Loire Valley suggestions
 

My FI and I have potentially decided on a rough France honeymoon itinerary thanks to so many helpful suggestions. We have maybe-kinda-sorta settled on the Loire Valley for the end of our France visit for 2-3 nights before moving onward to Belgium. We have seen many beautiful castles to tour, and could easily fill all our LV time with those, but were curious, does anyone have suggestions as to:
a) where to base our stay and
b) things to do outside of castle tours?

We will likely be coming from EITHER Bayeux or Mont St Michel, (after roughly 6 days in Paris) then headed westwards to Belgium. We rent a car based on whether or not it is possible to do this without.

TIA for any suggestions!

2-3 nights isn't that long, but I also would not want to just tour castles for 3 days, that's for sure. YOu don't even mention when you are going, so it's hard to advise as some things could not be possible in certain seasons or weather. You could always visit the old town area of Tours one day, it's the major city in that area and has a few sites of interest, that would be a change from touring castles.

There are various outdoor or sporting activities you could do if you like that kind of thing and you are going to be there in good weather -- like biking or canoeing/kayaking, or hiking. They have those balloon trip things there, not that I'd personally recommend that as I think they are dangerous.

And it is a wine region, also, so you could do a wine tour, depends what you like.

YOu could visit various authors' homes in that area, but if you don't know them, I can't imagine that would be of that much interest (eg Balzac or Ronsard). The Balzac museum isn't too far from the Azay-le-Rideau chateau.
http://www.musee-balzac.fr

As for a base, a lot of people like Amboise, Blois would be fine, also. I'd stay in Tours if you don't have a car as they would have some tour options and best public transportation options. YOu can't as easily visit that many chateaux without a car, though.

I'm sure you must realize Belgium is to the east, not west of the Loire? presume that was a mistake, if not, check your plans

Those are lovely ideas, thank you. We will be there mid-August, sorry, and yes we know Belgium is east - we just haven't found a region more appealing that is in between Paris and Belgium. :)

We like castles but as you said, 3 days in a row is a bit much, and your suggestions really are wonderful, particularly the biking, canoeing and wine tour. We'll look into them more in depth!

I am deathly afraid of heights so while I love the idea of a hot air balloon ride, I would prefer not to plummet to my death, so rather watch from below.

Oops just realized I did say west in my original post.

The towns of Loches and Chinon are both nice to visit. The Abbaye de Fontevraud is interesting and I think there is a hotel on the grounds. It was being renovated when we visited the abbey in 2014. The Plus Beaux villages of Montsoreau and Candes St Martin are side by side on the confluence of two rivers and are also enjoyable to visit. The small village of Chedigny is designated a Remarkable garden of France as it is full of wonderful roses in gardens, climbing walls, spilling over trellises and buildings.
Bon voyage

The Loire is difficult to do without a car - as is Normandy - so I think you will need a car for both - and perhaps on to Belgium.

In the Loire I would take the opportunity to stay in one of the private chateaux instead of a traditional hotel it can be a unique experience. We stayed at one near Chinon - Chateau des Reaux - which we loved and even had a dinner en famille one night.

As for the chateaux do realize that many are in the deep countryside reached by small local roads and the most you can see realistically is two per day - with perhaps a third if you are going to a son et lumiere performance in the evening.

Do read the info to decide which chateaux to see since they are very different - some almost empty but architecturally interesting, others are partially furnished and some - like Villandry - are famous primarily for their gardens,

As already noted, visiting the gardens of Villandry can be a pleasant way to spend time -- especially because the gardens are generally open later than just about anything else. :-) Check the hours before deciding.

Angers has the magnificent Tapestry of the Apocalypse, not to mention the Musée Jean Lurçat.

Enjoy your honeymoon!

<<We will likely be coming from EITHER Bayeux or Mont St Michel, (after roughly 6 days in Paris) then headed westwards to Belgium.>>

Your polarities are reversed - Belgium is technically east of the Loire Valley. It's also decidedly NORTH of it.

There are some other what-to-dos for the Loire here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ey-castles.cfm

But seriously, you don't go to the Loire and skip all the castles.

>> We will be there mid-August......... we just haven't found a region more appealing that is in between Paris and Belgium. :)<<

Other than the castles & garden at Villandry, we think the countryside in the Loire Valley is one of the least-scenic "tourist" areas in France that we have visited. Also, outside of Chinon, most of the other large cities & towns are on the "bottom third" of our "most favorites" list. We were in the Loire Chateaux area for 2 weeks last year (5 weeks on previous trips also) and it was quite crowded at the major chateaux in mid September. I can't imagine what it is like in mid August when it is even more crowded.

We spend 2 months in France every year - visiting various regions. If you are only visiting the the WWII stuff in Normandy & MSM - consider visiting other areas in Normandy and perhaps even the Pas de Calais coast. End your trip in Lille - where you can catch a train to just about anywhere in Belgium.

I developed an itinerary for Normandy & Brittany based on our many trips to these regions. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail. I've sent my various itineraries (I have others) to more than 5,000 people on Fodors.

Stu Dudley