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Loire Valley

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My wife and I just completed our stay in the Loire Valley and it was amazing. Rick Steves recommends staying in Amboise but we decided to rent a car and stay in the smaller town of Loches. Loches was an excellent home base and a wonderful little town. It has so much history and the people were great. Walking the narrow streets and not having to fight through any crowds made Loches an excellent home base. The restaurants and cafes were excellent.

Loches provides an excellent triangulation with the chateaus East and West of Tours so we were able to see chateaus on both sides. If you are considering the Loire Valley I would highly recommended Loches as your base and staying at Phillippe's "Vie de Chateau".

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We had a similarly happy experience last month staying in Azay-le-Rideau. This charming small town is on the road to Chinon, is not far from Villandry, and it has a chateau of its own. The farther eastern chateaux (Blois, Chenonceaux, Chambord, Cheverny, et al.) are 1 to 1.5 hours away depending on your route and how fast you drive. We didn't make it to the western chateaux; maybe next time!

We can't praise our hotel enough: Hotel de Biencourt, listed in Rick's France guidebook. The hosts were extremely helpful. Our room was very comfortable and the building is lovely -- it once housed a school for girls during (I think) Napoleonic times. The hotel is within easy walking distance of several excellent restaurants. The breakfast was also delicious.

The only caveat I have offer is, if you're driving to Azay-le-Rideau southbound on the A28, ignore the French cultural heritage sign for Azay-le-Rideau that tells you to exit the Autoroute in Tours as soon as you've crossed the river. This puts you on a slow, congested, unattractive city street for miles. Stay on the Autoroute (A28 south to A10 south to A85 west) until you get to the exit on the D751 for Azay-le-Rideau and Chinon.

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