Driving distances in Loire Valley and special chateau dinner

From Azay to Chenonceaux should take about an hour on the A85, longer on the local roads but no real reason to use them. You'll be doing plenty of scenic local driving anyway. You could see another chateau near Chenonceaux on the same day if you don't want to make that drive again. And of course plenty more closer to where you'll be staying. With five nights I wouldn't move, just stay in Azay and plan your time to avoid multiple long drives.

One of the advantages of the Loire Valley is that because property prices are low but ingredient quality is high the area is full of young chefs who may one day have a Michelin star, but at the moment concentrate on providing sensational food at reasonable prices. The Loire Valley is low in Michelin stars, which currently appear to be awarded as much on the number of staff to a table as on food quality.

Accommodation we always recommend is La Tortiniere, which is just south of Tours and has a really good restaurant (not starred) as well as a number of good restaurants not too far away. The advantage is that it's halway between Azay le Rideau and Amboise, so convenient to all the most popular Loire Valley Chateaux.

We stayed at Chateau du Pray, I think we got a special, one day free with the purchase of two. We ate at the restaurant of the nights and it was a highlight of the Loire. The food was excellent. Everyone was friendly and helpful. We tried some great local wines. I would go back.

You can use ViaMichelin.com to get driving-time estimates. They do not include stops, getting lost, etc., but folks seem to think VM is generally more accurate about driving times than Google. There have been a few complaints about accuracy, however; there's a feeling Michelin may not be updating its maps very often.

I twice stayed in Onzain which is across the river from Chaumont

We stayed at the Chateau du Pray and ate at the restaurant. It was excellent. Be of a mind to take your time with the meal and service and enjoy all the food and presentation. We were there for about 2 hours. Word of caution! The sommelier WILL pour the wine, so keep your hands off the bottle! He gave me a polite but pointed reminder, which was part of the fun and experience. Giving the level of service and quality of food, we thought relative to these factors for a splurge meal it was a good deal. The stay at the Chateau I recommend as well. A great overall French experience.

Re. Chateau du Pray. The chateau and restaurant were a bit of a splurge for us, but worth it, and less expensive in the end than we would have thought. I just ordered the "house" wine by the glass with each course/as needed. I was concerned about pricing, and would make quite clear to the sommelier that I wanted the HOUSE wine suggestion. He was kind and helpful and would smile just a bit. At first, he seemed to think we lacked experience with wine and would suggest a sweet wine like Reisling. He picked up on our knowledge of wine and it was fun to see what he'd pick. When we got the bill we thought the wine by the glass pricing was ridiculously LOW and not worth any anxiety over prices. They pick many excellent local wines which ended up to be a great value.