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Loire valley rental location?

We will be spending 4 or 5 nights in the Loire valley this June. We plan to be in Paris first for a few nights then travel to the Loire.

  1. Is is best to take the train to the valley and then rent a car rather than renting in Paris?

  2. We wish to be rather centrally located and want to see Chambord, Chenenceau, Villandry, and also perhaps Cheverny and Chartres cathedral, We will travel back to Paris for the flight home. Any recommendations on where to stay in the Loire, and any itinerary advice to make the most of our time there? We are 4 adults and would like to rent a house or apartment in the Loire.
    Many thanks!!

Posted by
784 posts

We stayed in a B&B in Ozain, which is just west of Blois, on the north side of the river. There is a bridge right there, giving access to both sides of the Loire River without having to deal with the traffic of Tours or Amboise. We stayed here on 2 different trips and found it to be a very convenient and central location, especially for the chateaux in the eastern end of the valley. We visited chateaux from Chambord to Villandry from this location. It is also about due south from Chartres - we drove to Chartres when we were done in the Loire, dropped our car, and took the train into Paris. This was 15 years ago, so I'm afraid I cannot recommend the B&B as it may be no longer in business, but there are several in the area.

Posted by
809 posts

Last October, my 87yo mother, sister, BIL, and I stayed for 5 nights at Gite La Tuilerie in La Croix en Touraine. It was GREAT for us! The village is about 15 minutes south on Amboise so it's fairly centrally located - maybe half an hour to Villandry to the west, and a bit under an hour to Chambord to your east. The house was just across the road from the Cher River. We rented it for the full week even though we only spent 5 days there; it was still was less expensive than the other places I looked at. The owners do not speak English, only French; I speak some French so that worked out fine for us. The kitchen was well equipped, it was easy to drive to the various chateaux we visited, and after many nights in hotels and B&Bs it was great to be able to spread out a bit. PM me if you would like more information on this place.

We found it through the Gites de France website; here's the link to the English site, but if you speak or read French the French site may have a wider selection [just click on the little down arrow by the UK flag in the upper right to select your language]. I knew we wanted a central location but wasn't fussy about which town, so I did a map search to find this place.