The Route of the Châteaux de la Loire :
CHATEAUX NOT TO BE MISSED
The finest and most famous châteaux of the Loire Valley are: Chambord, Chenonceaux, Cheverny...
CHAMBORD
The largest palace of the French Renaissance, an embodiment of the regal power of François I, protected by a 5400 hectare hunting estate, has held an unwavering fascination for guests and visitors for the last five centuries.
Find out more: www.chambord.org
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain
CHEVERNY
The largest of the Loire châteaux still in private hands, this magnificently furnished residence has belonged to the same family for six centuries and was famed for its hunting. It served as a model to Hergé for his Moulinsart (Marlinspike) foundation.
Find out more: www.château-cheverny.com
Relais & Châteaux les plus proches
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain
CHENONCEAU
The most astonishing of the châteaux of the Loire! A pure masterpiece of the French Renaissance, it nonchalantly straddles the river Cher and is a charming testament to the four women central to its history.
Find out more: www.château-de-chenonceau.fr
Relais & Châteaux les plus proches
Le château de Noizay in Noizay
Les Hautes Roches in Rochecorbon
Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
AMBOISE
Amboise, a royal residence overlooking the Loire, was always the favourite château of the young kings and is, indubitably, the most Italian of the châteaux of the Loire. The tomb of Leonardo de Vinci lies within its chapel.
Find out more: www.château-amboise.com
Relais & Châteaux les plus proches
Le château de Noizay in Noizay
Les Hautes Roches in Rochecorbon
Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
VALENCAY
This magnificent Renaissance château, abode to Talleyrand, is a jewel in the countryside of the Berry and is home to one of the finest collections of Empire furniture. It was the residence of the Spanish Royal Family at the beginning of the 19th century.
Find out more: www.chateau-valencay.com
Relais & Châteaux le plus proche
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
AZAY LE RIDEAU
Azay, a jewel of the Renaissance, is the perfect symbiosis of French and Italian art. It has gazed at its reflection in its mirror-like waters with grace and serenity for centuries.
Find out more: www.monum.fr/m_azay
Relais & Châteaux les plus proches
Les Hautes Roches in Rochecorbon
Le château de Noizay in Noizay
Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain
ANGERS
Do not be put off by the apparent austerity of this fortress with its gigantic Buren’s columns which young Saint Louis had built in the 18th century. There is a treasure within: the incredible tapestry of the Apocalypse, the largest medieval tapestry (104 metres) ever known…
Find out more: www.monum.fr/m_angers/
Relais & Châteaux le plus proche
Château de Noirieux in Briollay
HIDDEN TREASURES
In addition to the best-known châteaux, the region boasts an abundance of mansions, country houses and chapels which are worth going out of your way to visit – you will happily stay a bit longer in the area.
Château du Moulin
This delightful stately home hidden away in the forest of the Sologne and built from brick in the 15th century, has a certain “Sleeping Beauty” charm: it seems to be waiting for a Prince Charming to rouse it from its slumbers! And that prince might have been Thierry La Fronde as a number of the episodes of this series were shot in this setting. Its recently-renovated cottage garden is devoted to the strawberry.
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
Beauregard
Amongst the “little châteaux”, Beauregard is big! Its portrait gallery, known as the “Gallery of the Famous” and showing an army marching across the blue Delt tiles, is a tour de force. A portrait garden, Le Jardin des Portraits, with more than a hundred varieties of climbing plants, has been created by the landscaper Gilles Clément.
Find out more: www.beauregard-loire.com
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
Troussay
The little Renaissance country house of Troussay, tucked away beside its famous neighbour, Cheverny, is worth a visit as well. A 19th century scholar amassed in this house a fascinating collection of furniture and assorted objects of interest and charm.
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain
Talcy
"Sweetheart, let’s see if the rose..." This famous verse by Ronsard was written in honour of the beautiful Cassandra who was none other than the daughter of Bernard Salviati, an Italian banker to King François I who built Talcy. Under its Renaissance arcades, beside the well, behind the dovecote or in the barn, you can easily imagine the Poet counting the petals of a flower, so imbued is the place with poetry.
