Indre travel guide

Natural highlights - the Brenne region

The Brenne Natural Regional Park, around the town of Le Blanc to the south-west of the department and including numerous smaller villages, falls largely in the Indre, and offers a diverse natural environment to a wide range of fauna and flora, especially birds.

The Brenne has more than a thousand small lakes, and extensive marshland regions, as well as large open areas and forested regions. When visiting you will find a centre for tourism in the parc at Bouchet (near Rosnay).

See Brenne Regional Natural Park for details.

Beautiful villages and towns

The town of Châteauroux is the most important in the department and merits a visit, and be sure not to overlook Valencay town because you are distracted by the famous castle!

We also enjoyed a stroll around the historic centre of Levroux, a short distance south of Valencay in the northern Indre.

Heading for the south of the department, two villages classified among the 'most beautiful villages in France' are found at Saint-Benoit-du-Sault and Gargilesse-Dampierre. Gargilesse-Dampierre is best known for the frescoes in the church, and for a small house that belonged to author George Sand.

Also here in the south be sure to visit the riverside village of Argenton-sur-Creuse and the historic centre of Lys-Saint-Georges (north-west of Nohant-Vic), then the pretty villages of La Chatre and Sainte-Severe.

Close to Argenton-sur-Creuse you can visit Eguzon Lake, where a large range of leisure activities and beaches are found.

Several of these places in the southern Indre are in and along the lovely Valley of the River Creuse, which also has attractive scenery and walking opportunities

There are several other villages of interest in the Indre, such as Palluau-sur-Indre, to the west of the department, that is overlooked by an impressive castle and also has a church containing impressive medieval frescoes. Also in the west we recommend you visit Ingrandes, which developed around a medieval castle, and Saint-Gaultier to enjoy the pleasant riverside walk.

George Sand

The Indre is proud of its links with the 19th century writer George Sand, and you can see the family 'mansion' at Nohant-Vic (this property is now a listed National Monument).

Other places in the vicinity with a 'George Sand' connection include towns that the author visited and villages and monuments which provided the setting for many of her novels.

The 'George Sand Historic Route starts from Nohant-Vic and includes the museum in the donjon at La Châtre, Lourouer-Saint-Laurent, the castle at Saint-Chartier and the Chateau d'Ars, Angibault mill, the fort at Sarzay and the village of Gargilesse-Dampierre.

Historic monuments

The Chateau de Valencay is the most famous (and most visited) historical monument in the Indre, but there are also others that deserve attention in the department:

• Just south of Valencay the Chateau de Bouges seems rather understated by comparison with its famous neighbour, but has some beautifully furnished rooms and attractive gardens
• A little further south again the Chateau d'Argy has an outstanding galleried courtyard with ornate renaissance period stone carvings
• The formidable 12th century Chateau Guillame is in the south-west, near Lignac.
• The Chateau d'Sarzay is an impressive medieval castle (south-west) that has an almost uncountable number of tall stone towers
• The renaissance style Chateau d'Azay-le-Ferron (west) has lovely French style gardens to explore
• Fontgombault Abbey is a roman style abbey church near Tournon-Saint-Martin (west) and the Basilica of Neuvy-Saint-Sepulchre is another imposing roman style monument in the south-east of the Indre.