JEFF_

After spending 3 nights in Sarlat at the Hotel Madeleine, I plan to drive to Bourges with a stop at Oradour sur Glane if time permits. I?d spend the night at Bourges at either the Hotel D?Angleterre or Hotel Bourbon. I?m leaning towards the former since it appears to be more central and less money, although parking might be difficult. Suggestions?

The next day I?d drive to Amboise via Chenenceau. I?d spend 2 nights in Amboise with a full day to explore the Loire. Here, I really need advice on what to see and which hotel. I?d like to stay at the Manoir Les Minimes since it gets good reviews and parking would be easy. I probably don?t need that level of luxury and, it?s really more than I want to spend. Other possibilities: the Bellevue, Le Lion D?or, La Breche and Blason. I?m interested in a nice quiet single with a little class. Any thoughts?

StCirq

We've stayed at the Lion d'Or in Amboise and liked it very much. We had a lovely room overlooking the river for about $85 (this was about 4 years ago). We thought the restaurant was very good, too.

I love Amboise and think it makes the perfect base for visiting the Loire.

JEFF_

Thanks StCirq. Lion d'Or sounds good and it's not in all the books like some of the others. Does the stop in Bourges make sense--or should I spend the time in Amboise?

StCirq

JEFF:

I don't know Bourges, unfortunately, so I can't say. It takes about 5 hours to get from Sarlat to the Loire, so maybe that will help you decide. But certainly stop at Oradour-sur-Glane.

Underhill

Bourges is a very interesting city, and the cathedral has wonderful stained glass.

jh6000

Hi, Jeff,

I did the reverse of your route in 2000 (Amboise to Oradour-sur-Glane). I stayed at Le Manoir Les Minimes in Amboise and thought it was a wonderful place and great value for money (especially the superior rooms). The standard rooms were fine, just no where near so spacious or elegant. The hotel parking is easy and it is a 5-10 minute walk into town. In spite of perhaps a higher cost, we had the breakfast at the hotel every morning -- good pastries and great hot chocolate (didn't have the coffee) in a wonderful room. The owners are very pleasant and can give you some good restaurant recommendations as well.

Do stop at Oradour-sur-Glane. It is sobering to see and experience.

Our overnight stop between Amboise and Sarlat was at a fantastic converted mill called Au Moulin de la Gorce in the town of La Roche de l'Abeille (just south of Limoges). It is a mini-splurge, but it is magic -- and the restaurant is fantastic. Check it out at www.relaischateaux.com -- it is a very special place.

Happy travels.

John H.

Michael

In Bourges, make sure you visit the house of Jacques C?ur.

JEFF_

Thanks for the good information. I now have a couple of good lodging prospects in Amboise. Bourges also sounds interesting. Any thoughts on a hotel?

dukhuntr

I too am interested in Bourges. My wife and I will be the for a couple days mid Feb. Is the walking pretty easy, I am recovering on a broken leg, I do have a walking boot and get around reasonably well

Underhill

We too enjoyed the marvelous food at Mouliin de la Gorce, especially the fantastic beef and apple tarte. We were supposed to spend the night but decided to push on north and ended up in Onzain at the wonderful Domaine des Hautes de Loire, another Relais et Châteaux member.

SalB

Dukhunter, The walking is quite easy in Bourges. It's cobbled but flat.

The cathedral is amazing in that it appears out of nowhere as you walk the tiny narrow streets of town. The town goes right up to the cathedral so it's covered by the houses except when you cross a street and look that way. It's very dramatic.

It is also very difficult to take a photo since you can't get far enough away to get the entire church in the picture. If you go around to the side, there is a lovely garden and you can get beautiful pictures of the cathedral from the garden. It's also fun just to visit the garden.

You might want binoculars to see all the stained glass. It's glorious!

Enjoy your trip.

Maribel

JEFF_,
Just a little plug for Les Minimes for anyone contemplating an Amboise stay:
Because of Jh6000's enthusiastic recommendation (without knowing it, he has steered us to some really wonderful French lodgings), we spent 3 nights in Amboise at Les Minimes. We occupied their 2 least expensive rooms, one standard double and one double for single occupancy on the top floor, up two flights of steps (the gentlemen owners carried out luggage), with low angled ceilings and small windows with views of the castle and the river, which were absolutely lovely, with gorgeous antiques, incredible baths and actually plenty of space, plus superb a/c. I wouldn't hestitate at all to book their lowest priced rooms. The beautiful main salon has a stone fireplace, polished parquet floors, more high quality antiques and the breakfast room is stunning. The manor really does exude refinement. We were extremely happy with our choice and will talk about our stay for years to come. We looked at 20 lodgings in the area, and John H's recommendation of Les Minimes sold us. He picked a winner.

JEFF_

The Manoir les Mimines is my first choice, but a little more than I'd like to pay. At StCirq's suggestion, I decided on Le Lion D'Or...but just found out from Logis de France that it's full. So, any other ideas?

Maribel

JEFF_,
Our second choice was Le Fleuray, outside of Amboise. It was reviewed here not too long ago, if you want to do a text search. It's well reviewed on'
www.specialplacestostay.com

dukhuntr

SALB: I will have a couple days on my own ( while my wife is working). Any other suggestions?

StCirq

JEFF: Try the Lion d'Or (from the USA: 011-33`-2-47-57-00-23.) It has a great restaurant also.

SalB

Dukhuntr, We only stayed in Bourges the one day so didn't explore the area. However, I did a search on Bourges in the search window above and came up with a lot. If you have a car, you will get a lot of excellent ideas for day trips in the area. You might check the town web sites about the walking though.

When you do the search, answer #6 starts out "Help, I screwed up big time . . ." and that post has the most useful information. I copied a lot of it out so if you can't get it, tell me and I'll post it. It just didn't seem entirely right to post the comments of a lot of other people without giving them credit so I would appreciate it if you would try the search yourself.

Good luck.

JEFF_

Thanks StCirq
Lion d'Or was not available according to Logis de France. Do you think calling them or faxing them direct show they can accomodate me? Perhaps they only give so many rooms to Logis to reserve.

moxie

Sorry I don't remember any hotels on the route of the chateux but it is much more fun to move each day and you save time: Musts to see are:
chambord (staircase)
chenenceau (river and rooms)
villandry (gardens)
azay le rideau (the model for walt disney)
blois and amboise are disappointing in comparison...

then you can taste wine in St Louis and Chinon and see the cave dwellings.

StCirq

JEFF:

I'd certainly give it a shot. If you were using the Logis website, then definitely call them, as I've found rooms in Logis de France places that showed no vacancy on the web.