My wife and I are going to be traveling to Paris in late November, but will spend a few days in the Loire Valley prior our stay. We are going to make Amboise our base and are staying at the Hotel Auberge de Launay in Limeray based on the recommendations here.
This is the agenda so far
Arrive CDG at 9:40, but our friends land at 10:30
Drive from CDG for Chartres approximately a 1.5 hours
Have lunch in Chartres and do the 2:30 Cathedral tour.
Leave about 4pm and drive to our hotel about 2 hours
Next day.
Amboise, the Chateau, and Clos Luce in the morning.
Lunch
Chateau De Chenonceau in the afternoon
Dinner. Need suggestions.
Following day,
Blois Castle and Chambord in the morning
Lunch
Cheverny in the afternoon.
Leaving about 5:00pm for our 2 hour drive to our condo at the Marriott by Paris Disneyland.
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Frankly, this plan is more wishful thinking than it is realistic vacation planning.
If everyone arrive arrives on time, it will be close to noon before you are on the road with your rental car. Do not forget the time to disembark, pass immigration, wait for your luggage in baggage claim and pass through customs. By the time you reach Chartres, and assuming you have not yet fallen asleep at the wheel after an all night trans Atlantic flight, it will be near 2pm, lunch time should be pretty much over. If you skip lunch, it will be about 5pm when you are ready to leave for Amboise. 5pm is also about the time darkness falls in November at this latitude so you%26#39;ll be trying to find your way fatigued and in the dark.
If all goes without any problems, you%26#39;ll arrive at your hotel somewhere around 7pm. By this time you will have been awake for the better part of almost 32 hours (minus any sleep you were able to obtain on the airplane). Anyone on the highways that fatigued is a danger not only to himself but to his passengers and as well as other travelers.
I recommend you forgo the trip to Chartres (unfortunately, or spend the first night there) and take the train to Amboise, picking up your rental the day after you arrive.
The remainder of your itinerary consists of well chosen locations except I consider the Château in Amboise completely overrated as most of it has been dismantled and its stone sold. Still it fits in your overall scheme.
I am glad to see you have included Cheverny as it is one of the few (if not only) completely furnished château.
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Besides Sarastro%26#39;s points, I%26#39;d say it is way too much to visit Blois, Chambord and Cheverny in one day. I%26#39;d pick two of these tree and take some time to walk around the lovely city of Blois.
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I would plan on catching the 13.37 train to Tours (St-Pierre-des-Corps) and hire a car there. This is a direct service, so you will not have to do any tricky train changes, etc. Also, it will allow plenty of time for the chaos that can be international airports. Driving to Amboise will take you about 30 minutes ( it would take me less time, but I know the way)
Once you are booked in to your hotel, have a wander around Amboise, look at the chateau from ouside - cross the river for the best view - and look for a restaurant that will do you an early, quick meal.
Get to Chenonceaux early the next morning, have lunch at the chateau restaurant. ( http://www.chenonceau.com/media/fr/restau_menus.php) then drive to montpoupon www.montpoupon.com/?page=chateau%26lang=uk , dinner in Blere at cheval blanc
Next day either blois or chambord, then off to Paris.
Any more than this will be overly ambitious. I would not be doing more than 2 chateau a day, even if they were ones I had already seen..........
Simon
http://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/
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Sarastro gives great advice as ever, HEED HIM!
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I%26#39;m with the others. I think this is complete overkill:
%26quot;Amboise, the Chateau, and Clos Luce in the morning.
Lunch
Chateau De Chenonceau in the afternoon
Dinner. Need suggestions.
Following day,
Blois Castle and Chambord in the morning
Lunch
Cheverny in the afternoon%26quot;.
I would be inclined to visit just one chateau in the morning, one in the afternoon, if you are that determined. We were in the Loire Valley (for the first but not the last time!!) last July for 4 days. Now we did have our children with us but we visited 4 chateux and they began to blur a bit.
We loved Chambord - the helix staircases are fab. The top portion of one of them is being renovated currently but you can still have fun with the first couple of floors. It is an incredible building.
Clos Luce...even though it was incredible and mind blowing to be in the same room where Leonardo de Vinci died, I was less impressed with the building, more impressed with the gardens, but they were very child friendly rather than adult oriented.
Chenonceau - I loved it (yes, I%26#39;ve heard criticisms here) but the gardens were as impressive as the actual chateau. And this is the area you are likely to miss, if you rush it. The history is almost Shakespearian, the whole demesne beautifully kept.
Cheverny. Loved the chateau, had a bottle of their white the other night :o) This is far more intimate and immediate than the others. Personal. And the feeding of the hounds at 5.00pm was a salutory lesson to us (as the family of a rather wayward westie!!).
Regardless of what you do, have a great trip. The whole area is beautiful and the people we encountered were wonderful.
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