We are renting a car at CDG and driving to Amboise (stopping for the night to see Château De Vaux-Le-Vicomte). We would like to see a Loire château on the way in to Amboise, we are considering Blois and Chambord. We are leaning toward Blois because we want to see the town as well and this may be our best chance to see it. Since we will have all our bags in the car we are concerned about theft in Blois since it is a city, and Chambord is not. We know car break-ins are (were?) common in France, having experienced that in Avignon. Is this a problem to the point we should rule out Blois when our car contains our bags? Is there reasonably-priced garage parking in Blois that is more secure than street parking? We will definitely be seeing Chambord on another day, and the fact that it is further from Amboise is a factor in our decision on whether to visit it on the way in to Amboise. We are not sure if we will be visiting Blois if we don't tour it on the way in, as it is not too high on our list based on our research so far. Also, we are somewhat concerned about driving in Blois since it is a city, we are trying to avoid city driving and parking unless it is not too bad and is worth the hassle.
Posted by
Paris
7767 posts
Calling Blois a city is a stretch. It's a town of 50,000 people. Driving won't be troublesome. As for theft: Blois feels very low-risk to me, but to further reduce risk I'd just aim for an underground garage like the Centre Ville-Chateau parking lot. Ideally backing up into the spot so that the trunk can't easily be seen.
Posted by
3171 posts
Tours may have some rush hour traffic but none of the locations otherwise near you will have traffic concerns.
However, I would never, anywhere in France, leave luggage unattended in a parked car. Drop your luggage off a the hotel, then drive to Blois to see the château. It is not that far away.