Book a Loire Valley tour to Chambord, Chenonceaux, and Amboise Castles. Your Loire Valley tour will begin with a Paris pickup at your hotel. Your Loire Valley tour is available Sunday, Tuesday, Friday year round.

• Loire Valley Tour days: Sunday, Tuesday year round
• Tour Code: T07
• Loire Valley Tour Duration: 6:30 AM - 6:30 PM
• Included: Stops at Chambord, Amboise, Chenonceaux; lunch
• Children's Rate: 4-10 years of age
• Vehicle: Deluxe air-conditioned minibus that seats eight passengers

Your first castle visit in the Loire Valley tour is to Chateau Chambord built between 1519 and 1547. This castle is a masterpiece with some four hundred rooms (it was never actually completed!). It is a combination of French medieval architecture and classical Italian structures. Chambord is situated in a park covering more than 13,000 acres, making it the largest forested park in Europe.

Originally built as a hunting lodge for King Francois I, the king wished to be near his mistress, the Comtesse de Thoury, a member of a very noble family. Coincidentally enough, her domaine was closeby Chambord. Francois I still kept his royal castles of Blois and Amboise.

Next stop in your Loire Valley tour is Amboise castle, once the home of Kings Charles VII, Charles VIII, and Francois I.

Amboise Castle overlooks the Loire River and has some of the first Renaissance decorative motifs seen in French architecture. In the Chapel of Saint-Hubert, adjoining the Château, Leonardo da Vinci is buried. He died in Amboise in 1519. Da Vinci had lived the last few years of his life in the town of Amboise, having arrived there at the invitation of King Francois I, who was raised at Amboise Castle.

The son of Francois I was Henry II. Henry and his wife, Catherine de Medici, raised their children in Château Amboise. The history of the castle is marked with a lot of stories. A very tragic happening which took place in Amboise was the Amboise conspiracy. In 1560, the Huguenots (a group who belonged to the Protestant Reformed Church of France) failed in their attempts to gain power in France. They hoped to kidnap King Francois II. Instead, their attempts failed and more than 1200 Huguenots were massacred and their bodies were hung on iron hooks on the castle. Certainly this event contributed to the Wars of Religion that divided France from 1562 to 1598. 

After leaving Amboise Castle and its history behind, it's time for lunch at Au Gateau Breton in Chenonceaux.

Your Loire Valley tour's final castle is Chateau Chenonceaux situated along the Cher River. King Henri II gave Chenonceaux to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers in 1547. Diane loved the chateau and added the arched bridge which connected the castle to the other side of the Cher River. Diane de Poitiers also supervised the creation of beautiful flower and vegetable gardens along with the planting of a variety of fruit trees.

King Henry II died in 1559 and Catherine de Medici, the widow of Henry II, expelled Diane (the mistress). Catherine created beautiful gardens, too. Today, it's possible to contrast and compare the gardens of these two ladies and to imagine the intrigue behind the Chenonceaux Castle.

During World War I the gallery of the arched bridge became a hospital ward. During WWII, it was used as a way to flee the occupied Nazi zone to the "free" Vichy zone on the other side of the Cher River.

Your Loire Valley tour ends after the tour of Chateau Chenonceaux and your driver guide will then return you to your Paris hotel or apartment.