Blois, Tours or Orleans 3 night stay for chateaux

I'm in the throws of a nearly identical decision right now elaine. 4 nights, interest in the same Chateaux, no car. We will howeveer ride rental bikes extensively.

On Rick Steves forum you will hear a lot of recommendations for Amboise as your base - Rick recommends it. My family has been previously, and it's where we just booked. It is a lovely, comfortable tourist town. Definitely a tourist town, but in the pleasurable way that good tourist towns are. 14k population and really good tourist amenities. The castle in town is beautiful and interesting, and is Leonardo DaVinci's house (we have kids study up ahead of time and the are really happy with that visit).

The bike ride from Amboise to Chenonceaux is really pretty through the vines and a bit of forest, and calm and safe, and eBikes are available (as they are in all locations you mention). And the local trains basically all stop at Amboise - not something that happens at all towns on the route. Again, it's a good place, we decided to come back.

In other places than a Rick Steves forum you'll hear more support for Blois. Population 50k, and a town with more French and French tourists. People seem to really like it - excellent reasonable restaurants, pretty town and Chateau, more of a "real" place. I've not ridden from Blois to Chambord, but we will this time (the local trains all take bikes no issue - just buy your ticket the day before to get a bike spot), and AFAIK that route is no problem. Blois seems like a good choice.

I've not been to Orleans so can't comment, but would say Tours if off my list. We didn't like it so much as a city when we visited. List of reasons for it, and they could have been a series of one-offs. But Amboise is so charming that Tours won't get a second chance from me for a while. For you practically, Tours is the most PITA place to stay relative to what you want to do and where you want to be. And the bike ride from Amboise to Chenonceau is significantly nicer than from Tour - I've done both.

At any rate, as the kids used to say it's all good! You are just optimizing among several solid places.

Of the three cities you listed, I'd pick Blois for convenience and for its own chateau, one of the most interesting I've seen for its architecture and historic importance. Amboise could be another good choice, with its own chateau and the Clos Luce where Leonardo lived and died. I can't opine about transportation or lodgings, we had a car and it's been decades since I slept in any of those cities.

I think Dick highlights an interesting primary fork in your decision tree: do you want a small city, or do you want a big village?

From my perspective, the Loire is about the villages - from a tourism point of view, people have been coming there for centuries to indulge in the country good life. And the villages reflect this in how pleasant they are is tourist destinations. As such don't have interest in staying in cities in the Loire Valley.

But I'm sure arguments could be made otherwise depending on interests. And I will say that the smaller cities west of Tours - Anger and particularly Saumur for instance - are really delightful and I would return to those.

thanks. I think we'll stay in Blois--which seems to be a compromise between city and small village. The ease of the Navette for Cheverny and Chambord, Beauregard, and walking to Blois tips the balance. Plus Le Castelet restaurant looks great! We'll likely have to just skip Chenonceau.

With two full days, i think you'll be perfectly happy just focusing on what you can access from Blois. Better not to run ragged! I've read that the Blois Chateau itself is interesting to visit and was quite important historically.

My family was torn between Blois and Amboise this trip. We still might switch to Blois, makes a lot of what we want to see easier and seems like a very nice town.

Don’t skip Chenonceau! It’s the best chateau! And by that I mean it’s my favorite and was the favorite of everyone when I did a mini bus trip to Chambord and Chenonceau that I booked via Touraine Evasion. I ended up staying in Tours because I have status/points with Hilton so was able to book the Hilton Garden Inn there with points. I think everywhere in the Loire Valley is quite nice! Yes, Tours is more of a city but it’s still very pretty, but the river, has a pretty cathedral and has some handy amenities like a Starbucks for when you’re jetlagged and just need a big coffee (happened to me)! I think some of the towns are even cuter, but if you end up staying in Tours for hotel or transport reasons, that’s not the worst thing in the world!

I haven't been to Blois so can't recommend specifically. But, we picked Amboise for the easier access to Chenonceau without a car, as it was high on our list of must-sees. We will take the train to Blois and rent bikes to go to Chambord, but skip out on Cheverny and Chaumont this time around. So, I think Blois would be great if you are OK with skipping Chenonceau (but I love it and can't wait to go back to see it again). I'm not too worried about not having "enough" to do/see in Amboise itself, we will spend one day in town at the Amboise chateaux and Close Luce, the other two days will be trips to Chenonceau & Blois/Chambord. And Blois is bigger than Amboise, so you'd still have more choices of restaurants and lodging.

Chenonceau is a great chateau but so are the others you're thinking about. No need to tie yourself in knots just to see it. And you'll want to save something for the next trip!

Approximate population of Amboise = 13,000, Blois = 46,000, Tours 137,000.

If you do not have a car, Tours, the transportation hub of the region, is easily my recommendation. However, you want to stay in the area around Vieux Tours (Old Tours), Place Plumereau, and Tours Centre (the train station). Other areas of Tours hold no interest for visitors. This area is full of cafés, restaurants, shopping, and museums. The Tours Office de Tourisme, from where numerous minivan tours depart, is located just opposite Tours Centre.

https://www.tours-tourisme.fr/en/

Blois to Chambord is an easy and pretty bike ride, about 45 minutes.

