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Cheverny by public bus vs taxi

Posted by on

I am trying to finalize my "good weather" plan for the Blois/Chambord/Cheverny portion of my late October trip. I will be using public transportation. My original plan when I laid things out in March had a Chambord to Cheverny midday bus so I could do both half days on the same day. That bus has recently been discontinued.

Instead, the Cheverny access is from a bus from Gare de Blois, but it only runs once a day: arrives Cheverny at 1045 and leaves at 1615. (By comparison, the Chambord route still has a morning, midday, and closing time service.)

I cannot imagine spending 5.5 hours at Cheverny when their own website talks about a 2 hour visit for the castle. I am fine with doing Chambord one afternoon and Cheverny the next morning, but I'd like to get back to Blois from Cheverny around 1330 so I can see Blois itself. At 18km, I don't think a taxi or Uber back is feasible.

Am I out of luck here, or is there a trick I am not seeing?

Posted by
1035 posts

Would you consider a mini-van tour instead? I used them years ago - it was a very efficient way to get around without a car. The driver, who may now be the owner, was pleasant and knowledgeable:

https://www.accodispo-tours.com/amboise.html

I also rented a bike the first afternoon to see the chateau closest to Amboise.

Posted by
1746 posts

The Accodispo tour mentioned by markcw is an excellent one. They have one tour that hits the Big 3: Cheverny, Chenonceau and Chambord. Book it early as it does sell out.

Posted by
4 posts

That sounds very promising. It would save me having to switch hotels from Tours to Blois like I had set up.
My only minor reservation is that I'm 6'4" and a 3XLT, so some poor person sitting next to me may have an uncomfortable experience if the van is full.

I did take a minivan tour in Normandy about fifteen years ago that was excellent.

Posted by
1024 posts

As a solo traveler, I have been informed by several day tour companies (including Acco-Dispo) that French law requires a minimum of two tour participants. As a result, I have been waitlisted until other travelers have booked the tour I tried to reserve. In some cases, the tour ran, in others it did not.

Nick, I don't know if you are traveling solo, but thought I would mention this. There are several companies with well reviewed day tours; you might also look into A la Francaise. I would also be prepared to DIY as you have planned in case the numbers work against you.

Posted by
4 posts

Thank you all for your help. I did see the note about a minimum tour size of 2. I requested the three castle all day tour from Tours for my preferred date and got a reply about an hour later indicating that I was on the wait-list and they would contact me if I cleared it. It was not evident if it was because they had 0 so far, they had 8 so far, or they weren't willing to take a single until they got another single or an odd number.

I did respond back and gave them a range of three days (Monday-Wednesday) as well as being able to take the train over to Amboise and do the afternoon two castle tour, but I have not heard back.

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