35 Best things to see & do in Loire Valley

An 900km waymarked cycle route through the Loire’s beautiful countryside, stopping off at fantastical chateaux, vineyards, and picturesque villages.

The Loire’s extraordinary chateaux are a vision of architectural splendour and stunning gardens, and offer an insight into the lavish lifestyles of France’s 16th- and 17th-century royalty and bourgeoisie.

The Loire’s most visited chateau remains magical for its fine late Gothic and Renaissance architecture, its outstanding collections of furniture and art, and its colourful history at the hands of extraordinary women.

The Loire’s grandest chateau, an astonishing 440-room, 16th-century Renaissance colossus filled with a vast collection of furniture, tapestries, antiques, objets d’arts, and a double helix staircase thought to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

Dubbed the ‘Garden of France’, the Loire Valley boasts a world-class array of fascinating and unusual decorative gardens.

Imposing vaulted, history-rich chateau built in the 15th century that became the favoured residence of French kings and queens. The tiny vaulted Gothic chapel contains the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci.

A vast, yet easily explored wine region with 7,000+ winegrowers producing all types of wine, and curious troglodyte wine cellars.

A postcard-perfect, medieval town famed for its troglodyte wine cellars (filled with excellent wines) and majestic hilltop chateau.

Thousands of kilometres of tunnels – originally dug out of the soft, underlying, tufa strata as part of Middle Age stone quarries – are now chapels, houses, farms and hotels.

One of the world’s most beautiful gardens, including a truly remarkable vegetable garden, in the grounds of a UNESCO-listed chateau.