My son and I are avid road bikers and will be in the Loire Valley in mid-July. We will have 2 full days for biking and seeing a few of chateaux. We will be arriving the night before by train from Paris. We would really like to combine 2-4 hours of biking each day with seeing the chateaux, but are struggling with whether we should do a point to point trip, or stay in one place (Tours, Amboise, or such) and use this for day trips. We are not interested in a group experience (we should average 15 mph easily on flat roads). We are particularly interested in seeing Chevenry and Chenonceau, but would be interested in hearing which chateaux are particularly accessible to bikes, and suggestions regarding where to stay overnight.
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
7398 posts
Several years ago we stayed in Amboise, rented bikes (touring bikes, but they had road racers and tandems as well) in town, and had a delightful ride out to Chenonceau and back, on relatively flat, slightly rolling terrain. We were at a B&B on the opposite side of the river from the Amboise Chateau, and dinner was included with the room, but it was served and cleaned up really early in the evening, which hadn't been announced, and we had an uncomfortable meal that night. It's been years, and I don't even know if that place is still operating under the same owner, but Amboise was a great base.
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
There is at least one company that rents bikes where you can pick up in one location and drop in another:
They charge you by the day and by zones between pick up and drop off. They also do daily rentals.
I did it on my own and covered maybe 50-60 km per day, not riding in any particular hurry. I only rode two days. It's flat on the bike path that runs along the river and easy riding. Anytime I didn't stay right on the river (Chinon to Villandry and Chenonceau from Amboise for example) the hills were more than I expected. One day I started in Chinon, stopped at Villandry for the gardens and lunch, then rode the rest of the way to Amboise. The next day, the 44 or so km round trip from Amboise to Chenonceau plus Clos Luce.
Know your route well before your trip. I used copilot GPS in bike mode and it was disastrous. It didn't seem to know about the established bike route. It put me on dangerous roads with lots of traffic and big trucks. I knew part of the route but lost the bike path going through Tours and had some scary riding until I stumbled on the bike route again.
The bike you get is a comfort bike. They're good bikes and pretty efficient. They're the best bike for the area since some of your trip will be on dirt roads but you can't cover the miles like a true road bike. I was going to try an electric bike but they didn't have any available where I picked up (in Chinon) at the time.
If you go on your own, as I did, you will be carrying your own bag from place to place. I packed only a daypack in case I needed to carry it on my bag but the bikes come with a rack on to which you can tie your bag.
Posted by
Greeley, co, usa
2418 posts
I have twice cycled out of Onzain. Excellent location for the chateau you mentioned. Stick to the white roads on a Michelin map. Excellent cycling.
I stayed at the Chateau de Tertres ( www.chateau-tertres.com )
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Thank you for these responses--very helpful!