loire valley base

I stayed at the Chateau De Ormeneaux in Amboise a few years ago and loved it. We had a car, I am not sure how you would get to all the sights with out a car. I also really enjoyed Chambord, the largest of the chateau's. The chateau that we stayed at is outside of Amboise. It was about a 10 min. drive to Amboise. Amboise is a nice town with a castle and Leonardo's last home where he lived with some replicas of his inventions. We were able to see three chateau's in one day. Villandry we just visited the gardens which were beautiful. We also visited the chateau that has the feeding of the hounds which was interesting. (We love dogs). It was in Rick's guide book, I forget the name. We were in Italy this year and they have train strikes every month. I am not sure how often they have them in France but Europe seems to have them quite a bit. We also had one in Germany that affected our vacation a few years ago. The Loire Valley is beautiful, enjoy!

I always stay in the city of Tours. I find it charming and close to everything.

We've enjoyed staying in Amboise twice. It's a small, charming village and easily walkable.

We have stayed near the town of Chinon and in Chenonceaux. The chateau of Chenonceau was somewhat within walking distance from the town. RS suggests some nice places to stay in Chenonceaux. We stayed at a hotel run by Laurent (first name) which is in the RS books. I liked Azay-le-Rideau for the river setting. Beautiful! Chambord was wonderful because it was so big but I didn't think the rooms of the chateau were that interesting. The roof with the chimneys was fun. Wherever you choose to go will be more difficult without a car because of the distances between the small towns with the chateaus. I did see a lot of people riding bikes if that is something you do. I don't know what sources there are for public transportation. Who knows when train strikes will occur. I wanted to visit Chaumont sur Loire last May but got to the town on the Thursday of the Ascension holiday. Too many people and no place to stay. Since we had visited Chenonceau, I wanted to see Chaumont because of the tie-in between Chaumont and Chenonceau was Dianne de Poitiers. If you are interested in Villandry because of the gardens, another beautiful garden was at Les Jardins de la Chatonniere near Azay-le-Rideau. Les Jardins was a little more "wild" with flowers everywhere as compared to the more formal gardens at Villandry. Enjoy!

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions I have booked a B&B in Amboise, and plan to take a couple of day tours while there as per RS recommendations. I would love to explore at our own pace, so will practice our bike riding for stamina! From there we will get the TGV straight to the Aiport to do home. As a backup in case of strikes, we will get a rental car and drive to the airport.(Husband will only drive in Europe if absoultely necessary. Probably more worried about my back seat driving!) Our flight home is at 10pm so should be ok.
Should I pre book the TGV to the airport now, or easy to arrange in Amboise?

My partner and I spent several days in The Loire Valley 2 years ago. While he is death on driving in Europe (he's very cautious and spooks easily) we found driving in this area easy and pleasant. Roads are well marked, well maintained, and not heavily trafficked. Just a little FYI, as it would seem to me that it would be hard to tour the area without a car, but I never researched tours. We stayed at the Auberge des Launay across the river from Amboise and loved it, but it cannot be done without a car. Have a great time however you travel. We have been overseas many times, but this 4 day jaunt through the Loire valley stands close to the top of best times.

Now very tempted to drive in Loire Valley.
Has anyone explored it just using tour excursions?

If you dont want to drive, most of the Paris tour companies do 1, 2 or longer tours to Loire Chateux