Loire Chateaux visits in September

It’s possible but I would budget more time for Chenonceau. In my opinion it deserves at least 3 hours to soak it all in. We bought our tickets 2 weeks in advance with no issues and no threat of selling out.

Chambord in my opinion is just so-so. We bought the tickets day before. I much more enjoyed the Blois chateau nearby.

Make sure you are not missing Villandry which was my favorite chateau of them all.

Definitely possible, especially if you have a car (recommend it for ease if travel between locations in the Loire). 2 chateaux a day is easy. In our 4 night stay in Amboise we visited 3 chateaux per day; but I know that would be too much for some, and that's OK. We found that while Chenonceaux is, deservedly, many people's favourite, and I don't disagree; we appreciated the others for their own unique features.

Our visit was a couple of years ago, in late September/early October. We only bought our tickets a day or so in advance.

There was a reason Catherine de Medici forced Diane de Poitiers to swap chateaux LATE CORRECTION: Chaumont for Chenonceau. (Merci, Simon, who pointed out my error in referring to Chambord here and elsewhere in this post.) .(Actually, there were probably multiple reasons, but the magnificence of Chenonceau was certainly one of the top two.) going to Chenonceau and Chaumont in a single day would be a lovely combo. Both are near Amboise.

That said, the present day gardens at CORRECTION: CHAUMONT are exquisite. Very different in style from the formality of the gardens at Villandry and Chenonceau.

I would expect you could likely do the two, Chenonceaux and CHAUMONT on the same day pretty easily if you’re traveling by car. (We did not go to Chambord, so I don’t know since I don’t know how long you might want, there). Otherwise I don’t know. We did them on back to back days but we were travelling by e-bike, so our single day journey was Blois to CHAUMONT to Amboise.

To answer your Q about reservations, I felt we were well advised to have reservations for Chenonceau. We were fine without reservations at any of the six other chateaux we visited west from Blois, all the way to Saumur. That was in the first week of June 2023.

Some years back, I managed to see Chenonceau, Chambord and Cheverny in one day with a car rental from the local Peugeot dealer in Amboise. So, yes, it can be done.
Chenonceaux is just 8 miles from Amboise, with Chambord a further 35 miles from Chenonceaux.
Public transit involves taking the train from Amboise to Blois, and then transferring to a bus traveling from Blois to the Chateau de Chambord.
It can take anywhere from 1.5-2 hours each way.
By public transit, it’s a full day to visit two Loire Valley chateaux. With a car, you can see more chateaux and stop at some of the picturesque villages along the way.

Apologies, but I must mention:

The Château de Chenonceau is located in Chenonceaux, France.

The town has an x at the end of Chenonceaux. The Château de Chenonceau does not.

I’ve been to the Loire twice over the years, most recently in 2022. I’ve never made reservations in advance.

Thanks for the reminder Tocard. Sometimes autocorrect does us no favors.

I've biked through Tours. It's a big city. I wouldn't choose it as a place to stop. I think you should only plan two chateaux in a day if they are in close proximity to each other (e.g. Amboise Castle and DaVinci's home). If you're driving, you're mostly on country roads so it takes longer than you would expect to get around. Plus, you should have extra-long stops for meals to enjoy the area. It was beautiful when I was there in September.

I have spent a lot of time in Tours and really find it an ideal base for exploring la Touraine. However, tourists should concentrate on that area defined as generally between Tours Centre (the train station) and Place Plumereau in Old Tours. Other areas of the city will not be interesting to tourists, but Place Plumereau is a lively and delightful area full of cafés and restaurants.

I would always advance purchase for Chenonceau.

We're at Chenonceau, on a not particularly special summer's day. Can't work out why, but the place is full. Literally.

Note... The Disne de Médicis Chateau swap involved Chenonceau and Chaumont sur Loire. Chambord wasn't involved because it isn't a chateau, just a vainglorious hunting lodge

You could do it in one day, but visits to both would be abbreviated and I think somewhat rushed. It's an hour drive by car from one to the other.

We visited Chenonceau in 2020 when we spent a week on Loches. We arrived before lunch and left late afternoon, though I wish we had a little more time to explore. Chambord is much larger and I can't imagine seeing it without spending most, if not all day there.

TY Simon. I certainly meant Chaumont. That was where we went and the gardens were gorgeous.

My bad. Sorry to OP for misleading you.

LATE NOTE. I’ve now corrected my post above to suggest you possibly consider Chaumont and Chenonceau the same day, due to historical connection as well as proximity to Amboise. Should you choose to spend two nights in Amboise, you could also see the “Chateau” where Leonardo spent his last three years, Clos Luce, which is kinda fun with its gardens and the Leonardo designed re-creation devices like the Archimedes screw. That could be late on arrival afternoon or on departure morning.

But if you have more limited time and want Chambord, again I am sorry for my mental mix-up and earlier mistake.