The Château de Chenonceau is a historic French castle known as the "Château of the Ladies" due to…read moreits influential female owners throughout its years. Located in the Loire Valley, it is famous for its elegant architecture, which includes a gallery built over the River Cher. The château features rich Renaissance furniture, tapestries, and master paintings. This Château also paved a pivotal roll during g WWII as its walls helped move Jews out of occupied France to free France during the war. It also has a unique connection to the Ponte Vecchio bridge in Florence, Italy. You'll have to visit to find out more. Additionally, the château's iconic gallery was built across the River Cher as an add on to the existing Château. Its interiors are richly decorated with works by artists such as Tintoretto, Rubens, and Van Dyck. Notable rooms include the bedchambers of Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de' Medici, and Louise de Lorraine. The gardens are exquisitely decorated and it's worth spending some time in them. You will need to book your tickets in advance as this Château is one of the most visited and they need it to control the flow of visitors. Be aware it also takes some time to travel, and once parked, to get to the Château (about a 20 minute walk). Enjoy this visit. I have seen it three or four times and always enjoy it!

This French castle spanning the River Cher is an opulent chateau in the Loire Valley of France…read more Built in 1513 to 1517 by Thomas Bohier for his wife Catherine Biconnet. This stunning Renaissance and Gothic architecture is the style of the women who owned and shaped it. The formal gardens are exquisite. The powerful ladies of the Chateau also included Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici. The present day owners are the Menier family, famous for their chocolate. In 1539, King Francis the 1st acquired the estate. Later, King Henry the 2nd decided to offer it to the Queen. Our tour started with a wine tasting of three different wines actually grown on the estate. The fairytale like castle and the story of Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty may have been the inspiration. The rooms and the kitchen in the basement are well preserved. It was a lovely experience.

Chateau and garden is one of my favorite. This chateau is famous on the very well maintained…read moregarden. The chateau was built 1536. This is the actual chateau without castle. It listed as UNESCO world heritage site for their landscape. The chateau has 14 rooms to visit. I like the drawing and study room. It has a grand piano in that room. The office of Joachim Carvallo is the location he plans his vegetable garden. The dining room has a checker board marble floor. The Prince Jerome's bedroom is Napoleons youngest brother. The red silk reflects military lance. There table in front of the bed has decorative surface. The garden is huge. There are total 7 sections. This includes Ornamental, Wood, Water, Sun, Maze, Herb and Vegetable Garden. The ornamental garden is my favorite. This garden has multiple colors. The edge of each tree or bush corner was perfectly trim. Picture perfect. I wish my lawn care company can do this.

Surprisingly this ended up being my favorite chateau out of our 2 day visit in loire valley. We…read moreonly toured the Jardin but that alone was still quite lovely. Villandry boasts some of the best, if not the best Jardins in the region. Signage is well posted so you can understand what is being grown and the trimming is immaculate! The castle itself is beautiful, complete with running water in front outside. Definitely worth the visit even though it's in the other direction as compared to the other chateaus. This was also the only chateau we found with free parking, which we appreciated!

By guided tour only. Château de Brissac is a current residence for the Brissac family that counts…read moreVeuve Clicquot among their ancestors. The château has seven stories altogether, making it the tallest château in the Loire Valley. The front of the house is an interesting combination of medieval castle and 17th century's Baroque architecture The house is lovely and still holds gorgeous artwork of the family, furniture and tapestries from the centuries and we got to see their own theatre where they would put on plays and recitals. Large kitchen underground where I understand they offer cooking classes Their grounds have several paths to tour us around the expansive property. We saw their stables and vineyards. We also went into their underground tunnel. Very cool We walked right up & got into their next tour - it was french but english translations were handed out & since the majority of the group were english-speakers, the guide offered commentary in both languages. Very nice of him!

One of our favorite châteaus to visit - Château d'Amboise is a royal castle in the Loire Valley in…read moreAmboise, France. Built on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Loire River, it transitioned from a medieval fortress into a Renaissance palace and was a favored royal residence in the 15th and 16th centuries. The château is known for its Gothic and early Renaissance architecture and its association with notable historical figures. The history is incredible, and worth a tour with a tour guide or the self guided audio guide. One of the nicest surprises of the château, it's the Final resting place of Leonardo da Vinci: Da Vinci is buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert, located on the château grounds. I have visited three times and never get tired of seeing it!

this was very beautiful and had great views. honestly the actual chateau itself was kinda small and…read moreunderwhelming compared to others but the garden and views made up for it

Beautiful property, loved learning some of the history and seeing the gorgeous architecture. So…read moreinteresting to hear it was a WWII art depository!

This is one of the most visited château in the Loire Valley and one of the largest! Château de…read moreChambord is a famous French Renaissance castle, ordered by King François I in 1519, known for its distinctive architecture and the spectacular, interlocked double-helix staircase, which may have been inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. It was built as a hunting lodge as many of the châteaus were in the valley rather than a permanent residence. The château is immense, containing 400 rooms. The most notable - historic double helix staircase, and the incredible 13,000-acre estate, which is the largest enclosed forest in Europe. They have improved the infrastructure around the château within the past 10 years which have many places to park for busses and cars. Allow yourself time to park and walk to the château as it can take a bit of time. Depending on how much you want to see, give yourself ample time to explore as there is much to see: art jewelry, furniture, etc. Additionally, this is one of the most visited châteaus in the valley.

