Loire Valley itinerary: 1 to 3 days
Plans for one to three days in the Loire Valley, a road trip from château to château: Chenonceau over the Cher, the royal château of Amboise and Leonardo da Vinci's Clos Lucé first, then Blois, Cheverny and Chambord, and Villandry's gardens, Azay-le-Rideau, old Tours with its market and Place Plumereau, and Chaumont as you add days. Every stop has a typical visit length.
How long do you have?
Map: 3 days
Loire Valley in 1 day
Day 1
Château de Chenonceau
Renaissance château built on arches across the river Cher, shaped by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de' Medici, with formal gardens.
Château d'Amboise
Royal château on a rock above the Loire, home of French kings, with the chapel where Leonardo da Vinci is buried and river views.
Clos Lucé (Leonardo da Vinci's house)
Manor house in Amboise where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years, with his rooms, models of his inventions and a park.
Loire Valley in 2 days
Day 1
Château de Chenonceau
Renaissance château built on arches across the river Cher, shaped by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de' Medici, with formal gardens.
Château d'Amboise
Royal château on a rock above the Loire, home of French kings, with the chapel where Leonardo da Vinci is buried and river views.
Clos Lucé (Leonardo da Vinci's house)
Manor house in Amboise where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years, with his rooms, models of his inventions and a park.
Day 2
Royal Château of Blois
Royal residence in the centre of Blois with wings from four eras, including Francis I's open spiral staircase.
Escalier Denis Papin
Monumental stairway in Blois climbing from the town centre towards the château, with painted risers and views over the rooftops.
Château de Cheverny
Classical seventeenth-century château still lived in by its family, with furnished rooms, gardens, kennels of hunting hounds and the Tintin exhibition.
Château de Chambord
The largest Loire château, built for Francis I, with a double-spiral staircase, a forest of rooftop chimneys and a huge walled park.
Loire Valley in 3 days
Day 1
Château de Villandry and gardens
Renaissance château famous for its terraced gardens of clipped box, ornamental vegetable plots and water garden.
Château d'Azay-le-Rideau
Elegant early-Renaissance château on an island in the Indre, its white walls reflected in the water around it.
Les Halles de Tours
The city's covered food market, with stalls of cheese, charcuterie, rillettes, oysters and local wine, good for a lunch at the counters.
Place Plumereau and Old Tours
Heart of medieval Tours, a square of timber-framed houses lined with café and bar terraces, lively from aperitivo hour into the night.
Tours Cathedral
Gothic cathedral of Saint-Gatien with a flamboyant west front, medieval stained glass and a quiet cloister.
Rue Colbert
Old street in central Tours lined with timber-framed houses, restaurants and small shops between the cathedral and the river.
Day 2
Château de Chenonceau
Renaissance château built on arches across the river Cher, shaped by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de' Medici, with formal gardens.
Château d'Amboise
Royal château on a rock above the Loire, home of French kings, with the chapel where Leonardo da Vinci is buried and river views.
Clos Lucé (Leonardo da Vinci's house)
Manor house in Amboise where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years, with his rooms, models of his inventions and a park.
Château de Chaumont
Castle high above the Loire, known for its stables, its park and the International Garden Festival held each year from spring to autumn.
Day 3
Royal Château of Blois
Royal residence in the centre of Blois with wings from four eras, including Francis I's open spiral staircase.
Escalier Denis Papin
Monumental stairway in Blois climbing from the town centre towards the château, with painted risers and views over the rooftops.
Château de Cheverny
Classical seventeenth-century château still lived in by its family, with furnished rooms, gardens, kennels of hunting hounds and the Tintin exhibition.
Château de Chambord
The largest Loire château, built for Francis I, with a double-spiral staircase, a forest of rooftop chimneys and a huge walled park.
Watch: Loire Valley
A one-minute look at the plan: every stop, day by day, with the map.
When to go to Loire Valley
May, June and September are the best months: gardens in flower, long days and fewer crowds than in July and August, when the main châteaux are busiest. Some châteaux hold evening light shows in summer, and Chaumont's garden festival runs from about April to early November. Winter is quiet and grey, and some châteaux shorten their hours.
Plan the rest of your trip
- Where to stay: hotels in Loire Valley on Booking.com or Trip.com
- Skip-the-line tickets: museums and sights in Loire Valley on Tiqets
- Tours and day trips: things to do in Loire Valley on GetYourGuide
- Data on arrival: an eSIM for France from Airalo
Some of these are affiliate links: we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Tips for Loire Valley
- The châteaux are spread along the Loire and its side rivers: a car is the easiest way, or stay in Amboise, Tours or Blois and use trains, shuttle buses and the Loire à Vélo cycle route.
- Book Chenonceau and Chambord ahead in summer and arrive at opening time; by late morning the tour coaches arrive.
- Allow time for the grounds: the gardens at Villandry and Chenonceau and the park at Chambord are as much the visit as the rooms.
- Stop at a Vouvray or Amboise cave for a tasting of Loire chenin blanc in cellars cut into the limestone hillsides.
- Spend an evening on Place Plumereau in Tours, the old town's square of timber-framed houses, packed with café terraces on summer nights.
Make it your own
Open the guide in Andiamo Places to see every stop on a map with walking directions, move places between days, check opening hours for your dates, and add your own finds. After the trip, your photos become a journal and, if you like, a printed photo book.
Guides are made with the help of AI and public sources such as Wikipedia, and may contain errors. Opening hours and prices change, so check before you go. Spotted a wrong photo, a pin in the wrong place, a missing stop or a better one? Write to andiamotravelapp@gmail.com: the e-mail opens with this guide filled in.
Photo credits
- Château d'Amboise: Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Château d'Azay-le-Rideau: Jean-Christophe BENOIST, CC BY 3.0
- Château de Chambord: Carsten Steger, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Château de Chaumont: @lain G from Fontainebleau (proche), France, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Château de Chenonceau: It is a derivative work of Ra-smit's photo., GFDL
- Château de Cheverny: Christophe.Finot, CC BY-SA 2.5
- Château de Villandry and gardens: Carsten Steger, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Clos Lucé (Leonardo da Vinci's house): Nadègevillain, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Place Plumereau and Old Tours: Benjamin Smith, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Royal Château of Blois: Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tours Cathedral: Goldmund100, CC BY-SA 3.0
Opening hours change; check before you go. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
