A month ago I posted about spending a month in the Bordeaux region and received very valuable responses. So, rather than a month in Bordeaux we've altered the plan to spend a week near Salat and then spend a week near Chinon or Amboise. Following that, we've considered 4 or 5 days in the Normandy area.
Please offer any suggestions/observations/web sites that will make our loose plans become firm. Those earlier responses to our July 7th post made a huge difference.
Carvil Day
Between Chinon and Amboise, I'd choose Chinon! We didn't get to explore the town of Chinon -- just spent our time at the fortress, which is beautifully restored and full of informative signs and audiovisual effects -- but the RS guide to France describes a self-guided walking tour of the old town that I would have loved to do. The town is in a picturesque location on the river Vienne, a Loire tributary, and it's surrounded by vineyards. We bought a bottle of rose wine which we greatly enjoyed later in our trip.
About 45 min leisurely drive from Chinon along a straight road is Azay-le-Rideau, which has its own chateau and several high-end restaurants as well as more casual places to eat. We stayed there in the Hotel Biencourt and it was wonderful. The innkeepers are the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. However, if you choose to stay in Chinon I'm sure there are nice people there too!
We spent a short time in Amboise on our way to the Chateau of Chenonceaux and found it be to comparatively crowded with tourists on foot, on bicycles, and in cars -- all acting kind of aggressive about wanting the right of way in the narrow village streets. My impression is that once you get to the western/southern side of Tours, the places that are out of range for an easy day trip from Paris are more relaxed and more characteristically French.
We would have loved to venture further west to Villandry, Fontevraud Abbey and maybe even Saumur, but lacked the time. Next trip!
We did a similar trip in reverse this July with similar time allocations (we stayed in Amboise and have never been to Chinon so can't comment on which we enjoyed more. However we did enjoy being in Amboise and Clos Luce was one of our favourite sights in the Loire). We had a car, which we found invaluable for getting around these areas efficiently.
We initially worried about running out of things to do around Sarlat (we had 7 nights in St. Vincent de Cosse) but that was not at all a problem. The area is filled with a diversity of sights and things to do and we plan to go back soon to see more. We especially enjoyed La Roque St. Christopher, Lascaux 4, the museum in Les Eyzies de Tayac, taking a boat ride down the Dordogne river, shopping at the numerous markets and swimming in the river.
We tried to make time to see Oradour-sur-Glane on the way from Amboise to Sarlat but weren't able to make it. We have 2 young kids and move more slowly than it sounds like most on this forum do. However, if you can carve out 2 or so hours to visit on that travel day, I would highly recommend it. A very sobering place from what we could tell from our brief stop.
Have a wonderful trip!
I went into Loire from Brittany so stopped at Fontevraud Abbey then Chinon. I liked both sights because they were different than the typical plush hunting lodges of the 17th and 18th century. Chinon is a fortress ruin with a lot of history. The town seems older and a little less dressed up than other towns in the valley. After that I traded my car for a bicycle and biked to Amboise. Amboise is a good base for Chateaux in the western half of the valley. I biked to Villandry (on the way from Chinon), Chenonceaux and walked to Amboise and Clos Luce.
