travelling around the Loire valley
 

I will be travelling to Paris with my partner next year and we have decided to also go to the Loire valley for a few days. We want to stay in the Loire valley not just take a day trip from Paris.

The problem we have is that we will not have a car and are worried that it will be too difficult to get around for those few days. would this be the case? If so should we just take a day trip there?

Thanks :)

It depends on which castles (I am presuming you are going there to see the castles...) you want to see.

For non-car visit, Amboise is a good base. Amboise has a fine castle and Blois is a simple train ride.
Chenonceau is reachable in 45min via change in train at St-Pierre-des-Corps. You can cut time by taking a taxi. It is not far from Amboise.

The rests take more time.

Azay le Rideau, on the other side of Tours is about 60min by train, followed by a trek to the castle.
Loches is reachable by train, but takes 90min with change in Tours.
Chinon is 90min by train.

www.bahn.com for train routes.

You can also join a local tour such as www.accodispo-tours.com

This site is not perfect http://www.transbus.org/ but it offers links to many of the local bus companies. For me the best options in the Loire is as greg suggests or hire a car or a bicycle

Two ways to approach visiting the Loire Valley: with or without a car.

***With a car
1. I might make a base in Chenonceaux at one of these hotels:

http://www.bonlaboureur.com/
http://www.hostelduroy.com/

2. Alternatively, either of these two hotel/restaurants make good bases

http://www.aubergedelaunay.com/
http://www.lacaillere.com/

3. Some people like Loche but it´s a bit far from most commonly visited châteaux.

***Without a car
Stay in Tours, the transportation hub of the Loire Valley.

1. You can take the early TGV from Montparnasse to Tours Centre (not St Pierre des Corps) and walk across the street to the Office de Tourisme from where a host of minibus tours depart. You should be there for the morning tours which typically start at or about 9h00:

http://www.tours-tourisme.fr/excursions.php

2. You could also take the same excursions mentioned above but stay in Tours which has nightlife, cafés, restaurants, and museums. Only consider hotels which are located between Tours Centre and Place Plumereau:

http://www.bestwesterncentralhoteltours.com/
http://www.hotel-ronsard.com/
http://hotel.manoir.tours.voila.net/

It´s possible to visit a good number of châteaux using public transportation (bus and/or train) but this consumes a good amount of valuable vacation time. You can take the train to Blois, Chaumont, Amoise, Langais, Azay-le-Rideau and Chenonceau. There is bus transportation to Chambord.

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With all due respect to Greg above, I would absolutely avoid Amboise as a base. Sometimes over-run with tourist buses, the excursion options here are very limited, Château Amboise is of minimal architectural interest as most of it was destroyed during the Revolution, and perhaps the biggest reason of all, the restaurants are overpriced and cater specifically to tourists. The one exception is the Epicerie which I strongly recommend.

http://www.lepicerie-amboise.com/

Finally, Amboise is also much more difficult to reach by train from Paris than is Tours.

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A map of local train routes is here:
http://www.ter-sncf.com/Regions/cent...rte_Flash.aspx

For trains from Paris to Tours:
http://www.voyages-sncf.co.uk/

The Loire is much better seen with a car:

1) Many of the chateaux are in very deep countryside with little access to any sort of public tranit (no train and 1 bus per day)

2) you have the opportunity to stay in one of the private chateaux (we did and loved it - a 15th century fortress with walls feet thick and dinner one night with the hosts and guests from several countries)

You can stay in one of the larger towns and do van tours by the day. Amboise is charming and has a fortress - but the expereience is much more limited.