Loire Valley w/o a Car

I'm not sure about a "shuttle," but this company provides a one-day tour from Amboise, covering Chenonceau, Amboise, and Clos Luce. This one has one-day tours covering Chenonceau, Chambord and Cheverny with drive-bys of others. This company does day tours from Tours. This one goes from the TGV station near Tours, for people who come from Paris.

I haven't used any of these and I'm sure there are more. I'd prefer the flexibility of a car, though some of these tours include wineries which you want to be conservative about if you're driving yourself. And I wouldn't want to "do" more than a couple of chateaux in a day.

The chateaus (chateaux) are in the country, except for a couple in Amboise. The train stations are near the river. You have to make arrangements to get from the train stations to the chateaux. This will involve paying someone to get you there.
Or you could rent a car.

Thank you to Dick and to Kent. Dick, your links to tour companies operating from Amboise was really helpful. I will look into those.

When we were in Amboise a couple years ago, we went to Chenonceau by city bus. They are few and far between however so watch your time or expect to taxi home for a price!
Sue

Tour companies/shuttles are your best bet. I've heard good things about Acco-Dispo. If you want to do it on your own, I would take a taxi to Chenonceau so I could be there when the gates open--before the hordes of tour buses arrive. To get back to Amboise, there is an infrequent bus or you can take the train (but you have to transfer to reach Amboise, so it takes over an hour). For Chambord, I'd take the train to Blois and then meet up with public transportation (TLC?) that stops at the train station and serves both Chambord and Cheverny.

We stayed in Amboise last summer without a car. The TI in Amboise has information/reservations for shuttles to nearby chateaux and they can also help you with local bus schedules. We took the city bus to Chenonceau. Another day, we used the Navette Chateaux excursion bus that leaves from the Blois train station: 6 euros for a day pass that stops at 4 chateaux plus you receive admission discounts to the chateaux. http://www.tlcinfo.net/download.php?f=4349b40667bd24f14476527ee4dd3e3c

To see the Loire Valley chateaus, the flexibility of a rental car cannot be beat. You only need the car for 2 or 3 days.

I haven't driven in Europe solo in a long time. I'm traveling on my own and am somewhat reluctant to rent a car. If I should decide to do so, does anyone know if I can rent one in Amboise or do I have to do that in Tours?

There's a small Europcar office on the outskirts of Amboise; about a 50 minute walk from the train station. You can see what they have by going to the Kemwel or AutoEurope web sites.