I am writing this report in September after a summer of travel and time to reflect on my visit to the Loire Valley. This was part of a longer trip that started in Normandy and ended in Paris. We took this trip by public transportation and while it is doable, having a car would have been a better option in the Loire.
Tips for traveling the Loire without a car
Public transportation in the Loire exists, but it is not very convenient. Train service from Bayeux (where we stayed in Normandy) required multiple connections, especially since we took the route from Bayeux-to-Caen-Tours-Amboise. Here are a few tips:
- • Stay in a central location either Tours or Amboise. We opted for Amboise as it is a smaller town, quaint, and had sites we wanted to see.
- • Pack light. Traveling by train and having multiple connections, we truly appreciated the benefits of traveling light.
- • Tours that suit your needs/budget. We opted for small group tours (less than 8 people) that had pick up services in Amboise. Nice balance of cost and comfort.
- • Centrally located hotel. We stayed at Hotel Bellevue overlooking the Loire River. A 3-star hotel, in operation since 1890, with modern amenities such as elevator and air conditioning. We had a balcony room overlooking the Loire. The only thing was the weather, it rained, and we could not use the balcony. The staff is excellent, helping us secure restaurant reservations, booking taxi services, and making recommendations.
Highlights & Lowlights
There were more highlights than lowlights of our time in the Loire. The main thing that we learned is that the Loire is busy , so it is important to make reservations in advance and schedule your time to visit either early or late to beat the crowds, unfortunately without a car, we often visited sites at the height of the crowds.
- Food. The Loire Valley is known as the Garden of France, not only for the lovely gardens of the famous Chateaus, but for the abundance of fresh produce, wine, and amazing cheeses. We ate extremely well in the Loire. Our favorites were:
Les Arpents: a three-course pre-fix menu restaurant with some of the most inventive food and dinnerware. For example, appetizer was asparagus with black garlic, crème fraiche, and an herb sorbet served on a white plate with a huge bite mark. The main was seabass on a seafoam served with carrots and fresh peas while dessert was a deconstructed lemon meringue pie. Service and wine were excellent.
La Fourchette: a very small tapas restaurant in Amboise. We were lucky that the hotel could get us a reservation. The menu changes daily, standouts were the risotto, beef kafka, and the fresh strawberry crème dessert.
Small Group Tour. We took two small group tours, one to Chambord, Chenonceau, with lunch at a private castle by a la Francais and Loire Valley Wine tour from VinoLoire Wine tours. Both tours were excellent. The guides were knowledgeable and entertaining. The wine tour was led by a Sommelier and our visit to a small family winery and the vineyards made me appreciate the wines of the Loire. One of the benefits were the people, especially on the chateau tour which had a lovely multigenerational family that we later in the trip had coffee and pastry with.
Time in Amboise, especially Chateau Du Clos-Luce, the final residence of Leonardo Di Vinci. We planned on spending only a few hours here, but spent the entire morning enjoying the gardens and the replicas of Di Vinci’s inventions.
Lowlights
- Crowds: this was unavoidable given the time of the year and the fact we had to take tours. A car would have given us more flexibility to avoid crowds.
- Shipping wine: we loved the family-owned winery and shipped a case. It was a nightmare dealing with the shippers, customs. The only saving grace was that was that the tour company we worked with helped iron out the issues.