We (12 yr old DD and me) leave for Paris next week and found a reasonable car rental to explore the Loire. I have been to Paris before, but never travelled outside of the city.

I have tried searching with the new forum, but I either get too much or not enough info.

I would like to visit Villandry, Chenonceau, and Cheverny.

Questions:

For lunch, I read about L'Etape Gourmande and it sounds interesting with the farm animals. I emailed them, but no response. Anyone been there lately?

How much time to visit each chateau? The guide book states 1 1/2 hours, but is that enough?

Any rec's for dinner in Blois? Budget of around 20 euro per person. Again, guide book lists very few places and they are pricey.

Can just a drive by of Chambord be done? Is it possible to walk around and take some photos? I feel that with the other 3 that may be just too much to tour inside, but would love to see this one.

Thanks again.

How many days are you planning tobe there? Most of the chateaux are out in the countryside, reached only by smal ocal roads. We've done most of them and have never found 1.5 hours to be nearly enough. You can plan on two per day if you don;t dawdle - more than that becomes difficult. And many you can't "drive by" since they are set back in large grounds and you would see little from the road or even the parking lot.

It sounds as though you're just planning to go for a day, right? As noted, you can't really "drive by" the châteaux, at least any that I can think of, though you can get glimpses of them as you drive along the river. And no, 1.5 hours is barely enough to find your way, park, get tickets, and take in all the sights. I mean, you could race through them, but why? We've never been able to do more than 2 in a day, though I suppose if you grabbed a picnic lunch and decided to forgo a restaurant meal, you might squeeze in 3.

I wouldn't do this as a day trip, if that's what you're thinking of.

1.5 hours is too short. Villandry's interiors are also worth a visit, if only to see the gardens from above. Chenonceau will also require more time. You will not be able to do more than two chateaux in one day.

My recollection of Chambord is that the outside is impressive, but I do not know if you can see the double-spiral staircase or walk up it without paying the entrance fee.

I think you could drive by some of the chateaux, they have roads next to them, and you always can just look at them and the gardens, if you want. I wouldn't recommend that so much for BLois, as it doesn't have any gardens that I can remember. However, because they are large, wealthy estates mostly, they tend to have large grounds and you won't see much from the main road. You definitely can drive by Chenonceau, it has a road not that far from the entrance, as does Azay-le-Rideau, but you won't get the best impressions. And as for Chambord in particular, no, I don't think you can and have it be worth anything. there is a road alongside it, of course, buses and people get there somehow, but it's at least several hundred meters from the chateau.

Interestingly what you don't say poses more questions than what you do outline.

The principal draw to Villandry is the grounds, not the interior. West of Tours, I should think Azay-le-Rideau is the real attraction. As must as I like Giverny, I've never seen an itinerary that included it and excluded Chambord which to me is the most fascinating of all Loire Valley châteaux (and having actually lived in this area, I've seen them all many times).

I'm inferring that you plan on doing this in one day. I hope I'm wrong because it's much too far from Paris to go to the expense of such a trip and try to pack what the entire valley offers in just a few short hours. One would be better off visiting Chantilly, Fontainebleau, or Vaux-le-Vicomte which are an easy day-trip from Paris.

My recollection is that Chenonceau is not even visible from the parking lot.

Blois does have the remains of the royal gardens, but not where expected.

http://www.photoworks.com/members/sl...838&key=mksfca

I disagree about being able to view Chenonceau. You enter it down a very long plane-tree-lined pathway before you even arrive at the parking lot. Unless they've leveled the fields between the road and the château, you won't be seeing Chenonoceau from the road.

We ate at L'Etape Gourmande for lunch in October 2007. You can't really see the animals from the restaurant, though the bathrooms are near the barns.

With limited time, just tour the gardens of Villandry but don't go inside the chateau (there are separate tix for garden & chateau).

You can walk around the outside of Chambord, which is quite impressive.

Went to L'Etape Gourmand in Fall of 2006. Were able to sit outside in nice fall weather. Food was excellent - lots of fresh goat cheese. After lunch we looked at the dairy barn where they milk the goats. Would be fun for a child to see the goats, little piglets, chickens, on a working farm.

Chambord - need to see inside
Villandry - only need to see outside
Chenonceau (my favorite) - see inside and outside

Thanks for your replies.

We planned this trip 6 months ago for 4 of us. I found out yesterday that it will only be the 2 of us and due to the cost, I think we will only be able to do one very long day. I don't plan on returning to France for a long time and would really regret not taking this opportunity.

I picked up the Fodors France travel guide from the library. The country guides are so limited in information. It is really hard to choose where to visit.

Thanks again and any other input is appreciated.

I'd think there wouldn't be anything much in the gardens at Villandry during April, or at any of the chateaux.