The house in the Tintin comics is based on this chateau so they had a Tintin exhibit on the…read moregrounds. The comic series was never that big in the US so the exhibit meant little to me. I learned though that Tintin was huge in France so all the French fam were oohing and aahing. Afterward we took a tour of the chateau. Lots of very ornate decorations and paintings of dead folks. Considering we've got small kids the pieces they had relating to child care were pretty interesting but the jackpot, the real money shot, at least for this dude, was the war room on the second floor. Lots of spears and lances and armor. Even several early firearms and a couple of crossbows. It was amazing to consider that every piece was unique and handmade and that every repair or alteration was a custom job. So much work! And just when you thought the fun was over you read a little more about that massive head in the stairway. It's a prehistoric Moose fossil. This dude was given the head of a bleeping prehistoric moose because some dude in Russia knew he was interested in geology?! And the thing's mounted 10 feet off the ground and they think that that was about the correct living height of the animal. Now that right there was worth the price of admission!!

A great chateau with a treasure trove of period furniture that is still occupied by one of the…read moreoriginal families - the count of something and his young family. Unlike many of the other places in the valley, this one escaped much of the destruction and looting that stripped most chateau to their bones. Here you can see ornately painted rooms and furnishings and even the current Countesses' wedding dress (that's one clever way to recycle your dress!). One of the other big attractions are the kennels of hunting dogs. I am not sure of the breed but they are much taller than what I was expecting sort of the size of coon hound with the markings of a beagle. Several dozen reside together in a large enclosure and are managed by one guy who knows all their names. Each has a "V" snipped with tiny scissors on its side sort of like branding a steer, to identify their ownership. A great spot for a visit.

Le Château Royal de Blois is an excellent example of a Val de Loire Chateau. The guided tour was…read moreslightly long, but I enjoyed getting to know more about the chateau's history and architecture. As an added plus "period" musical performers and actor provided an diversion from the tour in the main courtyard.

Blois is beautiful as is this castle but sadly 1/2 seemed to be closed off :(…read moreI am sure once it is fully open it is great, I think they were changing an exhibit... still had to pay full price. But it was the perfect thing to do in between our visit to the Magic Museum across the courtyard. (The museum closes for an hour and a half in the middle of the day just as an FYI) the castle did not have the closing restriction.

This castle is the first Château we have visited in France. It is located at the Loire Valley. It…read moreis part of beautiful town Saumur. The castle was build at 962. Castle has been burn down and reconstructed. During 1368 the castle transformed to palace by Louis I. Napoleon has convert the castle to state prison 1808-1814. Now is listed as Museum. To visit the Château need 2.5 hour minimum. The best parking is at the top next to vineyard bridge to Château. Most of the nice room is at first floor. The first floor includes king's bedroom, great chamber, tower spiral staircase to great view of the town. The museum has collection of antiques at first floor. The compound has the abbey church which detached from the castle. This castle is use to be Protestant safe place during 1589.

Still doing construction but open to the public, we found Saint Maur to be a nice surprise. Having…read morelow expectations & initially just planning on walking around the grounds, we decided to go in at the last minute. Some rooms had nice tapestries, there was also an exhibit of porcelain from the 17 & 18th centuries that was really lovely The views of the city are worth the stairs Guided tours also available but we declined & stuck to walking around ourselves

It became chateau at mid 14th century when King Louis XI decided to build it. This chateau is name…read moreafter Captain-Governor of Langeais. This chateau also located at the town of Langeais at Loire Valley. 1491, the chateau host an wedding of Charles VIII with Anne of Brittany. This wedding incorporated the duchy of Brittany to France. The chateau has 16 rooms to visit. It includes Banquet Hall, Antechamber, wedding hall, The Luini Room. The wedding hall is where Anne of Brittany got wed. They run the history show of the wedding. The visit also includes the walk at castle surrounding wall. The garden is big at the back of castle. The sacred art room contains Saint Agnes paintings. To visit the castle take 1.5 hours. Parking is in the town and is free. Easy access to the castle.

We spent pretty much an entire day in this place, surprisingly. The history was very interesting. I…read morereally enjoyed the tour. Definitely a must-see if you are in the area.

This fortress/chateau is really a must-see if you're anywhere remotely close to the area…read more This fortress sits there on the hill behind the village, towering above it. It makes a really impressive sight from the other side of the river. The history is a colorful one: Count of Blois built the earliest known castle on the mount of Chinon in the 10th century, but there have been settlements on this hills since 3000 years! By 1205, Chinon was one of the last castles in the Loire Valley. It fell to French forces in the Easter of 1205 after a siege of several months.On 6 March 1429 Joan of Arc arrived at Château de Chinon. In 1454 French Queen Marie D'Anjou made the fortress her main residence. Later on Cardinal Richelieu was given the castle to prevent it from coming under the control of unfriendly forces, though he allowed it to fall into ruin. Since 1840, the castle has been recognised as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. Between 2003 and 2010 the castle was the subject of a massive excavation and restoration project, costing 14.5 million euros. Now it sits there in all its glory. Many rooms can be explored, many towers and walls. There's a huge amount of sights and information to take in here. As well as wonderful valley views. Picnic spots, a restaurant, toilets and of course a souvenir shop. Dogs are welcome as well, our Bulldog had a good time here. With the entrance fee comes a tablet with a self-guided virtual tour, very very well done this! There are guided tours as well, but for us the self-guided tour was really good enough. It is really an impressive fortress/chateau. And there were surprisingly few visitors for this kind of sight on the summer weekday. It might be different on a weekend. Entrance fee is very fair, staff very friendly. A really great place that you shouldn't miss.