Itinerary help: 7 nights in France

Does the two to three include Chenonceau and Chambord? If I did a day trip from Paris, I would go to Chenonceau only: https://www.chenonceau.com/en/practical-information/how-to-get-here/.

You can certainly do a day trip tour from Paris. These are usually on a bus, and take several hours just getting there and back. And of course you only have as much time at each chateau as the guide allows. Or you could take a TGV to and from Tours, cutting out a lot of transportation time, and do a chateau tour from there. Ideally you would take the TGV to St Pierre des Corps and rent a car, and stay in Amboise for at least 1 night, touring independently. Your choice.

Just be aware that companies like GetYourGuide and Viator are 3rd party consolidators and do not run the tours themselves. I'm more familiar with the Viator website and on there you can see which company is actually running the tour and then actually book directly with the tour provider. Viator charges the tour companies 20-30% and I suspect GYG charges the same.

I'll add that if you don't have a particular chateau in mind (like Chenonceau or Chambord) you could just take a day trip to Chantilly which is near Paris and about an hour's travel on a train. You'd spend less time on travel if that is important to you.

Otherwise, doing a tour of chateaux from Paris with a company is fine or staying in Amboise or Tour is fine as well.

Another place to connect directly with guides is AirBnB Experiences. Works just like the accommodation part of the site. AirBnB takes a cut, of course, but I doubt it's anything like 20-30%. Here is an example:
https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/881740?checkin=2025-04-16&checkout=2025-04-16&location=Paris%2C%20France&currentTab=experience_tab&federatedSearchId=d59501bc-1015-44c9-8507-c3303ae4f1db&searchId=d56e4985-f758-441f-ac99-fb1402cdf3bf&sectionId=7c464630-aab0-4291-845a-0c3d4e32c153

I encourage you to see at least one or two chateaux in the Loire valley. My favorites would be Chenonceaux & Chaumont-sur-Loire and found Chambord a bit underwhelming. Seems like a day trip from Paris would best fit your short itinerary, but you should probably get an early start as seeing two chateaux in one day can be a bit of a challenge. Perhaps a TGV train to Tours and where you rent a car for a day if you are comfortable with renting a car in France. Driving ourside of Paris is very doable. The problem with a bus tour will be finding one that goes to the chateaux you are interestedin . We had more time on our trip and spent 3 nights in Amboise...
-Bruce

Thank you all for the quick responses. Very helpful. I am leaning towards taking an early morning train to Amboise and spend the day in the town and do a self tour of one or two chateau. This way we can get the feel of a small town as well as visit a chateau. We are planning to visit Varsaille as well.
Open to other suggestions for day trip that fulfills the above criteria.
Since its a short trip to France, want to avoid packing and repacking luggage, multiple accomodations.
Is it necessary to rent a car in Amboise? Particularly to visit the chateaus?
Thanks!

Be aware that the Amboise train station is 1.3 km (20 min walk) to the Chateau Royale. There are no chain car rental agencies near the train station. Those are in Tours, which is why the St Pierre des Corps station was recommended earlier. There is no frequent bus or train service to the other nearby chateaux like Chenenceau. A rental car is ideal, but you could see about a day tour from Amboise or Tours.

As we are giving more thought to our itinerary, we have 7.5 days in Paris. We will be doing a day trip to Versaille. Would like to add another day trip. Intially thought of doing a couple of Chateau in Loire valley but since we are already visiting Versaille, family is not too keen on visiting more chateaus on this trip. Any suggestions preferably a small picturesque quaint town. Thanks