We are planning a trip to the chateau region in mid September and are thinking that we would stay in Amboise. I am an avid photographer and would love to photograph the chateau before and after hours. I looked at google maps and it looks like you can get to the garden area on the one side of Chenonceau and Chambord, both. Do you know if it is allowed? I'm not trying to skirt the admission. We will be buying a ticket to both but I was wondering if anyone is familiar with doing this. I have seen lots of photos online but wondered if anyone here would have any experience with this.
Posted by
Michigan
375 posts
this website offered some ideas...
Posted by
Somerville, MA
605 posts
Not your exact question, but there's a public walking path along the other side of the river where you can take pictures of Chenonceau at any time. You can park just off the D80 (there's a park on the castle side of the D80 bridge) and walk about 20 minutes along the river on the other side of the D80 bridge.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
It's "journees du patrimoine" and it's the third weekend in September. Many places not usually open to the public are, but beware that some of the more famous ones get very crowded with very long queues, or need pre-booking.
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
You can wander around. At Chenonceau the gardens are part of admission. One side is formal garden the other is a forest "garden", I walked most of it to the edges of the property.
Posted by
Tomball, TX
16 posts
We went to Chambord, Amboise, and Chenonceau last October. In Chambord, we could only look at the gardens from behind a fence. It looked as if there was an admission booth, but they appeared to only rent small boats. We were able to get some good shots from our vantage point. Walking around to the front side of Chambord, there are small gardens along the way.
Chenonceau - easy access to the gardens there. I assume you'll visit the site in Amboise, too. There is only a small garden area, but there's easy access.
Have fun with your shots!
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
5581 posts
Amboise is a great place to stay in Loire, especially for those particular chateau. We were able to take a lot of great shots at Chenonceau by getting there right at opening and doing the gardens first. We were there at the same time as what you are planning. My husband is a amateur photographer, tripod, etc. If you want a chateau with phenomenal gardens, you ought to go to Villandry. Again, we got there at opening and photographed without hindrance from people. It also wasn't quite as busy as the other chateaus. Clos Luce' and Chateau Amboise in Amboise seemed to be more busy than the others probably due to location. You didn't ask, but another great chateau very close to Amboise is Châteaux de Chaumont-sur-Loire. That has an interesting connection to Chenonceau.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, US
1005 posts
Be aware that there is usually scaffolding somewhere on Chambord's facade, since they are doing a decades-long restoration, so you might have to be creative on the angles your choose.