Centre

Loire Valley Chateaux

The big attraction of the Loire Valley is of course the large number of prestigious chateaux, and no visit would be complete without taking in a couple of the more important castles along the Loire - indeed, many visitors base their entire trip around their visits to the castles.

You can see the positions of these castles on a map at 'Loire Valley Chateaux'

Heading broadly from east to west the most popular and visited chateaux in the region include:

- south-west of Orléans, the Château de Blois, the Château de Chambord, and Château de Cheverny, with Château de Valençay a little to the south of this group

- continuing from Blois towards Tours are Château de Chenonceau and Château d'Amboise

- to the west of Tours are Château de Villandry (and the renowned gardens also at Villandry), the Château d'Azay-le-Rideau, with Chateau du Lude a little to the north-west.

- close to the western border of the Loire Valley are Château Chinon and Château du Rivau

Three other well known Loire chateaux slightly further to the west - those at Angers, Brissac, and Saumur, are covered in the travel guide for Pays de la Loire

See travel guides to Indre-et-Loire and Loir-et-Cher where most of the famous Loire Valley castles are found.

Cathedrals and monuments

These include Chartres Cathedral, one of the finest gothic architecture buildings in France (Chartres is to the north of the region, and closer to Paris than to many of the renowned chateaux); and Bourges Cathedral, now a UNESCO world heritage site (to the south-east of the region) found, not surprisingly, at Bourges.

See also Mehun-sur-Yevre and castle the north-west of Bourges the Abbey at St-Benoit-sur-Loire, and also another abbey at Vendome. The cluster of monuments in the southern Cher is also interesting, including the castles at Culan, Meillant and Ainay-le-Vieil and the abbey at Noirlac.

Rivers

Apart from the scenery and activities on the Loire River itself, there are several important tributaries that pass quietly through the landscape of fields and woodlands, fruit orchards and vineyards and provide an alternative view of the region and opportunities to enjoy the Loire valley a little way from the crowds.

The most important are the rivers Cher, Indre and Vienne - each has its own distinct charm, leisure opportunities and highlights.

Towns and villages

Larger towns to visit in the Loire region include Tours, Orleans (capital of the region), Blois and Loches. See also Beaugency, site of one of the famous battles of Joan of Arc, and Valencay.

There are several classified 'Most Beautiful villages of France' dotted around the the Loire countryside to discover and explore.

These include Lavardin (Loir-et-Cher); Candes-Saint-Martin (10 km SE of Saumur); Apremont-sur-Allier (15 km SW of Nevers); Montresor (20 km E of Loches); St-Benoit-du-Sault (20 km SW of Argenton-sur-Creuse); yevre-le-Chatel (40 km NE of Orleans); Gargilesse-Dampierre (10 km SE of Argenton-sur-Creuse) and Crissay-sur-Manse (30 km SW of Tours)