The French Renaissance, a few hours south.
The Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape, unfolds royal châteaux, gardens, vineyards and listed villages across 280 km — another, luminous chapter of French history to enjoy after Normandy.
Begun in 1519, Chambord embodies the French Renaissance château. 426 rooms, 282 chimneys, a double-helix staircase attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, and a 5,440-hectare walled forest estate.
A Renaissance masterpiece shaped by remarkable women (Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de Medici), Chenonceau spans the Cher through a unique two-storey gallery. Historic gardens, a flowering kitchen garden and a maze complete the visit.
The royal Château of Amboise, favourite residence of Charles VIII and François I, holds the presumed tomb of Leonardo da Vinci. Just 500 m away, Clos Lucé, the Florentine genius's final home, showcases full-scale models of his inventions in its park.
The last great Renaissance château built along the Loire, Villandry is celebrated for its six terraced gardens restored in the 20th century: decorative kitchen garden, ornamental garden, water garden, maze, sun garden and herb garden.
Residence of seven kings and ten queens of France, Blois juxtaposes a medieval wing, a Flamboyant Gothic Louis XII wing, the Renaissance François I wing with its famous octagonal staircase, and Gaston d'Orléans's classical wing designed by Mansart.
Built between 1518 and 1527 on an island in the Indre, Azay-le-Rideau blends French defensive forms with Italian decorative language. Its straight loggia staircase and its reflection in the river make it one of the Loire Valley's most photographed châteaux.
Built in 1455 with its feet in the river, Montsoreau owes its fame to Alexandre Dumas's novel. Since 2016 it has housed a conceptual art collection and offers a superb panorama over the Loire-Vienne confluence and the Saumur slopes.
A 14th-century keep attributed to Raymond du Temple, Sully preserves an exceptional barrel-vaulted timber roof. A refuge for Joan of Arc and later Voltaire, it marks the upstream limit of the UNESCO-listed Loire Valley.
Rebuilt in 1484 in polychrome brick, Gien castle overlooks the oldest bridge on the Loire. It houses the museum of hunting, while the faience works founded in 1821 can be visited in the lower town.
Northern gateway to the Loire Valley, Orléans preserves Joan of Arc's house, a Gothic cathedral completed in the 19th century and a Fine Arts museum rich in French and Italian painting from the 15th to the 20th century.
Concerts, festivals, exhibitions, theatre and historical re-enactments, listed by date.
Castle village on the Indrois, Renaissance interiors and terraced gardens.
Listed among France's most beautiful villages, Montrésor stretches beneath a still-furnished Renaissance château owned by a Polish family since 1849. The Balcon de l'Indrois walk follows the river and terraced gardens, thirty minutes from Loches.
Fifteenth-century tuffeau houses tucked into the Manse valley.
Some thirty 15th-century tuffeau houses with mullioned windows and slate roofs tucked into a quiet valley. The ruined keep and Saint-Maurice church distil rural Loire charm, far from the crowds of Chinon and Azay.
The cardinal's seventeenth-century ideal town, laid out on a strict grid.
The ideal town commissioned by Cardinal Richelieu in 1631 unfolds a grid plan ringed by walls and moats, with timber-framed halls and uniform mansions. The 475-hectare park, remnant of the vanished château, is explored on foot or by bike.
Saint-Gilles chapel with Romanesque frescoes along the Loir valley.
Saint-Gilles chapel holds an exceptional set of 12th- and 13th-century Romanesque frescoes, once tended by prior Ronsard. Along the Loir, mills, troglodyte dwellings and gardens punctuate a gentle valley away from the great châteaux.
Ruined fortress above a troglodyte village and its Gothic bridge.
Crowned by a ruined fortress that resisted Richard the Lionheart, Lavardin lines up troglodyte houses, a Gothic bridge and Saint-Genest church with rare wall paintings. Listed among France's most beautiful villages, it is walked in about an hour.
Intact medieval walls and timber houses beside the Berry canal.
A rare example of intact medieval walls, Mennetou keeps three gates, its towers and 13th-century timber houses. The Berry canal and the Cher cycle route make it a refreshing stop between Sologne and the Loire Valley.
Four-towered royal fortress overlooking the Gâtinais plain.
A 13th-century royal fortress with four towers, Yèvre watches the Gâtinais plain from a flower-filled promontory. The tiny village gathers two churches, rose gardens and a wall walk with views as far as Pithiviers.
Medieval castle, ramparts and the vineyards of the Saumur region.
The last complete fortified stronghold in Anjou, its château overlooks the Thouet with a medieval kitchen, wine cellar and gardens. The walled town, ringed by thirteen towers, extends into the Saumur vineyards and their troglodyte cellars.
Loire island with a rock-built sanctuary favoured by Louis XI.
Set on a Loire island, Béhuard owes its rock-built sanctuary to the devotion of Louis XI. Boatmen's houses, floodplain meadows and flood markers tell of life along the wild river, twenty minutes from Angers.
Medieval bridge, manors and wall paintings along the Vègre river.
An intact medieval village on the Vègre, with its humpback bridge, mill and the Temple, a canons' manor from Le Mans. The church holds a remarkable set of 12th- and 15th-century wall paintings, including a striking Last Judgement.