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Bucket list experience:

Last updated: 02 November, 2022
Expert travel writer: Anna Brooke

This postcard-perfect, medieval town clustering along the Loire River is a historic and aesthetic gem, and worth a special visit.

Once you’ve wandered through character-filled streets, lined almost exclusively with buildings constructed in the Loire’s iconic Tuffeau stone, wine-tasting cellars await in and around the town.

Saumur is one of the region’s largest wine areas, with multiple wineries offering visits and tastings, several located in troglodyte cellars and tunnels.

You could also stop by the Chateau de Saumur, mounted majestically above the town. It’s just as impressive inside, home to fine medieval architecture and a decorative arts museum.

Price: Free
Minimum age: Any
Age suitable: 18+
When: All year around

Getting there & doing it

You can visit Saumur independently by car, or by train (it’s just over 2 hours from Paris).

Start with the tourist office to get information about the area’s wineries, best visited in the afternoon, then stroll through the town centre to the chateau.

When it’s wine time, one of the most interesting cellars is a 2km walk from the castle at Caves Bouvay-Ladubay, a vast property with underground cellars you can visit by bike.

When to do it

Spring or summer is best for the clement weather, but autumn’s pretty too when the surrounding vineyards’ leaves are changing. The chateau closes in winter.

Close up of a rack of wine bottles in a cellar
Experience

Bouvet-Ladubay cellars

Saumur, Pays de la Loire, France

These sculpted troglodyte caves offer an interesting blend of wine tasting, culture and history. The cellars here, open daily for tastings, are part of a historic 5-mile-long complex of underground galleries, which include an unusual ‘underground cathedral’.

Best for ages: 18+ | £5 | 2 hours

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Landscape view of Chateau de Breze on a blue summer's day with the vineyard at the front field of the chateau
Experience

Chateau Breze

Saumur, Pays de la Loire, France

Beneath this attractive Renaissance and neo-Gothic chateau is a remarkable 9th-century fortress, a troglodyte labyrinth complete with drawbridge, stables, and guardrooms. The chateau is also known for excellent wines, which you can taste in Les Caves de la Comtesse de Colbert in the chateau grounds.

Best for ages: 18+ | £10

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modern wine factory with new large tanks for the fermentation
Experience

Langlois-Chateau

Saumur, Pays de la Loire, France

This winery and vineyard offers a complete immersion into the world of wine, starting with a short introduction to the principles of oenologie (wine-making), followed by a tour of the production facility, a visit to the cellars, and ending with a wine tasting.

Best for ages: -218+ | Free | 1-2 hours

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External view of the troglodyte mushroom farm, built into a hillside
Experience

Le Saut aux Loups mushroom farm

Saumur, Pays de la Loire, France

This series of cool, dank caverns in Montsoreau is said to have once been inhabited by loups (wolves), then exploited as quarries, before being turned into a champignonnière (mushroom farm). Button, oyster and shitake mushrooms are cultivated here today.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Our writer’s picks of the best places to stay near this experience, closest first

La Demeure de La Vignole

Turquant, Pays de la Loire, France[9.8 miles]

This quirky, rustic-chic hotel in a troglodyte hamlet has a cave pool and makes a good base for sightseeing.

Official star rating:

La Marine de la Loire

Montsoreau, Pays de la Loire, France[11.4 miles]

Gorgeous designer boutique hotel and spa, located in a tranquil village right by the River Loire.

Official star rating:

Chateau de Beauvois

Saint-Etienne-de-Chigny, Centre-Val de Loire, France[48.1 miles]

Stately chateau hotel in a magical woodland setting where Louis XIII once came hunting.

Official star rating:

Domaine de la Tortiniere

Veigne, Centre-Val de Loire, France[60 miles]

Relaxed, stylish family-run chateau hotel, well located in the heart of the Loire Valley.

Official star rating:

Destination guides including or relevant to this experience