The Loire Valley - a complaint

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I once drove into a remote car park near Tours to have Sunday lunch at a Flunch.

We spent an afternoon in Tours once - our biggest problem was there was no left luggage or locker. We had to drag our bags with us to lunch.

But there is nothing on Tours. No writing anything - and it is the big base where people visit the chateau's. Its also where you get the RER to Paris.

Just a suggestion but if you do submit your observations to the "Submit Book Feedback" link at the bottom of this page, you might want to do a spell and grammar check on your original post before sending it to the Rick Steves headquarters.

I don't know anyone that uses Tours as a base to visit the chateaux in the Loire Valley. I've been to Tours twice and I would much prefer to stay in a small, charming village... like Amboise for instance. A lot of people (the majority?) rent a car for visiting the Loire Valley and have no need to even go to Tours.

I hear you though, and you're right, Tours should be in the RS France guide if it isn't already.

Rick's books have never claimed to be all inclusive. He simply choices places that he thinks fits his perception of low key travel. If you like Rough Guide better, then use it. I never understand why people criticize Steves' guidebooks because they are not like the other guide books. I would rather see a few places well described with a little value judgement than a generic description of everything.

As Frank suggests, the A-Z, be all things kind of guidebook will be lacking the detailed information to really see a town, it can't include granular detail (as RS books do) because it would then be three 900 page volumes for France alone. If RS did that people would inevitably complain that the book is too unwieldy, or why so much time spent on Toulouse?

Like Frank, I like the fact that Rick Steves' books are selective in the places they cover thoroughly, rather than just listing every place you could possibly want to go. There are many sources available for research when deciding on where to go and what to see. Europe is a big place and no one guidebook, or series of guidebooks, is going to cover everything. That's why there are so many different ones out there. I don't think I would ever plan a trip without consulting several guidebooks and doing online research about the area I wanted to see.

Regarding the Loire Valley, I agree that many people do come and go from there by train and make their connections at Tours rail station and/or the St Pierre des Corps TGV station. But since RS does not recommend it as a base for exploring the area he has chosen not to cover the available accommodations, restaurants, transport, etc.

On other forums most folks consider Tours the arrival spot if coming from train from Paris as a base for touring Loire Valley.

Amboise where we stayed.. IS nicer in many ways.. but it also doesn't have as many tours etc that leave from there.. and not as many rental car choices.. Tours is bigger for has more options .