Chateau de Blois is a fascinating place. Four wings represent four different architectual eras (Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance, Classical). Many kings of France lived there, as did Leonardo da Vinci and Catherine de Medici. Joan of Arc started her crusade there.

I always recommend Tours. It is a great location and you can take the les Quart de Tours tours (it is annoying searching for the word "tour" and "Tours" together. Orléans is far too far from the better châteaux and it is not a very interesting city to see (historically, not so bad, but so much was destroyed). While Tours was also touched by war, there are some older areas that are amazing. Place Plumereau is a delight, the ginguiette by the Loire is so cool, and the parks are also great. There's also a tramway which makes getting everwhere a breeze (though the French to say that Tours est une ville à taille humaine (meaning it's very easy to get from 1 side to the other). I studied in Tours during my university days (about 3 years before the tram was built)

There's a cool hotel near the gare called Le Grand Hotel where prices aren't bad.Or you could stay near the Saint-Gatien Cathédrale or near Place Plumereau. Hotel de l'Univers is also a great,historic hotel near the train station and the tourist office.

You can book a tour from the tourist's office and you can access some via public transport (Villandry is an easy one to get to and so worth it)

so it appears Chambord is covered in scaffolding. So, I think we'd add Chenoceaux instead, so that makes sense to stay in Tours? Any suggestions for 2 other chateaux to add using public transit? Villandry via transit (as others suggested) looks iffy, but would could take a $80 tour that included wine tasting/snacks. If we stay in Tours, the Grand Hotel is only available for 2 nights. We have a reservation for a lovely French restaurant in Blois for the 3rd night, so we'd also be willing to split the 3 nights with 2 nights in Tours and 1 night back to Blois. Amboise, which many like, does not seem to have good transit options.

Many people love and recommend Tours. For me it's on the do not return list. Won't enumerate why, but not a fan for multiple reasons. I'm sure you'd be happy.

Amboise has a train station, and a train passes through fairly regularly, but yes tougher to get to some Chateaux. Quick to your special dinner though. The bike ride to Chenonceau fabulous. And Amboise Chateau itself is very interesting.

Villandry is my wife's favorite Chateau. If you love gardens it is amazing. We rode regular bikes from Azay Le Rideau (super cute town and pretty chateau) to Villandry to Tours. eBiking Tours to Villandry and return is no problem, safe route if not spectacular scenic, and regular biking doable.

If it was me, I'd want to see Chenonceau and Villandry (if Chambord now undesirable). Then Amboise Chateau if I had time.

thank you.

I don’t usually correct people’s spelling but, to avoid confusion with research online or when you’re there, Chenonceau is the chateau, and Chenonceaux is the town.
I love all chateaux but my favorite chateau of all is Chenonceau.

The more history you know of each one, the more you will enjoy them.

We went to Chateau de Chambord last Oct and the scaffolding was a non-issue.

For what it’s worth, of all the towns/cities mentioned, my favorite is Amboise. It’s the most walkable and super charming.
We enjoy walking through all the residential areas of villages/towns we visit, a “back door” experience, lol… you get a more intimate feel for that village/town.

thank you. I think we'll go to Tours to have easy access to Chenoceau and then move to Blois for the last day. Thanks for info about Chambord. We might then do the bus to Chambord and Cheverny.

Susan can you give more detail on the scaffolding please? I'm there is a month and would like to know if it takes away from the experience. Of course been a while since you visited so might be different now.

Thanks!

Hank, yep it could have changed since then, but it wasn’t everywhere, only in two contained areas, and it did not detract from anything, or from the experience. Chateau de Chambord is massively big and it makes sense they’d concentrate on one area at a time then move on to another. We still took 100 + beautiful photos from the chateau and of the chateau… even though we’ve been there many times.

Thanks very much!

Elaine,

I think we'll go to Tours to have easy access to Chenoceau and then move to Blois for the last day. Thanks for info about Chambord. We might then do the bus to Chambord and Cheverny.

My daughter and I stayed in Amboise and had easy access to chateau Chenonceau via public bus.

On a separate day, we took the train from Amboise to Blois then took the navette to Chambord and Cheverny.

Enjoy your trip!

When I saw Chambord last May the scaffoldings were only around the chimneys, so on top of the roof. Not a reason to skip this place to my opinion. Hopefully nothing happens this time. :)

Bus schedule from Ambrose looked sporadic. Arriving at 1:30pm and no return until almost 7pm. Decent lodging without a car also looks not good for our sept dates. Amboise looks lovely. We might just train to Amboise in the am, then bus to chateau and train back to Tours as an option.
Thanks for report on scaffolding. We’ll keep chambord on our list.

Reporting back. We stayed in Tours at the grand hotel $120. Next to train station, solid 3* hotel. Lots of tours available. Very helpful tourist office near train station. Old city is very interesting. We liked it a lot. Delicious dinner at le bistro de belles caves.
Then stayed in Blois. Ibis chateaux hotel-very small, bare rooms. But had everything we needed-great AC, small but nice bathroom, comfy beds, quiet. $80. Happy to report Navette tourist bus from Blois to chambord and Cheverny was running and very prompt. Appears there are no organized tours from Blois vs many from Tours.
Excellent diy wine tasting just outside of chambord at collective with about 100 wines.
Excellent, but tiring diy trip overall.
It’s very easy to take bikes on the trains and hop on/off as one wishes. We saw this frequently.