Loire: Amboise or Chambord

Three nights at the Relais de Chambord would be massive overkill. There is nothing there other than Château Chambord, which I find impressive, but 3 days?

If I had 3 days, I would stay in Tours, specifically the area around Vieux Tours and the Cathedral: more restaurants, night life, shopping, and museums. Amboise has more to offer than it once did and 3 days there would be far more interesting than 3 days at Château Chambord.

We stayed in Amboise last summer and it was lovely. Booking.com had an amazing deal on a vrbo type carriage house next to downtown center (there were 5 of us so we needed the space). We walked out every night for dinner, had a garden for glasses of wine, etc. Lots of lovely accommodations in Amboise.

Amboise was conveniently located for many places in each direction. Lots of chateaux, but don't overlook the amazing ZooParc de Beauval! My adult daughter and I went, and it was as good or better than the San Diego Zoo, very easy to get to, etc. About an hour drive from Amboise and IMO totally worth it to give us a break from days of awesome chateaux and history. But it was so much walking. The giant pandas were right there and so amazing, we loved the three story viewing pavilion over the hippos -- you could see them from waterlevel and from above, which was neat. So many birds - if you are a bird-lover, this is your place. Arguably the best zoo in Europe.

Agree that there is not much in Chambord other than the castle. We were driving from Paris, stopped there on the way to the Loire, enjoyed the roofs, and moved on. I would not want to stay in the inn on the grounds of Chambord itself b/c the crowds (in August) were crazy, the waits for anywhere to eat other than a quick coffee were very long, and it's very isolated.

Chenonceaux was lovely, but likewise, out in the country. My in-laws spoke very highly of Azay-le-Rideau b/c they really like historic fabric (didn't see it myself, we came in from different directions and met in Amboise). I think basing in Amboise itself, especially for a solo traveller, great.

FYI, it's really a one chateau a day thing - there is a ton of walking at all of them, and we're in good shape, but one chateau takes it out of you and the rest of what we wanted to do each day was just poke around markets and hang out with a glass of wine and relax in a garden with coffee. I sketched a little bit at Chambord when I needed to rest.

We took the train both ways between Paris and Tours, rented a car, and stayed at Chateau de Pray, which is just outside Amboise. We managed 2-3 chateaux per day, spending one day visiting the chateaux west of Tours, and 2 days to the east. Amboise was nice, as there are lots of choices for meals, both lunch and dinner.

Chateau du Pray looks amazing! We stayed in Amboise and felt it was a great choice. Its proximity to Chenonceaux allowed us to see it early and mostly empty (its popularity can make it very crowded.) Amboise itself has everything you want from a small French town: some great restaurants, wine shops, bakeries, patisserie, etc. Parking can be difficult during the day, but you’ll be running about then. We found this was a good home base to explore chateau west of Tours as well. Villandry and Azay-le-Rideau are easy to reach via the Autoroute and were among our favorites. We had lots of options.

My feeling is Chambord is a bit more limited as a home base. The only other chateau that are close are Cheverny and Blois. Chambord itself is very big and quite crowded, felt a bit like Versailles in that way. The other chateau we visited felt very intimate by comparison.

I have to note that Chenonceaux and Villandry in particular had nice picnic tables/areas on or near the grounds. Stocking up on French specialties in town, and enjoying a relaxed picnic in view of these beautiful chateau was a real highlight for us.

Another vote for Chateau du Pray