DAJ

I have 2 nights to spend in the Loire Valley prior to returning our car in Paris. Trying to choose the best base between these to towns and I'm torn. I'm leaning toward Amboise due to the reduction in travel time to Paris on the last day (car return due by certain time). But I would not let this be the deciding factor alone.

Would like a hotel recommendation as well within a $100 price range.

Assistance is appreciated.

csroe

I based myself in Amboise while in the Loire Valley 2 years ago and loved it!! Chinon is much smaller than Amboise but is wonderful to walk around the old center. Saumur is bigger, but has more alternatives as far as hotels. Personally, when I return I'll stay in Amboise again. For the life of me I cannot remember the hotel I stayed in while in Amboise but to be honest it was a little "drab". I do know there are several nice hotels along the river in the city center. DO stroll across the bridge at night in Amboise and take a lovely picture of the castle with all it's lights on! The main reason I choise Amboise is that I did not have a car and it was very easy to catch the train to both Chinon and Saumur but since you'll have a car you'll enjoy driving to these lovely cities. Ahhh, the Loire Valley!!!!

indytravel

I was in the Loire Valley for a couple of weeks in May/June 2001. I stayed two nights in Chinon, two nights in Saumur and day tripped to Amboise. All three are great so you've posed a tough question in my book!

You're right about the drive. There isn't so much of a difference between Amboise, Saumur and Chinon that it would matter. By the way I saw Amboise and Chinon by rail. I had a car with family in Saumur but it's rail accessible too.

If you're into history then Chinon is the place to be. It's a real castle ruin with a tower you can climb up in and some rooms to go through. It has ties to Jean d'Arc and the Dauphin. It's a real castle, not a pleasure palace like most of the rest of the Loire Chateaux. Like mentioned above it is a smaller town, but it's very pretty. It has some nice restaurants. I ate at the "boules d'or" or something like that along the river. It was excellent. If you're going to drive into the countryside Chinon would be a bit easier to navigate with a car. Not that they aren't available in the rest of the valley but you'd be in Chinon home of the Chinon red wines. Mmmmm.

Amboise is a great sized town. I loved the enchanted house museum stuffed with toys. The castle is imposing and the DaVinci residence is fascinating. I did not see their Son et Lumiere (sound and light) show because I was there too early but it's supposed to be very good.

Saumur turned into my personal favorite. The fates conspired when I went there. It had been dreary in Paris for 4 days. In Saumur the sun came out, it was 72 degrees during the day, clear skies, 60 degrees at night, the birds were chirping, the fish were jumping, the cotton was high. Ok, ok, I'm waxing rhapsodic now. The music festival was there when I was in June. It has a few museums & such: mushrooms, army tank, the famous Saumur horses, a dolmen on the south side, sailing down the Loire, etc. The fairy tale castle overlooking the city has a couple of small museums in it too. Unlike some of the Loire castles there is actually stuff in this one.

One thing I noticed about the Loire valley was the further west you went the fewer tourists there were. Not as many people make it past Tours to start their Loire valley experience. As I worked my way from Angers to Chinon, Saumur, Tours, Amboise, Chenonceaux and Blois I saw the tourists get thicker.

Now here comes the controversial part. I fear for Amboise. It seems to be heading in the direction of Brugges and Hallstat as a kind of Rick Steves-esque find. Once Rick latches on to something the hordes follow and I'm not interested in that. If you're in the off-season it won't matter nearly as much.

In Saumur I stayed at the Loire Hotel www.loire-hotel.fr due to the availability of a reasonably priced family room. It was a comfortable hotel with great views and a beautiful and easy walk over the bridge to Saumur proper. I paid around $80USD back in 2001. I liked the looks of the Anne d'Anjou hotel, but I didn't like the price tag.

In Chinon I stayed at the Hotel Diderot www.hoteldiderot.com I had a ground floor room to the right of the spiral staircase in the picture. It was huge by French standards. I thought it was really neat that it was dug back into the limestone just like some of the troglodyte dwellings in the area. I'm sure the upper floors have more "regular" rooms. I payed less than $50USD for my room.

DAJ

Great responses fellow fodorites! Thanks so much for your help and painting a picture for me. IndyTraveler, by reading this to the hubby I could actually engage him for feedback. I'll check out the Hotel Diderot. My leanings go toward Saumur, but I know we will be traveling up and back between Saumur & Vendome to check things out so I'm trying to stay more central.

TuckH

DAJ...

I have just the answer for you: A lovely, lovely B&B near Azay-le-Rideau, a quick hop onto the Autoroute. Beautiful room, delicious breakfast, charming hostess. 46EUR.

The chateau at Azay is gorgeous, Chinon is a fantastic (and historic) little town, Villandry shouldn't be missed. All are close by.

If you'd like specifics about the B&B, post back and I'll provide them.

DAJ

Actually looking into B&B's, any info you can provide on specifics (location, why you'd recommend, etc.) would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

RachelG

Saumer has a great chateau and also has a huge tank museum with bunches of tanks from WWII--I could barely get my husband and sons out of there. The hotels mentioned indytravel mentioned are very nice.
And I agree with him about Amboise, although I still love it--in midsummer, it is packed with tourists.
Haven't stayed overnight in Chinon, though it is a lovely town--nice to walk in and several wine caves actually in town. The Chinon and Saumer reds are wonderful.

TuckH

DAJ

The website is www.lagrangebleue.com. It is located in Cheille, a hamlet off D17, minutes from Azay-le-Rideau. It's a charmingly renovated farmhouse and the delightful young owner's name is Elisabeth Minier. You can email or phone her; she speaks English.

Should you stay there, you'll be sorry to have to leave!

bigtyke

given the choices, Amboise would be my choice. HOwever, I have stayed twice in nearby Onzain at the Chateau de Tertes - an excellent small hotel.

DAJ

I'm trying for Chinon (going for the middle ground), and have made an inquiry to the Hostellerie Gargantua. Hopefully they respond back shortly, as once the workweek starts, I've no time to get back to this vacation planning.

SandyR

We just toured the Loire Valley this past July. We had a wonderful experience. Decided to stay at one hotel, avoiding packing and the displacement of checking out of one hotel at noon and not being able to check into another hotel until 3 pm. Very happy we did it that way. We based in Amboise at Manoir Les Minimes, recommended by this site. It was perfect and air conditioned, a big help with the high temperatures during July. Our room was beautiful, the help was extremely friendly. We walked to the center of town, three short blocks, and found great places to eat that weren't expensive. We were there for 4 days and toured, Chateau Amboise, within walking distance of our Manoir and Clos Luce, Leonardo da Vinci's residence, walkable if you don't mind walking up hill for about a mile. We also toured Chambord, Chaumont, Chenonceau, all a short drive from Amboise and the signs made it easier yet. We also toured Cheverny, a definite chateau to see but because it is owned privately, the almost non-existent signs, made it difficult to find... but we did and it was well worth it. The only chateau that required a longer drive, maybe 45 minutes, was Villandry, but the drive was easy and the signs were well placed. Some warned chateax burn-out but we never experienced that. Each chateau we saw was vastly different than the other. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the Loire Valley and would return in a heartbeat!