Prairie

I see from other threads that most travelers recommend renting a car to see the chateaux in the Loire Valley. I’m reluctant to rent a car because I will be travelling solo on this trip.

I was looking for an operator similar to Rabbies in the UK to provide transportation for a 3-4 day tour. I haven’t found one so I’m now investigating other options.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

bilboburgler

https://www.loirevalley-france.co.uk...e-valley-train
https://lifepart2andbeyond.com/easy-...ey-from-tours/
https://www.france-travel-info.com/f...les-via-train/

depending on where you want to stay I'd email OT tourisme in Tours or Saumur etc to ask their advice.
https://www.ot-saumur.fr/en/

tomboy

Why NOT rent a car? Yes, you'll be alone, but driving in the Loire is about as placid as it gets. No mountain curves, etc. Somewhat similar to driving in Illinois (the part outside metro Chicago).

MmePerdu

This may not be what you have in mind but I spent a week or so walking from chateau to chateau, Chambord to Chinon. I left my suitcase in a hotel in Blois, had a just daypack with necessities to carry, took a city bus to Chambord then walked. There are number of ancient carriage roads through the forests in the area so walking was wonderful, no cars, then joined roads for the walks into towns around the chateaux and stayed in B&Bs. I was in my 60s at the time and it was one of the best weeks ever.

Fleur_de_Lis

This sounds amazing! I'd love to hear more! How much time did it take you to walk in between each chateau (approximately)? Do you remember your itinerary and would you be willing to share it?

shelemm

You can do this on your own. These are some of the possibilities.

Train to Blois. Visit chateau there, then transport to Cheverny and Chambord via taxi or if you can find bus/shuttle or guide through the tourism office.
Train to Amboise. Visit two chateaux there, Amboise and Clos Luce, then taxi or bus/shuttle to Chenonceau or guide through tourism office..
Train to Tours. From Tours train to Savonnieres to visit Villandry using taxi. Also from Tours, train to Azay le Rideau.

You will need to pick and choose, surely, and there are many others I have not listed.

To save yourself from an endless parade of room after room of tapestries and stuffed furniture, maybe some chateaux are best for their garden or exterior/setting.

Moderator1

We have deleted a few posts that were either proselytizing or in response to same. Let's keep on topic.

lrice

The Join Us in France podcast interviewed this blogger who visited the Loire Valley from Paris without a car. The links to the podcast and blog are below:

https://joinusinfrance.com/episode/v...without-a-car/

​​​​​​https://thedetoureffect.com/blog/cas...without-a-car/

MmePerdu

Fleur, it was long enough ago that I don't remember the day to day detail or time walking each day. But I do remember it was easy to plan. There were no designated paths from place to place so I chose locations in close enough proximity to one another & routes using detailed maps of the area. The old carriage paths I mentioned were marked on the maps but no other information. They were apparently in royal forests & are in etoile (star) patterns radiating from central points. They're unpaved and were muddy much of the way, but still fun to use. I don't recall seeing another soul on them. I know we visited Chambord, the starting point, & also Cheverny, Chenonceau, Azay-les-Rideau & we were driven to Villandry by a kind B&B hostess who said we shouldn't miss it just because it wasn't convenient on foot. She was right. We ended the walk & rested a couple of nights in Chinon, then one night at Fontevraud Abbey where the hotel had recently opened. If you have the time & inclination I highly recommend such a trip.

Christina

I've visited the Loire without a car. It's just a slightly different trip, that's all, no meandering drives in the countryside. I like cities/towns anyway, so didn't bother me. I was alone, also, and it's just a little more energy to be driving around a foreign country alone and I always have the anxiety that the car rent won't be available (I need AT) and then my trip will be ruined and then what will I do. So then I have to make double plans in case that happens, it's a lot of energy. I even speak French and have had to use it numerous times when I did rent a car and was in the countryside when the car had funny lights coming on, I needed directions etc.

Anyway, you can easily visit Blois, Amboise, Chenonceau and Azay-le-rideau by train or bus and they are walkable from the station (Azay le Rideau may be over a mile but I like walking). That one actually didn't work out so well due to bad train schedules, meaning I didn't have enough time before I had to leave. The others were fine.

I based in Tours, easy to get trains or buses to above. I think I did Chenonceau by bus but you can do train.

I have been there on another trip and stayed farther west so didn't really visit any chateaux that I can think of except the one in Saumur where I was staying. That's nothing like those big grand ones, though. I think I visited Tours center on that trip by train as I like museums, etc. I'll admit I am not a big chateau fan anyway, just don't find them that interesting, so seeing a few by train/bus is fine with me.

You just have to be good with using SNCF train website and finding bus line schedules, etc. I've been using SNCF for years so that's easy for me. AS I recall, there are pretty good tourism websites for the Loire with lots of info.

And if you stay in Tours, there are plenty of day tours, also, actually, that you can find info on at thge tourism center. That way you don't have to fool around with the schedules if you don't want.

I think the is the area's bus line info
https://www.remi-centrevaldeloire.fr...ette-chateaux/

here ios the Tours website and an example of day minibus tours, they are only 80 euro per person all day
https://reservation.tours-tourisme.f...ml#reservation
Now that may not be easy to figure out if you don't know French? Not sure.
https://www.tours-tourisme.fr/incroy...e-val-de-loire

The viator ones will be more expensive but in English
https://www.viator.com/tours/Tours/S.../d5092-19170P1
That's not all that bad (around $200) given all it includes, though, for a vacation trip. But it will be cheaper to DIY.

To be honest, I like traveling that way as I like doing these small day trip bus tours and meeting people on them. I've always had a lot of fun doing that in France, Poland, Mexico, lots of places. ANd it does make it easier for logistics, you get more accomplished. Like that day tour is 3 chateaux plus some wine tasting I guess (which I could do without). You couldn't do that much on your own as the train/bus would take more time.


But viator.com is a consolidator for day trips that is real easy to use and gives you lots of options, I'm sure English speaking ones will be on there.

kerouac

Obviously you don't need to rent a car to see 3 or 4 chateaux. There are ways to get to the ones that interest you the most. In any case, even though I like to see châteaux from time to time, when you group them together, they all seem the same after awhile even though they aren't. Fancy rooms, splendid gardens, they all blend together.

Prairie

MmePerdu: That sounds like a great trip and I may try to follow a similar route. Thanks!

Fleur_de_Lis

Thank you so much for the details! I'm definitely going to think about/look into doing something like this.