Hey there, fellow travelers! Today, we visit the Loire Valley of France! With so many beautiful chateaux and vineyards to explore, the Loire Valley is a great place to go when you’re in France. As you know, here at Wolters World, we like to prepare travelers with the good, and the bad, of visiting a new travel destination. So these are the five things you’ll love, and the five things you’ll hate when you visit the Loire Valley castles.
Hate #1: Chateaux Overload
Each chateau in the Loire Valley is amazing and impressive, but after seeing three or four of them, they can start to blend together. I recommend choosing the top two or three that you really want to see, or spending multiple days in the Loire Valley so you can spread them out a bit. Each chateau also has a really interesting history, but if you see too many in one day, you’ll get burned out on history and won’t be able to take it all in.
Hate #2: You Need a Car
Public transportation can get you to the Loire Valley, but the chateaux are built out in the countryside, not in the center of towns, so in order to fully chart your own course, you really need to rent a car. Of course, there are many tours that will bring you out on a day trip from Paris, but exploring on your own is much more fun. Driving in France is pretty easy, but parking can be a challenge in some of the smaller villages, especially if you have a larger car. Likewise, when you book accommodation, make sure you have parking that will fit the car you are renting.
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Hate #3: Beverage Prices
Loire Valley prices in general are a bit higher because it’s a touristy region, but overall, they aren’t too bad. What really surprised us is the price of non-alcoholic beverages. We were spending four Euros for a soda or bottled water every time we eat out. Beer and wine prices are totally normal, but for some reason, they really hike up the prices of non-alcoholic drinks.
Hate #4: Summer Tour Groups
Summer is the best time to visit the Loire Valley, because the elaborate gardens are in their full splendor, but it’s also high tourist season. The most popular chateaux can be overwhelmed with tour groups and you start to feel a bit crowded, not to mention the longer lines to tour the palaces. If you plan to visit Loire Valley in summer, try to get there first thing in the morning, or towards the end of the day and this can help avoid some of the day-trippers from Paris.
Hate #5: Loire Valley Traffic
If you are driving around the Loire Valley, it can get frustrating very quickly. Between tour buses, campers and tourists driving while ogling the chateaux, driving in the Loire Valley, especially in summer is not super fun. But as we mentioned before, it’s really necessary if you want to explore at your own pace.
Love #1: Loire Valley Chateaux
This is the reason you are visiting the Loire Valley and the chateaux are awesome! You’ve seen them in movies, history books and travel channel shows, and now you finally get to see them in person. It’s so fun to compare the different architectural styles and then tour the inside of each castle. What’s even more fun is to learn the story behind each chateau, whether it was a hunting lodge or a place where a King squirreled away his mistresses. A lot of these are privately owned, with government incentives to promote tourism, so they have great guides and accessibility for visitors.
Love #2: More Than Chateaux
When you come to Loire Valley, you’ll realize there’s much more to see besides the chateaux. The Loire River flows through the valley, bicycle rentals and paths to explore the chateaux by bike. You can take a boat tour or a kayak tour, or go hiking in the forests surrounding the chateaux. Many of the castles were built as hunting lodges, so the surrounding land is undeveloped forests and rivers. Many of the gardens of the chateaux are free to explore, so you can spend some time outdoors enjoying the fresh air.
Love #3: Tourist Infrastructure
With so many tourists visiting the Loire Valley, the tourist infrastructure is really well-developed. There is a good range of Loire Valley accommodation for all budget ranges, as well as Loire Valley restaurants that range from inexpensive to gourmet.
Love #4: French Culture in Loire Valley
The Loire Valley is a great place to submerge yourself in French culture. The food, especially the duck, is fantastic. There are tons of different wines in the Loire Valley, so you can sample several until you find your favorite. Even some of the cafeterias at the chateaux have amazing food and it’s cafeteria food! The people are really nice, too. The French reputation for rudeness really only applies to the service staff in Paris. Once you get outside of Paris, people are really lovely and helpful. There are fewer English speakers, but you will get by just fine, even better if you know a few French phrases.
Love #5: Paris to Loire Valley Connections
The Loire Valley is really close to Paris, so it’s easy to visit to travel from Paris to Loire Valley. If you arrive in Paris from the US in the morning, you can catch a train to the Loire Valley and check out a chateau on your first day. It’s close enough for a day trip, or you can choose to stay in Loire Valley and take a day trip to Paris.
Five Things You Will Love & Hate About Paris
The Loire Valley of France was really a great trip for us, we all enjoyed it as a family. The “hates” are really just a few things to keep a head’s up on rather than a reason not to visit Loire Valley. Want more info about travel in France? Check out these other blog posts: