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Loire Valley

SUGGESTED ITINERARY in Loire Valley, France

5 days roundtrip in Loire Valley

Day 1 - FROM PARIS TO ANJOU / ANGERS (300 km from Paris - 2,5 hours)

CHATEAU D'ANGERS

Opening hours: May-August 9:30-18.30, September-April 10:00-17:30

(last admission 45 minutes before closing)

Tickets: 6 EUR/adult, free for children (Ticket reduction due to exceptional closing of the logis royal after the fire that happened on 10th January 2009)

Duration: 1,5-2 hours

Audio guide (French, English, Dutch, Spanish, Italian)

The Château d'Angers is a castle in the city of Angers, in the département of Maine-et-Loire. The fortress, on a rocky ridge overhanging the river Maine, was one of the sites inhabited by the Romans because of its strategic defensive location. Nearly 600 m in circumference, and protected by seventeen massive towers, the walls of the château encompass 6.17 acres. Today the castle of Angers houses a tapestry museum that includes the famous Apocalypse series of Nicholas Bataille who did the weaving and Hennequin de Bruges did the painting.

 

MUSEE COINTREAU

Opening hours: 11:00-18:00 (November-April, Sunday, Monday and public holidays closed)

Guided tours: 6 EUR/person, 9,5 EUR/person with tasting

Duration: 1 hour

Four generations of talented people have worked with passion to turn Cointreau into a famous brand, now enjoyed worldwide by millions of people. Thousands of documents, movies and advertising items invite you on a fascinating trip through time. You can visit the production site where this famous liqueur is made, and discover the secret of its elaboration. You will follow the subtle perfume of orange peels and will be impressed when you enter the majestic room of red copper stills.

 

Day 2 FROM ANGERS TO SAUMUR (70 km - 1 hour)

ROCHEMENIER

Opening hours: April-October 9:30-19:00, November and February-March, Saturday-Sunday and public holidays 14:00-18:00, December-January closed

Tickets: 4,9 EUR/adult, 2,5 EUR/child

Duration: 1,5 hours

Rochemenier is a troglodyte (cave dwelling) village situated on a plain. You can visit two ancient farms with dwellings and "out-buildings" cut into the rock, containing several hundred agricultural implements and pieces of furniture, a farm yard with animals, an underground chapel, a modernised troglodyte house showing how it is still possible, today, to use this kind of dwelling.

 

LE MUSEE DU CHAMPIGNON

Opening hours: February-March and October-11 November 10:00-12:30 and 14:00-18:00, April-September 10:00-19:00

Tickets: 7,3 EUR/adult, 5,5 EUR/child

Duration: 1,5 hour

A museum devoted to all things related to the humble mushroom!. If mushrooms are your thing then you will be rewarded with a fascinating insight into the techniques employed in growing them as well as seeing most of the different varieties actually being grown- both wild and cultivated types.

 

SAUMUR

 

CHATEAU DE SAUMUR

Opening hours: April-June and September-October, Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-13:00 and 14.00:17:30, July-August Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-18:00, Monday closed

Tickets: 3 EUR/adult, 2,5 EUR/child

Duration: 1 hour

Fortress during the 13th century under the minority of Saint Louis then residence of the dukes of Anjou, the castle of Saumur overhangs majestically the Loire River. In 1480 Saumur returned to the estates of Louis XI, King of France, following the death of King René, the last duke of Anjou. The site successively became a residence for the town governors, a prison and a munitions depot. The monument houses the municipal museum since 1912.

 

MUSEE DES BLINDES

Opening hours: April and October-December Monday-Friday 10:00-17:00, Saturday-Sunday 11:00-18:00, May-June and September 10:00-18:00, July-August Monday-Friday 10:00-15:00, Saturday-Sunday closed

(last admission 45 minutes before closing)

Tickets: 7 EUR/adult, 4 EUR/child

Duration: 1,5 hours

The Musée des Blindés or Musée Général Estienne is a tank museum located in the Loire Valley of France, in the city of Saumur. It is one is one of the world's largest tank museums. The museum has the world's largest collection of armoured fighting vehicles and contains well over 880 vehicles, although the British Bovington Tank Museum has a larger number of tanks.

