I'm traveling in mid-October to Paris with my two kids (9 and 11) and want to take them outside the city by train for a few days at the end of our stay. Thought about the Loire Valley, but am not sure where to visit or stay--especially since we'll be traveling by train. Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

You could get a train from Paris Austerlitz to BLOIS, which is on the Loire and has a fine chateau, rated 3 Stars by Michelin. There are many direct trains each day, and the trip takes about 1h40m. Cost is about 22 euros (adult-one way). You could leave Paris at 9.21 and be in Blois at 10.58. After a glance at the chateau you could take a bus tour from in front of the station and visit the chateaux at Chambord and Cheverny. It depends on how many chateaux you can stand in one day! There is a range of accommodation possibilities in Blois. It is also a pleasant place to wander around, and has a good riverscape.

In case it will be of some use or interest to you, I'm copying my post from another thread about 'Loire Valley':
Last October, we took the TGV to St Pierre des Corps, then a local train (15 minute ride) to Amboise. We took a taxi to the hotel, but we could have walked (about 20minutes) but it was drizzling.
We stayed at le Manoir les Minimes, which is enclosed in a walled courtyard with free parking for guests, and is about 2 blocks from the beginning of town 'center' and the Chateau d'Amboise. We walked to Clos Luce, da Vinci's last home (an interesting museum of his inventions), and ate dinner at La Florentine, an Italian/ French casual restaurant.
We spent the first afternoon/night in Amboise, doing the above, then the next morning we took the local train -back- to St Pierre des Corps and picked up our rental car (booked online thru AVIS.fr, which was cheaper than AVIS.com, and included the CDW etc). We left out of St Pierre des Corps for the day, and drove to Chateaux Chambord and Cheverny, then to le Manoir les Minimes.
The next day (3rd day) we drove to Chinon and checked into Hotel Diderot, also situated in a walled enclosure with guest parking. Between Amboise and Chinon, we visited Loches'dungeon and castle, and Montresor, a tiny beautiful village with an interesting chateau.
The next day(4th) we drove to Azay-le-Rideau and Fontevraud l'Abbaye, then back to Chinon.
The final day in the Loire, we took the car back to St P-d-Corps and then took the TGV back to Paris.
TGV - 2 r/t tickets 124 Euro
Amboise train 12 Euro
(reserved online at www.sncf.com and picked up all tickets at SNCF boutique in Paris near my hotel)
Car rental was close to 318 Euro (replacement fuel not included; Avis.fr)
le Manoir les Minimes was 120 Euro/double, 11 euro pp/brkf
http://www.manoirlesminimes.com
Hotel Diderot was 64 Euro/double, 6.5 Euro pp/ brkf
http://www.hoteldiderot.com/index.html
http://www.chateau-amboise.com/
http://www.vinci-closluce.com/
http://www.chambord.org/anglais.htm
http://www.chateau-cheverny.fr/
http://www.tourisme-valdindrois-mont...en/index1.html
http://www.loches-tourainecotesud.com/accueilgb.htm
http://www.monum.fr/m_azay/fs_index.dml?lang=en
http://www.abbaye-fontevraud.com/indexflash.htm
La Florentine
50 place Michel Debré 37400 Amboise - 02 47 57 49 49

We also stayed at Manoir les Minimes (took our teenage son) and can recommend it as well for wonderful accommodations, service and location. Happy travels!

My three brief visits to the Loire valley have all been more of the "passing through" variety - - a half to a full day, and always by car. I think you really have a lot of good choices, and WAY more so, if you rent a car (you could train there, and rent upon arrival, in the city of Tours, and some other choices as well, perhaps).

Two choices that look attractive to me with kids are: the town of Chenonceaux looked very quaint and appealing, and Chenonceaux itself is a gem. Another very good choice - - I always pictured it as so, and a quick "buzz through" this spring seemed to confirm it is the town of Richelieu - - an entire walled city that is a World Heritage site (the entire town). Nice for letting the kids have a place to wander (within some fairly narrow limits, given their ages). But any place you choose will offer you many more possibilities if you rent a car.

Best wishes,

Rex

We stayed with our daughters at Manoir les Minimes and they particularly enjoyed Olga the sheep dog who lives there. There were plenty of restaurants to walk to in the town. Travelnut's post was very informative and sounds like a great plan.

Also agree with Rex on Chenonceaux. Along with the great palace, there are beautiful gardens and plenty of space for boys to run around. After touring there, we went into the town and had a nice lunch. Of course, I don't think you can get there by train, but maybe there is some sort of tour you could book from Amboise? Have fun.

You actually CAN get to Chenonceau by rail..there is a station in the village opposite the chateau grounds. You have to change trains in Tours.

However, it is much more convenient to do this by car, especially if you base yourself in Amboise..you can be at Chenanceau easily in less than 30 minutes. On the way there is also the mini chateau park (a commercial establishment similar but not nearly as extensive as Madurodam in The Hague).

We stayed at the Manoir Les Minimes this past July..wonderful place and I agree that it is within EASY walking distance of the town center with its variety of restaurants and its own fortress/chateau.

If you have a car you might also consider visiting Chambord or one of the many others. And if you rent a car in Blois I would STRONGLY recommend doing so from Avis since the office is IN the train station and much easier to reach, and get BACK to than the agency AutoEurope uses (EuropeCar).

I know I'm in the minority, but we didn't particularly like Amboise. Found it a little too touristy, esp. along the river, although it will be less so in October. As we always travel with our own dog, Manoir les Minimes was out of bounds for us. Just outside Amboise is the Mini-Parc des Chateaux, which your kids should enjoy.

Next time we visit the central Loire Valley, we will stay in Chenonceau, probably at the Bon Laboureur. Agree with the visit to Montresor. The staff who show you around are very friendly.

But overall, we much preferred Angers, which you can reach directly from Paris by TGV. The castle there is a true defensive chateau rather than the typical LV jewel box pleasure palace. Angers also has an attractive old (medieval) town and two very pretty parks--we especially liked the Jardin des Plantes. It has several very nice inexpensive restaurants.
Renting a car in Angers is easy--you pick up the car at the train station and getting out of town is simple--you just follow the Route Touristique (it's marked that way) to Saumur and Chinon. Chinon and Saumur are both nice small towns and close by is the famous Fontevraud abbey, well worth a visit. I am not sure, but I *think* you can get to Saumur at least from Angers by bus.