have more choice of where to stay - there are chateaux that do B&B for example.

to the list of "must sees" above, can I add Villandry? not for the chateaux itself, but for the garden - google it to see why.

Michel_Paris

I'll ditto on the car. I rented in Paris, drove to Fontainbleau, then started east to west along the Loire valley. At the end I looped back to Paris via Chartres and Giverny.
The benefit of a car is the ability to stop wherever I wanted, to explore side roads, vineries, caves,etc.. I also went to many Son et Lumieres shows at the chateaux. Wherever I was at the end of the day I looked for a hotel.

Driving was easy, even the cities were not too bad for finding way around. Part of the good memories of the trip was taking off down small country roads and exploring and getting lost (pre GPS days).

Total trip time for me was ~10 days.

PalenQ

No. You cannot take a train from Chinon to Chambord or Chenonceau. Staying in Chinon will mean you're way on the wrong side of Tours from Chambord, Chenonceau and Blois.>

Well you certainly can take a train from Chinon via Tours to Chenonceau - schedules are spotty but there definitely is service - buses may be substituted for trains on some Chinon to Tours services.

For Chambord you could take a train from Chinon to Blois - easily done via a change at Tours or St-Pierre-des-Crops (the real main train station in Tours) and in season there are shuttle buses from Blois train station to Chambord and also spotty local buses that you should not depend on.

I agree Amboise makes a much better utilitarian base for the three castles you want to see plus Amboise also has a neat old castle and other sites like the Clos Luce, Leonardo da Vinci's house where he died and a now a museum to him and his inventions.

You could even rent bikes and ride about a dozen miles or so thru a nice forest from Amboise to Chenonceau

And from Amboise there are several mini-bus shuttles to many many Loire castles, including Chambord, to many the most magnificent if not beautiful of all Loire castles - Chenonceaux usually takes the beauty list (though to me Azay-le-Rideau is tops! - beauty in the eye of the beholder.

PalenQ

BigRuss is technically correct that you cannot take a train from Chinon to Chenonceau as trains from Chinon to Tours are currently having buses substituted for the trains - the buses are run by the railway so it is a thru train ticket - there are several bus-rail links daily taking about 2.25 hours to reach Chenonceaux castle - slow-moving for sure.

Check out the mini-bus tours from Chinon, similar to Amboise, that will take you effortlessly to various castles - they are just a shuttle bus and not a guided tour, providing reasonable inexpensive transportation to the castle gates.

For more info on French trains check out these sites - www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com. Check www.voyages-sncf.com for schedules and various fares.

Davethecat65

We also did it with a car which we rented from Avis at the St Pierre Des Corps train station.

We really liked Clos Luce, Leonardo's chateau in Amboise. Unlike some, it's not enormous (unless you also tour the gardens and grounds) and is very well furnished, plus you get to see replicas of his inventions. That in itself is pretty mind blowing.

PalenQ

French railways have always IME had an Train + Auto plan including train ticket (for ex to St-Pierre-des-Corps, Tours mainline train station in the suburbs to the south two miles) and AVIS car rental awaiting you at a station. Not sure of pricing but could be a good deal it seems - even though other rental agencies at St-Pierre-des-Corps are just opposite the station with the AVIS plan thru French Railways I think you can return the car at other stations and then train on your way. say like driving to Blois and returning from there to Paris.