Loire Valley and the Louvre

Don't bother to buy tickets to the Louvre in advance from the USA. It is possible to buy them in advance in Paris from ticket desks in tourist offices, or FNAC stores, but the main delay getting into the Louvre nowadays is usually the security scan queue, which you can't get around by buying an advance ticket.

It is very easy to get to my favourite chateau, Chenonceau, by yourself by train right to the door - no tour company required..

TGVs serve Gare Montparnasse direct in 1 hour to St Pierre des Corps just outside Tours with an easy change to the train which goes straight to Chenonceau in about 20 minutes. The train station is right next to the car park and right next to the ticket office for the chateau. It is incredibly easy. The multi-page booklet with photos which is given to you when you get your tickets is excellent and tells you what you need to know in each room of the chateau and in the grounds. The full colour map on the back of the booklet is really helpful and clear.

We took almost an entire day at Chenonceau including walking in the woods and think that it would be difficult to add another chateau to it.

But if you do want to, there's Amboise. Back by train to St Pierre des Corps and get the train to Orleans and one stop you are at Amboise. A bit of a walk across the widest part of the river including a wide island, takes you to the large Amboise chateau and a nice town. Up to the Clos de Luce is a bit of a climb. I don't think you can do 3 chateaux reasonably in one day trip from Paris.

By the time you add the train in and the time at each place it makes for a long day...

Chenonceau is my favorite, but if you are with a tour group, you will be arriving with the hordes that frankly made my visit unbearable this year (I got there at 9 and the tour groups started arriving around 10:30). If you decide to do it on your own and take the train from Paris to the chateau, the connections are so bad that you won't arrive until early afternoon. Best alternate is to take an early TGV to St.-Pierre-Des-Corps and book a shuttle service to get to you the chateau right when it opens. Rick lists several shuttles in his book. Going back, you can take the train from Chenonceau

My wife and I went to Chenonceau twice, just over a week ago, on successive days. Both using our own car because we were staying nearby.

The first day we followed our hostesses' advice at our chateau and went at lunch time. She suggested that most people, and tour groups, would have stopped for lunch somewhere on the grounds and we would have a clear shot. Well, we just didn't see many people. It was Sunday. We actually found plenty of parking in the first row nearest the entrance.

We returned the next day, the Monday. That day we said we would just go after we finished breakfast and we got there about 10:30. Again parking was easy, 2nd row about 15 cars in. We would have been closer but there had been heavy rain overnight and there were puddles we wanted to avoid. At no time that whole day did we feel overly crowded. Oh wait, my wife felt crowded in the underwater kitchen, but it is a very cramped place. Anytime we wanted to sit down it was easy.

I'm sure that others have felt overcrowded but we honestly didn't.

There is a nonstop TGV leaving Paris Gare Montparnasse at 8:46, arriving at St-Pierre-des-Corps at 9:45, 20 minutes to change platforms and a train to Chenonceaux Chisseau at 10:05 arriving at 10:25 in 2 stops.

Great advice so far. I agree with the recommendations to wait for tickets to the Louvre and that the Paris Museum Pass can be a good purchase for many travelers. Since you are there so many days you could group many of the sites into a few days covered by the pass. Visiting the Loire Valley is easy using rail and even if you need/wanted a tour you could meet with a company that leaves from the area instead of Paris. Shuttles connect Amboise, Tours, or Blois with key châteaux several times a day and should be about €4-15. Minivan tours combine several châteaux into a day tour and these services start from Tourist Information offices. You can find more options in Rick's France guidebook also.