Find out more: www.coeur-de-france.com/talcy.html, www.monum.fr
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
Montpoupon
Montpoupon is incomparably well matched to its natural setting. This hunting lodge hugs the curves of the valley and its fine museum gives real insight into the daily lives of the lords and ladies of the Touraine who were passionate about their horses and hunting.
Find out more: www.montpoupon.com
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Le Château de Noizay in Noizay
Les Hautes Roches in Rochecorbon
Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
Bouges
It is almost as if the Petit Trianon of Versailles had got lost in the Berry countryside! The Château de Bouges is, indeed, an exact replica. Its collection of furniture, its tack room, its flower garden, its English-style parks and its French garden make it a veritable jewel of its kind.
Find out more:
www.coeur-de-france.com/bouges.html, www.monum.fr
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
Loches
Loches was a rival to Carcassonne in the heart of Viollet-le-Duc. Charles VII, Joan of Arc, Agnès Sorel, Louis XI and Anne of Brittany all feature in its history. Loches, with its château, its dungeon, its collegial church and its ramparts, is undoubtedly the finest medieval stronghold in the Loire valley.
Find out more: www.loches-tourainecotesud.com
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Le château de Noizay in Noizay
Les Hautes Roches in Rochecorbon
Domaine des Hauts de Loire in Onzain
Le Lion d’Or in Romorantin
Ussé
Charles Perrault, it is said, wrote the tale of “Sleeping Beauty” after having stayed at the Château d’Ussé. And it is true that its silhouette with its myriad turrets rising up against the backdrop of the surrounding woodland is akin to some magical apparition.
Find out more: www.loire-france.com/visites/chateaux/usse/
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Les Hautes Roches in Rochecorbon
Le château de Noizay in Noizay
Richelieu
The Cardinal of Richelieu founded a town in his own image: severe and symmetrical, elegant and out of proportion. If you stroll along the streets of this sizable town in the south of the Touraine and peer into the numerous entrances of the private town houses, you will feel as if you are being transported back to times of yore. You will be surprised and delighted by this little-known masterpiece of urban planning.
Find out more: www.cc-richelieu.com
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Les Hautes Roches in Rochecorbon
Le château de Noizay in Noizay
Chapelle Saint Louis de Champigny sur Veude
The Chapelle Saint-Louis at Champigny-sur-Veude cannot fail to delight. It is a masterpiece of the Renaissance, with its magnificent stained glass windows recounting the life of Saint Louis.
Find out more: perso.wanadoo.fr/pays-de-richelieu/
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Les Hautes Roches in Rochecorbon
Le château de Noizay in Noizay
Collégiale de Candes-Saint-Martin
This magnificent Romanesque collegiate church, fortified and richly decorated, overlooks the confluence of the rivers Loire and Vienne in a picturesque little village, classified, quite rightly, as one of the most beautiful villages in France.
Find out more: architecture.relig.free.fr/
Château de Rivau
Rivau, with its dungeon, its pont-levis, its crenellated towers and machicolation is the kind of château a child would draw. And that is not its only attraction. It boasts 12 flower gardens which evoke characters from legends and fairy tales and these are enlivened every year with new artistic endeavours.
Find out more:
www.chateaudurivau.com
Château de Brézé
The Château de Brézé is not merely an architectural jewel surrounded by a moat with magnificent Renaissance additional features. It is also home to an enchanting network of underground passages where some of the rooms, with modern technology, can be transformed into a cathedral of moving images. Without a doubt the most surprising of the Anjou châteaux!
Find out more: www.chateaudebreze.com
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Château de Noirieux in Briollay
Château du Plessis-Bourré
The Château du Plessis-Bourré, untouched for five centuries, appears to us today as itwas intended when it was designed in the 15th century. It is a château worthy of D’Artagnan and sword and dagger films. And film directors have seen its attraction and many scenes from productions such as Fanfan la Tulipe, Le Bossu (On Guard) and Peau d’Ane (Donkey Skin) were filmed in its protected setting.