 

BOUVET-LADUBAY

Opening hours: June-September Monday-Friday 8:30-19:00, Saturday 9:00-19:00, Sunday 9:30-19:00, October-May Monday-Friday 8:30-12:30 and 14:00-18:00, Saturday 9:00-12:30 and 14:30-18:00, Sunday 9:30-12:30 and 14:30-18:00,

Tickets (guided tours with wine tasting): 1 EUR/adult, 0,5 EUR/child

Duration: 1 hour

In the centre of the area of Saumur, close to the century-old reputed vineyard, Bouvet-Ladubay welcomes you. Along its 5 miles long galleries excavated in the “tuffeau” stone, you will discover that for Bouvet-Ladubay, wine is a living art which needs to be elaborated with wisdom, mixing tradition and advance technology. Bouvet-Ladubay displays for you all the stages of the making of its vintage wines, from the first fermentation to the labelling of the bottles and it has an “Underground Cathedral”, a set of 35 monuments created in 2002.

 

LE CADRE NOIR

Guided tours: 15 February-3 April and 18-31 October 9:30, 11:00, 14:00, 16:00, 4 April-17 October 9:30-11:30 and 14:00-16:00 every 30 minutes

Tickets: 7 EUR/adult, 5 EUR/child

Duration: 1 hour

Inheriting a prestigious heritage, the french national horse riding school established herself around the Cadre Noir de Saumur in 1972. The Cadre Noir de Saumur represents the teaching staff of the French National Riding School. As they are real experts in their discipline, the riders have for main mission to pass on a technical and theoretical knowledge. They also have to train and maintain in successful state the horses which they present in the Riding school Dressage or in that of the Jumpers, as well as in the national and international competitions where they represent the school.

 

Day 3 FROM SAUMUR TO TOURAINE/TOURS (70 km - 1 hour)

ABBAYE DE FONTEVRAUD

Opening hours: October-April 10:00-17:00, May-September 10:00-19:00

(last admission 30 minutes before closing)

Tickets:

Adult: 6,5 EUR/19 November-14 May, 7,9 EUR/15 May-18 November

Child: 4,5 EUR/19 November-14 May, 5,9 EUR/15 May-18 November

Audio guide (French, English, Dutch): 4 EUR

Duration: 2 hours

The Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud is one of the most beautiful abbeys in France, situated in the heart of the Loire Valley not far from the town of Saumur. Founded in 1611, Fontevraud was one of the largest monastic complexes in the western world. Unusually it had both a nunnery and a monastery. Several members of the Plantagenet family were buried there, and four daughters of Louis XV brought up in the convent there. The highlights of the complex is the domed abbey church and the vast Roman kitchen. It's roof is given its striking detail by the number of chimneys which vented many huge cooking hearths around the perimeter of this round building.

 

CHATEAU DE VILLANDRY - world famous castle-palace with geometric garden

Opening hours:

Gardens: 15 November-January 9:00-17:00, February and October-14 November 9:00-17:30, March 9:00-18:00, April-June and September 9:00-19:00, July-August 9:00-19:30

Castle: 18-31 December 9:30-16:30, February and 1-14 November 9:00-17:00, March 9:00-17:30, April-June and September 9:00-18:00, July-August 9:00-18:30, January and 15 November-17 December closed

Tickets:

Gardens: 6 EUR/adult, 3,5 EUR/child

Castle + gardens: 9 EUR/adult, 5 EUR/child

Audio guide (French, English, Spanish, Italian and German): 3 EUR

Duration: castle - 1,5 hours, garden - 1 hour

Villandry was completed toward 1536 and was the last of the large chateaus built in the Loire Valley during the Renaissance. It is known worldwide for its gardens which combine flowers and vegetables in intricate beds. The Château itself is the epitome of elegance, concealing eighteenth-century interiors behind its graceful Renaissance facades. The turret-top view over the gardens and out to the confluence of the Loire and Cher is unmissable.

 

TOURS

 

CATHÉDRALE ST-GATIEN

Opening hours: 9:00-19:00

Free entrance.

Saint Gatien's Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Tours diocese and the metropolitan cathedral of the Tours ecclesiastic province, in Indre-et-Loire, France. Saint-Gatien's Cathedral was built between 1170 and 1547. At the time construction began, it was located at the south end of the bridge over the Loire, on the road from Paris to the south-west of France.

 

Day 4 FROM TOURS TO ORLEANS (120 km from Tours 1,5 hours)

CHATEAU DE CHENONCEAU - Castle over Cher river, one of the nicest building of Loire Valley

Opening hours: January 9:30-17:00, February-14 March and October 9:00-9:30-18:00/18:30, 15 March-June and September 9:00-19:00/19:30, July-August 9:00-20:00

Tickets: 10,5 EUR/adult, 8 EUR/child

Wax Museum "The Ladies's Gallery": 12,5 EUR/adult

Evening walk: 5 EUR/adult, free for children up to 7 years

Duration: 2 hours

The château of Chenonceau, has for the last 30 years been a strong representative of Art in all its forms, and as recently as this summer housed part of Unesco’s collections offering a contemporary testimony of its humanist commitment. Chenonceau is not only remarkable for its architecture and history but also for the fine quality of its collections as can be seen from the inside visit: Renaissance furniture, a vast ensemble of XVI th and XVII th centuries tapestries and a great number of masterpieces. Le Primatice, Rubens, Le Tintoret, Rigaud, Nattier, Van Loo are among the most famous names that can be found there. The lovely surroundings, the formal garden and the park surrounding it add to the impression of delicate grace emanating from the castle.

 

CHATEAU DE VALENCAY

Opening hours: October-14 November and 20 March-April 10:30-18:00, May and September 10:00-18:00, June 9:30-18:30, July-August 9:30-19:00

Tickets: 11 EUR/adult, 8 EUR/child

Duration: 2 hours (with historical animation 4 hours)

Château de Valençay, the residence of Talleyrand, is one of the jewels in the Renaissance crown in France. Wonderfully furnished and, with the aid of costumed actors, Napoleonic history is played out before your eyes. The castle boasts one of the most advanced interiors of the Empire style anywhere. There are a hundred rooms, of which a quarter comprise Talleyrand's apartments. A room of King Ferdinand is also shown to tourists. The western wing contains the Talleyrand Museum, formerly housed in outbuildings, and Le Musée de l'Automobile du Centre, exhibiting over fifty vintage and antique automobiles.

 

CHATEAU DE CHEVERNY - magnificently furnished chateau with 70 hunting dogs (feeding 17:00)

Opening hours: November-March 9:45-17:00, October 9:45-17:30, April-June and September 9:15-18:15, July-August 9:15-18:45

Tickets: 7 EUR/adult, 3,4 EUR/child

Castle + "Secrets of Marlinspike Hall": 11,8 EUR/adult, 6,8 EUR/child

Castle + "Secrets of Marlinspike Hall + boat ride: 16,5 EUR/adult, 10 EUR/child

Duration: 2 hours

The present Château de Cheverny is an original jewel among the more famous monuments that stretch along the Loire Valley and it has maintained the same exterior for the last 350 years, without gaining the smallest wrinkle! Today, the Château de Cheverny is also home to some 90-hound dogs that are utilized for hunting. Each dog has a name, and is extremely well trained. Each day at 5:00 PM, you can watch the “feeding of the dogs”.

 

Day 5 FROM ORLEANS TO PARIS (130 km - 1,5 hours)

 

SUGGESTED FULLDAY TOURS FROM PARIS TO LOIRE VALLEY

CHATEAU DE CHENONCEAU

CHATEAU DE CHEVERNY

CHATEAU DE VALENCAY

 

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