Amboise

Chenonceau is wonderful, Chambord is enormous, but I think my favorite was Chaumont. It is very quaint and reminded me of a Sleeping Beauty castle. We also enjoyed Montresor. I agree, you really don't have time to do more than three a day as there is some distance between them and you really want to explore each one. Depending on how much you want to see and how quickly you move through the chateau, Chambord can take half your day. Have a wonderful trip!

Thanks for the ideas. I don't have a map in front of me, so I may have them backwards, but would Chenonceau, Chaumont (or Chambord) and a winery or two in a day (we will have a car) be feasible? By feasible, I mean not so jam-packed that we would have to rush through everything and not really enjoy anything.

I can recommend a great place to taste wine, but you'll need a car. Along the road on the south bank of the river on the way to Chaumont and Chambord, there are some wine caves. I spent a good hour talking to a delightful old French vinter in one of them... although he doesn't speak English.

If you want to taste wine and don't have a car, go no further than the wine shop directly underneath the chateau at Amboise, south side. Chaumont is good, Cheverny may be a little better as the furnishings and interior architecture are quite good and of course viewing the hunting dogs is quite entertaining.

Chenonceau is pretty but absolutely overrun by a crush of tourists.

We really enjoyed both Chenonceau & Cheverny, including the dogs.

I would agree with the others who stated Chambord is just Huge, while the above two were much more interesting & enjoyable.

Thanks for the replies everyone...after talking to my husband and re-reading RS, I think I've decided that we're going to do Chenonceau, Cheverny and, depending on how the day is going, Chaumont...and hopefully a winery somewhere along the way...