Find out more:
www.plessis-bourre.com
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Château de Noirieux in Briollay
Château de Serrant
Vast, powerful and sumptuous, all adjectives that could be applied to the majestic Château de Serrant, certainly one of the best furnished of the Renaissance châteaux of the Loire. Its impressive collection of tapestries, furniture, works of art and precious objects, the coppers in its kitchens and the thousands of volumes in its famous library have entranced over the years illustrious guests such as Louis XIV, Napoleon and the Duchess of Berry.
Find out more:
www.chateau-serrant.net
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Château de Noirieux in Briollay
Château de Montgeoffroy
It is easy to imagine everyday life in the 18th century when you visit Montgeoffroy because, and this is truly exceptional, all the furniture and paintings are still in exactly the same position chosen for them when the château was built. From the main reception room to the tack room, taking in the extraordinary kitchens which have miraculously remained intact, the spirit of those times is ever present.
Find out more: www.ot-beaufort-en-anjou.fr
Nearest Relais & Châteaux:
Château de Noirieux in Briollay
The Route of the Châteaux de la Loire : nearby Relais & Chateaux properties
Les Hautes Roches
Hotel and restaurant on a big river
Located on a cliff overlooking the Loire, recently listed by Unesco as a World Heritage site, this luxurious hotel carved into the rocks is truly unique. The south-facing cave rooms with a view of the Loire, some carved into the rock, are all elegantly decorated with stylish fabrics in perfect harmony with the setting. The classical but creative Breton-inspired cuisine perfectly marries the fresh seafood with local products. Each season brings new things to discover at this treasure on the Loire. ...Read more
France, Rochecorbon
Domaine des Hauts de Loire
Restaurant of a Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux and hotel in a park
In a forest along the Wine Route in Loir-et-Cher lies a hunting lodge built in 1860. The walls of this historic residence are covered with ivy and the eaves are alive with sweet song of birds. Nature lovers will be delighted with this hotel, which has its own private lake and “The Queen’s Alley”, a homage to the courtly promenades of Marie-Antoinette. Grand Chef Rémy Giraud describes the cuisine as “classical-modern”. On the menu are crémeux of crab in a sea urchin emulsion, young pigeon of Mme Lebert and lime soufflé. There are plenty of fine wines on offer, including the great Loire whites like Vouvray, Montlouis and Touraine. ...Read more
France, Onzain
Grand Hôtel du Lion d’Or
Restaurant of a Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux and hotel in town
In this Renaissance manor house in the heart of Romorantin, the capital of Sologne, the city that made Leonardo da Vinci come to France, Grand Chef Didier Clément takes great delight in experimenting with natural flavours. His author’s cuisine, which highlights forgotten ingredients such as angelica, elderflower and peppery grains of paradise, will surprise your taste buds. His white asparagus or chanterelles, seasonal game, fine desserts, accompanied by the best Loire wines, subtly awaken the senses. ...Read more
France, Romorantin-Lanthenay
Château de Noirieux
Hotel and restaurant in the country
Nestled on nine hectares of grounds, the Château de Noirieux is an oasis of calm, elegance and privacy. The atmosphere recalls the grandeur of historical stately homes and there is a magnificent inlaid Érard piano. The Maîtres de Maison Anja and Gérard Côme take pride in ensuring that everything is perfect, right down to the slightest detail. Each room is lightly perfumed with its own special fragrance, the welcome is warm, the terrace is surrounded by beautiful nature and, in the kitchen, the chef has discovered the secret of remarkable and inspired cuisine, tailored around the freshest produce that’s in season. ...Read more
France, Briollay
Château de Noizay
Hotel and restaurant in a village
Delve into history at this magnificent château in the heart of the Loire Valley. Its gorgeous stained glass windows, ornate woodwork and stately gardens transport guests back in time to 1560, when Château de Noizay was the setting of an important episode in the French Wars of Religion. Here, a group of Protestant Huguenots, known as the Amboise conspirators, hatched their plot to abduct the young King Francois II. Each of the château’s rooms has its own unique décor featuring authentic period furniture. It is the perfect base from which to explore the sites and tastes of the legendary Loire Valley. ...Read more
France, Noizay
Crédits Photographiques : Duriez, C. Lazi, Y. Wemaëre - CRT Centre
