Loire Valley
Château itineraries, cycling routes and practical advice for discovering the Loire Valley.
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Loire Valley Château Road Trip: A 5-Day Route That Is Not Just a Castle Checklist
Read guide: Loire Valley Château Road Trip: A 5-Day Route That Is Not Just a Castle ChecklistA balanced Loire Valley itinerary pairing major châteaux with towns, gardens, cycling and local food.
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Loches Travel Guide: Royal City, Medieval Keep and a 2-Day Itinerary
Read guide: Loches Travel Guide: Royal City, Medieval Keep and a 2-Day ItineraryLoches offers a version of the Loire Valley that is more fortified, compact and lived-in than the famous river châteaux. Its Cité Royale occupies…
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Villandry and Azay-le-Rideau: A One-Day Loire Valley Itinerary
Read guide: Villandry and Azay-le-Rideau: A One-Day Loire Valley ItineraryVillandry and Azay-le-Rideau make one of the Loire Valley’s most coherent two-château days because they offer different strengths within a manageable area. Villandry is…
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Best Châteaux in the Loire Valley: Which Castles Are Worth Your Time?
Read guide: Best Châteaux in the Loire Valley: Which Castles Are Worth Your Time?There is no single “best” château in the Loire Valley because the famous sites are good for different reasons. Chambord is the choice for…
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Best Time to Visit the Loire Valley: Month-by-Month Seasons, Gardens and Crowds
Read guide: Best Time to Visit the Loire Valley: Month-by-Month Seasons, Gardens and CrowdsThe best time to visit the Loire Valley depends less on finding one perfect month than on deciding what you want from the trip.…
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Loire Valley Day Trip from Paris: Train, Tour or Car and What Is Realistic
Read guide: Loire Valley Day Trip from Paris: Train, Tour or Car and What Is RealisticA Loire Valley day trip from Paris can be excellent, but only if you choose one clear objective. The region is too large for…
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Loire Valley Food Guide: What to Eat, Markets, Cheese and Regional Specialties
Read guide: Loire Valley Food Guide: What to Eat, Markets, Cheese and Regional SpecialtiesA Loire Valley food guide should begin with the landscape, because the region’s cooking is not one single cuisine. Touraine, Orléanais, Sologne and Anjou…
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Tours Travel Guide: Old Town, Markets and a Car-Free Loire Valley Base
Read guide: Tours Travel Guide: Old Town, Markets and a Car-Free Loire Valley BaseTours is the Loire Valley’s most useful transport base, but usefulness is not its only virtue. The city has two historic centres—the cathedral quarter…
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Loire Valley Boat Trips Guide: Traditional Boats, Sunset Cruises and How to Choose a Route
Read guide: Loire Valley Boat Trips Guide: Traditional Boats, Sunset Cruises and How to Choose a RouteA traditional boat trip is one of the best ways to understand why the Loire Valley exists as a cultural landscape rather than simply…
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Where to Stay in the Loire Valley: Tours, Amboise, Blois, Chinon or Saumur?
Read guide: Where to Stay in the Loire Valley: Tours, Amboise, Blois, Chinon or Saumur?The most important Loire Valley hotel decision is not whether the room is charming. It is whether the base matches the part of the…
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Hot-Air Ballooning in the Loire Valley: What to Expect, When to Fly and Planning Tips
Read guide: Hot-Air Ballooning in the Loire Valley: What to Expect, When to Fly and Planning TipsA hot-air balloon flight is one of the few Loire Valley activities where you must accept that the itinerary is not fully yours. The…
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Loire Valley UNESCO World Heritage Guide: What the Listed Cultural Landscape Actually Includes
Read guide: Loire Valley UNESCO World Heritage Guide: What the Listed Cultural Landscape Actually IncludesThe UNESCO designation is one of the most useful ways to understand why the Loire Valley is more than a collection of famous castles.…
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Loire à Vélo Guide: How to Plan a First Cycling Trip in the Loire Valley
Read guide: Loire à Vélo Guide: How to Plan a First Cycling Trip in the Loire ValleyThe Loire à Vélo is not one fixed holiday but a route system that can support everything from an afternoon ride to a multi-day…
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Loire Valley Markets Guide: Best Market Days from Orléans to Saumur
Read guide: Loire Valley Markets Guide: Best Market Days from Orléans to SaumurA market morning can be one of the easiest ways to understand the Loire Valley beyond its castles. Stalls reveal what is in season,…
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Loire Valley Troglodyte Sites Guide: Rochemenier, Brézé, Caves and Villages
Read guide: Loire Valley Troglodyte Sites Guide: Rochemenier, Brézé, Caves and VillagesThe Loire Valley’s troglodyte heritage is one of the best ways to understand the region beyond châteaux. Tuffeau limestone was quarried for buildings across…
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Loire Valley with Kids: Best Castles, Family Bases and a 7-Day Plan
Read guide: Loire Valley with Kids: Best Castles, Family Bases and a 7-Day PlanA successful Loire Valley family trip is not the one in which children endure the greatest number of châteaux. It alternates stories, machines, towers,…
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Loire Valley Wine Guide: Appellations, Grapes and Responsible Tasting Routes
Read guide: Loire Valley Wine Guide: Appellations, Grapes and Responsible Tasting RoutesThe Loire is not one wine region with one signature bottle. It is a long river system containing Atlantic-influenced Muscadet, Anjou and Saumur, Touraine,…
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3 Days in the Loire Valley: A Balanced First-Time Itinerary
Read guide: 3 Days in the Loire Valley: A Balanced First-Time ItineraryThree days in the Loire Valley is enough for a satisfying first trip if you resist the urge to turn every day into a…
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Loire Valley Without a Car: 4 Days by Train, Shuttle and Bike
Read guide: Loire Valley Without a Car: 4 Days by Train, Shuttle and BikeThe Loire Valley is often presented as a road-trip destination, but several of its most important towns and châteaux can be visited without driving.…
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Best Gardens in the Loire Valley: Villandry, Chaumont and More
Read guide: Best Gardens in the Loire Valley: Villandry, Chaumont and MoreThe Loire Valley deserves its old “Garden of France” reputation, but its gardens are not interchangeable. Villandry is about geometry and productive beauty; Chaumont-sur-Loire…
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Best Villages in the Loire Valley: 10 Small Places Worth Slowing Down For
Read guide: Best Villages in the Loire Valley: 10 Small Places Worth Slowing Down ForThe Loire Valley’s villages are where the region stops feeling like a sequence of famous châteaux and starts feeling like a landscape people actually…