If you're driving from Paris, it looks like Cheverny is a little closer to Paris than Chenonceau. It's a long boring drive from Paris south to the Loire if you take the autoroute, which with your time constraints you would need to do. Have you used the viamichelin website to figure time and travel cost between your departure place and these two chateaux?

There are chateaux closer to Paris that would make a nice day trip.

Uptowngirl, people will tell you you HAVE to climb the Eiffel tower, you HAVE to see this or that chateau, you HAVE to visit the Louvre, and so on. If you don't, they think you wasted your trip. But you don't need to do anything except what pleases you. Believe me, there is plenty to see and be thrilled by in France even if you never walk into a museum or a chateau.

The more relaxed your trip, the more you'll enjoy it. A day in the Loire may wind up being more of a hassle than it's worth.

How much time to visit each chateau

? The guide book states 1 1/2 hours, but is that enough?>

with a 12-yr old this may be more than enough time!

chambord to me is the most formidable of all the Loire Castles - esp the double helix staircase

villandry is rather small and unless a gardener may not take too long

Drive-by Usse just across the river - the Sleeping Beauty castle

cheverny be sure to catch the re-created hunts, something a 12 yr old may even enjoy

You do realize that Villandry is far out of the way for your trip, right? If you want to end up in Blois, going to Villandry will completely bollocks up your trip. Villandry is west of Amboise, the rest are east of Amboise (and to some degree south of the town), and Blois is 20-25 miles east of Amboise.

Usse has little to offer. It inspired Sleeping Beauty but it's not that interesting and it's far afield -- it's further west than Villandry and you will just expend more of your limited time for touring in the car.

Chenonceau is not visible from the road, but it is also relatively small as a chateau -- you could do the interior in 30-45 minutes but the grounds and the view of the chateau over the river are worth far more time.

Why Cheverny over Chambord? Cheverny is a nice and large country estate but as a chateau it is completely outclassed by the enormous Chambord. The way you're presenting the trip (won't be back for years, want to see things so I have no regrets about what I miss), the Chenonceau/Chambord double is the one you should take, and go to Cheverny if you have extra time, especially if your kid is a Tintin fan (Marlinspike Hall was based on Cheverny). Chambord is Gormenghast -- an immense palace and quite impressive. Go up to the roof and walk around the spires.

And check out the train schedules -- you may be able to go Paris --> Blois and return all in a day, rent a car at the Blois train station and then relax on your way back instead of driving tired in France, which is not a good idea when nearly all the other drivers are French.

Well, we are back from France and it was wonderful. The weather was perfect.

Here is our update.

We did this daytrip on Easter Monday. I rented the car from Orly due to the early/late operating hours. We arrived at the airport at 7:30am and made it to Chenonceau by 10am.

It was not crowded at all this early and we easily toured the chateau and gardens. We ate lunch at the crepe stand near the entrance.

By 12:30pm, we made it to Cheverny. The dogs were all sleeping, so we toured the Chateau. We walked around the garden behind the chateau and the small garden near the dogs.

We went back to visit the dogs and one of the keepers came in to clean the kennel. What a sight! They all went crazy. My daughter loved this.

By 3pm, we were at Chambord. We toured the chateau and rented bicycles for the grounds.

We did not stop for dinner. We had enough snacks to eat in the car.

We were back at the airport by 8:30pm. It was a long day. The driving was easy, relaxing and beautiful. It was a nice day out of crowded Paris.

I can easily see how much more time could be spent here, but I really enjoyed our short visit. No regrets.

hi uptowngirl,

thanks so much for recapping your trip.

i'm really interested in this idea ... could you please tell me who you rented the car with and the cost of this rental?

thank you!!!

uptowngirl???

i checked into a one day car rental and they all were VERY expensive ... probably about $250 US for an automatic (we don't drive manual)...

Research the SNCF's (French rails) Train + Auto Program to see if it still exists - i believe it does - it combines a train trip to say Blois or St Pierre-des-Corps (Tours mainline station) and a day's car rental - may be cost effective

otherwise you can train to Tours in-town station and hook up with any of several reasonably priced mini-bus or bus tours that take you to 2 or 3 of the better chateaus - kind of like a castle shuttle.

hi palenque,

yes - thank you ... i've looked into both options (train + auto/train + tour bus) and both are still pricey. i was hoping the car rental would be more flexible and better priced.

plus, i really think we should dedicate a separate trip to the loire.

oh well...maybe uptowngirl will come back with some promising info? if not, we'll save it for another trip.

Sorry for checking back so late. Jazz Fest starts tomorrow. I am crazy busy.

I rented from National at Orly and found the best price with Orbitz. It was 74 euro for the automatic.

I also for a long time could only find cars in the $200 range. I checked every day on every website I could think of and finally got lucky. I also would try different days of my trip for the best price. I confirmed my reservation directly with National after making it with Orbitz. Everything was fine.