Loire Valley
France
The Renaissance châteaux along the Loire and the Cher, seen from Amboise, where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last three years
Photo by Thibault Mokuenko on Unsplash
Photos by Dorian Mongel, Colin Watts, Colin Watts and Colin Watts on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of France
May to June, and September to October (several châteaux keep short hours in winter)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 70mm in Oct
Where it is
47.41°N, 0.98°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- See two châteaux a day, not four
- Get to Chenonceau at opening time, before the coaches
- Cycle from Amboise to Chenonceau rather than driving and parking
- Taste Vouvray in a cave cut into the cliff, at the grower’s rather than in a shop
- Spend a morning at the Clos Lucé and its park of Leonardo’s machines
Loire Valley travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget France
Mid-rangeEuros, and cards at every château, winery and restaurant. Village markets and small wine growers sometimes prefer cash, so carry a little.
ATMs & cards
Bank machines in Amboise, Tours and Blois; few in the villages. Use a bank’s own machine and refuse the offer to convert into your own currency.
Avoid these
- independent machines that offer to charge you in your own currency
Use these instead
- Crédit Agricole
- BNP Paribas
- Société Générale
- La Banque Postale
Draw a little in Amboise or Tours for markets and small growers; the villages have few machines.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of France
Very safeRural and very safe. Two things go wrong: people try to see four châteaux in a day and see none of them properly, and people swim in the Loire, which is forbidden along most of it for good reason — the sandbanks shift, the current under them is strong, and it drowns people most summers. Swim in a pool or a supervised lake. On the bike route, parts run on quiet roads shared with cars.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Amboise — the old town below the château
- Vieux-Tours — the old town of Tours
- Chenonceaux — the village outside the château gates
- Blois — the old town
Worth more attention
- the Loire — swimming is forbidden along most of it here; shifting sandbanks and a strong current drown people most summers
- Stretches of the Loire à Vélo that run on roads shared with cars, especially with children
- Place Plumereau late at night — the student bar square in Tours, loud and drunk rather than hostile
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa France visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of France
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodRillettes and rillons from Tours, Sainte-Maure goat’s cheese with a straw through it, and tarte Tatin, which comes from Sologne an hour east. The wines are the valley: Vouvray and Montlouis across the river from each other, Chinon and Bourgueil further west. Many growers will pour a tasting for nothing in a cellar cut into the tufa.
Travel tipsGetting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- G7Works here
- FREE NOWWorks here
G7 the taxi fleet, by app
- Against a taxi
- Much the same. The flat airport rate is a taxi rule and the apps price against it.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Paris — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for France, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
French
- HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
- PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
- Thank youMercimer-SEE
- Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non
4 more phrases
- Excuse meExcusez-moiex-koo-zay MWA
- How much is it?C'est combien ?say com-BYEN
- The bill, pleaseL'addition, s'il vous plaîtla-dee-SYON
- Cheers!Santé !son-TAY
Open with bonjour before anything else. Launching straight into a question without it reads as rude, and explains a lot of reputed French coldness.
Travel tipsReligion
Catholic, and strictly secular
Laïcité is a constitutional principle: religion is kept out of public institutions, and conspicuous religious symbols are banned in state schools. Cover shoulders in cathedrals.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Say bonjour before anything else, every single time you enter a shop
- Keep your voice down in restaurants and on public transport
- Keep both hands visible on the table while eating, wrists on the edge
- Dress a notch smarter than you would at home — it changes how you are treated
Don't
- Do not ask for a doggy bag or substitutions; the dish arrives as the kitchen intends
- Do not start with English without at least attempting bonjour, parlez-vous anglais
- Do not tip more than rounding up — service is included by law
- Do not eat while walking; it reads as slightly uncivilised
Where to stay in Loire Valley
No Holistay rentals in Loire Valley yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Loire Valley on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Paris Charles de Gaulle CDG
2h 30mfrom the airport· 213 km as the crow flies
Direct TGV to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps in about 1h45, then the local train to Amboise; allow two and a half hours.
Also worth pricing: Tours TUF — small, with Ryanair, seasonally from London Stansted; about 25 minutes by road.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
