My 10 Favorite Chateaux and Cool Sites within a 40 Minute Drive

My 10 favorite châteaux within a 40 minute drive (of what you ask) ? If you ask me which place I prefer to vacation in France, you will be surprised to learn the location ! The place is, possibly, a bit unknown but it is at the very center of a large selection of châteaux in the Loire Valley. These 10 sites are within a 40 minute or less drive from our base camp.

Bourgueil, “our base camp” has about 4000 inhabitants. With its lively market every Saturday and Tuesday and numerous boulangeries to choose from, it gets high marks from me for shopping local. Best of all there is a patisserie adjacent to the covered market which serves the local speciality galette Bourgueilloise – amazing !

There is also the Abbey of St-Pierre with a very interesting history that is now a museum. For those who are French poetry lovers, I’ll do a bit of name dropping – Pierre de Ronsard has a connection here.

My suggestion is to find a gite in or very near Bourgueil and plan to spend at least a week. There is a lot to see and Bourgueil makes a great base camp. Each idea in this post is within 25 – 40 minutes by car from Bourgueil. Don’t forget to leave time to be able to just wander as you never know what you might discover!

Wandering a little road behind Montsoreau we discovered this lavoir.

Listed in no particular order

Listed in no particular order, I share with you my favorite French châteaux in this little region that we have enjoyed immensely. I’m just giving you a teaser’s worth of information.  Each site is linked to more information at the bottom of the post.

• Langeais has two château as well as the oldest donjon in France.
• Chinon, perched at the top of the cliffs overlooking the Vienne River, has numerous towers to explore along its 150 m wall.
• The Abbey of Fontevraud has a history that includes Eleanore of Aquitane, Henry II and Richard the Lionhearted.
• Château d’Azay-le-Rideau with its Italinate architecture appears to float in the center of the river Indre !
• Saumur is such a charming town with its lovely château also perched above a river, the Loire.
• Château de Montsoreau and the little village of Candes St-Martin’s collegiate church are mere steps away from each other and will fill your day.
• Château de Villandry boasts fame lovely gardens which are beautiful no matter what time of the year you visit.
• The sweet Château de Montreuil-Bellay also has a lovely small garden from whose walls the views are incredible !
• Château d’Ussé is one that children of all ages adore as it inspired the castle in Sleeping Beauty.

Lovely Villandry in October.

Summing it Up

From experience we discovered that one château per day is the best approach for us. This allows time to enjoy all things French to be found in the town that is associated with the château : an apératif at a sidewalk café, a lovely dinner, maybe some shopping and a bit of a wander around to appreciate the historic architecture.

We enjoyed this little crêperie in Chinon!

If you don’t mind starting your day a bit earlier, an hour drive to the west you can explore the Château d’Angers  and Château de Brissac. Then, to the east, you have both the Château de Montrésor and the Château de Loches.

So you can see, if you take a day to enjoy all things Bourgueil and a day for each of these sites then you will need more than a week ! As always, so much to see and often so little time !

To read more about the châteaux and sites

• Abbey of Fontevraud
• Azay-le-Rideau
• Bourgueil Abbey of St-Pierre
• Candes St-Martin Collegiate Church
• Chinon
• Langeais
• Saumur
• Montreuil-Bellay
• Montsoreau
• Ussé
• Villandry

Locations of My 10 Favorite Chateaux and Cool Sites in the Loire Valley