travel to tours france/loire valley to see the chateaus

After a whirlwind couple of days in Paris, France, we hopped on a train and headed to our next stop in Tours, France – a city located in the amazingly beautiful region of the Loire Valley in central France.

Be sure you check out our days in Paris and Provence!

I have to start out by telling y’all how much we LOVED the train ride! It’s such a relaxing way to travel and see so much of the beautiful French countryside! It was so fun just to have some quality family time during our trip.

We started our time in Tours with a visit to the “old town” area of the city. As much as we loved seeing all the famous sites of Paris, the slower-paced charm of Tours was a welcome change! 

Many of the buildings there date all the way back to the 12th-15th centuries! It’s very apparent that they take great care to preserve the history of this little gem.

During some exploring of the city, I came across an absolutely INCREDIBLE church. I realize hoe that it is a famous landmark, but before I came across it, I had no idea. It was the Saint-Gatien Cathedral. It was constructed around 1160-1547 and was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen! You cannot begin to imagine the intricacies of the architecture. Pictures just do NOT do it justice!!!

Is this place not phenomenal?

Over the next couple of days, we also visited some castles in the area. Loire Valley is best known for the many castles, and there are numerous ones you can visit, and lots of tours. Also (side note),the french call them a chateau, not a castle!

Y’all know that home design and decorating is what I love, so this was definitely a highlight to get to see how they were so fabulously decorated in that time! 

The first place we toured was the Chateau de Chambord. The best word I can think of to describe this one is MAGNIFICENT! It was absolutely enormous, and every detail was intricate and “kingly” . (is that even a word?! LOL) Brandon and I talked numerous times about how crazy it is that this castle was erected that many years ago, before all of the modern day conveniences. Craftsmanship is just not the same today!

This room got me with the gold and white all over the walls! FABULOUS.

This may seem like an odd thing to take a picture of in a castle that large, but it caught my eye because it was simply one of the most gorgeous clocks I had ever seen. I LOVE the blue and gold and white, and the tile work is phenomenal.

The second castle we visited was Chateau de Chenonceau. It was much smaller than the previous one, but it was my favorite of the two for a few different reasons.

This is the walkway leading to the castle. The tall trees blanketing this walkway is indescribable. I wish pictures could do it justice, but they just can’t. I truly had to take it in during the walk, because it was indescribable how beautiful and magnificent it was in real life.

As you can see, it was a very dreary day…I think it made the castles look that much more medieval! We also got SOAKED at this castle and had to eat lunch under a tent where water was pouring all over us, but that is a story for a different day….

It is described as the “women’s castle” because of all of the attention to detail in the aesthetics and fresh florals everywhere, but not just because of that….

You can read the HISTORY of the chateau right HERE.

This castle gave me so much inspiration for my own home! Isn’t it just beautiful!?

Chateau de Chenonceau also had the prettiest gardens and walkways that I’ve ever seen!

I am still grateful for all that we got to experience in Tours and the Loire Valley! From the castles to the medieval residences to the lush gardens, this place is one that I’ll never forget! 

I will say a few *extra* things about this visit to Tours/Loire Valley:

Unless you have your own car, you will 100% have to have a private driver or tour guide. We never had a car through this trip, so we had a private driver. We didn’t do any tours here, we just experienced it on our own. I like it better that way, especially with younger kids. 2-3 hours at each castle was plenty for us.

From Tours, the travel time to each castle was around an hour or more, so you do need to dedicate 1-2 days for this. We did 2 castles in 1 day, and it was a FULL day…and we did no tours at them…just walked around rather quickly. There are many more to see in the area, so it could be a much bigger experience than what we did.

Make sure you’re following my Instagram travel page so you don’t miss one moment of our trip!! 

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Last Updated on June 10, 2024