The Château de Montsoreau is an impressive fortress overlooking the Loire that was immortalized by Alexander Dumas in La Dame de Montsoreau.  Montsoreau also has a wine museum located in the Caveau de la Motte.

The birthplace of French author François Rabelais, the town of Chinon is dominated by a bevy of buildings dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries, the most impressive of which is the Château de Chinon.  The Château is the deathbed of Henry II of England who  died  here  in  1189 and is the setting for the immortal scene of Joan of  Arc recognizing Charles VII incognito. 

The Tour Coudray in the Chateau is where many Knights Templar were kept before being hauled to Paris to be executed by Philipe de Bel and his principal minister, Nogaret in the fourteenth century.  The Musée Animée du Vin et de la Tonnelerie has fourteen mechanical dolls depicting various wine activities.  For more info, go to their website at www.chinon.com.

Six kilometers south of Chinon, the village of Richelieu is a living testimony to the ego of Cardinal Richelieu.  In spite of that, it is a masterpiece of 17th century architecture with twenty-eight identical mansions lining the streets that have remained relatively undisturbed for 350 years.

Tradition dictates that the Château d'Ussé is inspiration for the castle of from Charles Perrault's tale, Sleeping Beauty.  Built over two centuries, the Château is an extravagant blend of Gothic and Renaissance.  The view from the tower is worth the spiral climb for the view of the River Indre. 

The Château d'Azay-le-Rideau (Ph: 011 33 2 47 45 42 04) is one of the pleasure palaces built in the 1500's.  Looking very much like the building is floating on the water surrounding it, the Château a wonderful example of Renaissance architecture, having an exhibit of Renaissance art in it.  The exterior, though, is what most visitors come to see, with park and moat-like lake.  The son-et-lumiére shows in the summer are particularly breath-taking.

The Château de Villandry  (Ph: 011 33 02-47-50-02-09) was completed in 1536 and was one of the last Renaissance-era chateaux to be built in the valley.  The gardens are clearly the high point of the château, having been replanted in the 20th century by the current owners.  The result is four different levels of gardens: a water garden on the top level which is used to get water to the rest of the garden, flowering and herb gardens on the middle levels, and vegetable and fruits gardens on the lower level.  There is also an avenue of pruned lime trees that lead to an ornamental lake inhabited by swans.  Their website can be found at www.chateauvillandry.com.

Across the Loire from Villandry is Langeais.  The picturesque Renaissance church and 16th century houses are literally overshadowed by the massive Château de Langeais (Ph: 02-47-96-72-60).  Built in the 1460's, the château has thirteen rooms with an impressive collection of Renaissance era objects, including tapestries and furniture with a lovely garden that is surrounded by the castle's battlements.  Ironically, this fortress was built by Louis XI to keep the Bretons out of the Loire Valley, yet his son, Charles VIII, married Anne of Brittany at this castle in 1491.

The site of most interest in Savonnières is the caverns outside of town with stalagmites and stalactites and an extensive underground lake.  A great place to visit on a hot summer day as the temperature rarely leaves 14ºC.

Heavily bombarded during World War II, a massive effort was made to restore Old Tours to its past state.  Tours is an excellent base to operate out of as trains go in both up and down the Loire from here.  When touring Tours, itself, stay in the Old Quarter along the Loire River, as that is where most of the prominent sites are located.  The Musée des Beaux-Arts is in the old palace of the Archbishop and has a beautiful collection of artwork, including pieces by Reuben, Rembrandt, and Degas.  The Cathédrale St-Gatien was primarily built in the 14th and 15th centuries and is a mixture of styles with a wondrous stained glass.  The Historial de Touraine is Tours' version of Madame Toussauds, with wax figures commemorating historic figures from the region like Martin of Tours and Joan of Arc.  For the wine lover, the Musée des Vins de Touraine is in the cloister of a 13th century church and commemorates the regions winemaking history, having an extensive collection of wine artifacts.  In addition, the suburb of Tours-Fondettes holds its annual Wine Fair in the first half of February. 

Vouvray holds two Wine Fairs, the first on the last Saturday of January and the second in the Middle of August.  In addition, they hold the Fête de la Bernache in the first week of November.

The Château de la Bourdaisière gray stone facades, a fairy-tale tower and a Renaissance stone staircase is surrounded by a park and woodland of 135 acres and has an extensive Renaissance garden and formal 17th century garden that is worth the time to stop and see.  Originally built in the 16th century by Francois I for his mistress, it has been faithfully restored to its original Renaissance-era style.  Montlouis-sur-Loire also boasts a number of hiking trails to explore the area.  On the last weekend of April, Montlouis holds its annual Wine Fair and, like its neighbor across the river in Vouvray, holds its Fête de la Bernache in November.  The town's website is www.ville-montlouis-loire.fr (in French).

The area around Amboise has been settled since the Stone Age, with later inhabitants including the Franks and the Visigoths.  On the site of a pre-existing medieval castle, Charles VIII built the Château d'Amboise into a royal palace in the 1400's.  Sadly for Charles, it also became his demise as he hit his head on a doorway (which is still shown) and died as a result.  The château figured largely in the soap opera of French politics in the following centuries, hosting François II, Mary Stuart (i.e. Mary, Queen of Scots), Catherine de Medici, and an ill-fated Protestant conspiracy in which 1200 conspirators were hung from the castle walls.  With much of the castle razed before and after the French Revolution, only about 1/3 of the original building remains.  In July and August, the Château holds daily son-et-lumiére pageants.  Also worth visiting is the Clos Lucé, Leonardo da Vinci's residence for the last four years of his life.  The displays include working models of some of his more extraordinary designs.  His body now rests in the Château's chapel of Saint-Hubert, an elegant 15th Century building in the flamboyant Gothic style.  Dominating the city of Amboise, the gardens of the Château offer one of the most splendid views of the Loire Valley.  The town of Amboise holds two Wine Fairs each year: the first on Easter and the second on August 15th. The town's website is www.amboise-valdeloire.com.

Holds its annual Wine Fair on Easter Sunday.

Celebrates its wine with their annual Wine Fair on the first weekend in July.

Celebrates the Fête du Sauvignon on the first Sunday of August.

Synonymous with the Loire Valley, the Château de Chenonceau has been described as the most romantic of all the châteaux in the valley.  Straddling the river, it was actually originally built in the early 16th century as a pleasure palace, rather than for strategic purposes.  Henri II gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who built lavish gardens and the extension that stretches over the river.  One of the most memorable ways to experience the Château is to rent a rowboat and meander up and down the river.  The chateau of Chenonceau is surrounded by two famous gardens, one upstream, designed by Diane de Poitiers, the other, downstream by Catherine de Medicis.  From mid-June to mid-September, the Château holds an excellent son-et-lumiére in the château gardens.  The official website is at www.chenonceau.com.

Dominating the Loire river from the top of a cliff, Chaumont-sur-Loire was originally a fortress built by the Counts de Blois beginning in the 10th century.  It became the property of the Chaumont-Amboise family, and was dismantled by Louis XI in 1465. Reconstruction began that same year and continued until 1510 with the avowed purpose of glorifying the Amboise family for its heroic deeds in the wars of Italy.

The fortified aspect of the entrance contrasts with the Renaissance decoration of the interior facades.  The emblem of Diane de Poitiers also appears on the upper parts of the entrance pavilion and the wing. In fact, at one time she was the owner of the château, which Catherine de Médicis authoritatively appropriated it from Diane (Henri II's mistress), giving her the château de Chenonceau in exchange.