How many miles is loire valley from paris

The journey takes approximately 3h 15m. Yes, there is a direct train departing from Paris Montparnasse 1 Et 2 and arriving at Tours. Services depart every four hours, and operate every day.

The journey takes approximately 1h 13m. The road distance is km. Get driving directions. The train from Paris Montparnasse 1 Et 2 to Tours takes 1h 13m including transfers and departs every four hours.

Mode details. Alternatively, FlixBus operates a bus from Paris to Tours every 4 hours. Blablabus also services this route 3 times a day. Popular routes include Paris to Marseille and Paris to Strasbourg. Coaches have toilets, free WiFi and power outlets, plus snacks and drinks for purchase on board. Flixbus is a good choice for the budget-conscious traveller; purchase tickets in advance for the cheapest fares note: there is no option to reserve a seat in advance.

Ouibus journeys are safe and comfortable, with the four-star coaches offering power outlets, restrooms and WiFi. The local train from Tours to Orleans takes around 90 minutes and stops en route in Amboise 20 minutes from Tour and in Blois 20 minutes from Amboise. This is one of the few times I will ever recommend taking a car to get between cities in France, but driving from Paris to the Loire is actually an easy, quick way to go. Also, having a car gives you the freedom to easily travel between castles and allows visitors the flexibility and ease of being able to see numerous castles in the same day and during the same trip.

From Paris, the drive to Tours takes about hours depending on the traffic situation in Paris. Another option is to take the train to Tours and then rent a car and see the various castles from there. Otherwise, the rooms are too tall, too stony. As the chimneys are too weak and not able to heat up the rooms, the castle stayed so cold throughout its history that almost no one could ever live in it except for a few days at a time.

Well, at least it was discovered by tourists and now it is visited all year long! The tour took us to a second chateau for lunch. The lunch was very French and there was plenty of wine to enjoy.

At the end, we were offered a few historical facts about the place and a quick tour, presented by the family who owned the castle and some wine tasting of course! It is an absolutely gorgeous castle that includes a bridge over the river Cher.

Seems this mistress was quite an emancipated woman, and hot as hell for those times. She took care of her body and not only that, she bathed regularly hey, we are talking about medieval France here! The queen was quite the opposite. She was short and not pretty at all. Diane de Poitiers took care that extensive flower and vegetable gardens along with a variety of fruit trees would be built around the castle so she would always have fresh food.

Her gardens still stand and they look great! Why these colors? Because back then blue was the strong feminine color while pink was a male color. The castle is wonderful; if you go there by yourself you can easily spend half a day or more just visiting it and its surroundings. After taking the castle from Diane, Queen Catherine changed many things in it, mostly to have her presence felt and to show she was in charge now.

She even put her portrait in the former bedroom of Diane to make her point. Make sure you visit all the rooms, and pay attention to the traditional kitchen which was placed on the lowest floor! When my tour gave us a choice to spend more time in the castle or to continue to the wine tastings, it was so hard to choose! I tasted 4 good wines and enjoyed every drop. If you want to, you can do the tasting, otherwise, you can walk around the castle more for the duration of the tasting.

E ven if I usually go independent, without a tour, I am glad I made an exception this time. I felt otherwise I would miss so much! It felt very well organized and not rushed very important for me. They also divided us into two groups, which made it easier to manage. Even though I usually prefer to organize everything myself, this is a time when I actually do recommend taking a tour for these reasons:.

Second , it is actually cheaper. If you take public transport I will explain the procedure below you pay for everything separately — train tickets, lunch, tour guides and entrance tickets to castles so it will be more expensive. Plus, you will have to wait in line, which I did not have to bother with at all, as all the tickets were bought for us in advance. And third, and the most important, the guides! You will never read all the amount of extremely interesting info our guides shared with us from the Internet or your guide book.

Seriously, I pitied those people in the line I passed by, who were reading Wikipedia from their tablets. Transportation, lunch, guides, tickets to the chateaux and wine tastings are included in the price. If, after all my reasoning, you still want to have a do-it-yourself-tour, no problem, it is your choice, let me explain how to plan it:. My advice is, if you are going to go by yourself, then plan on more than one day. Go for a few days, rent a car and drive to all the castles you want to see.

Alternatively, take a train to Tours , and then rent bikes and cycle around the castles. As I said, it is totally possible to see the main castles in a one-day trip, but if you have the chance, you should stay in the area for a couple of days; there really is so much to see!

If you choose to rent a car, check this website , it usually gives the best rates in my experience! The route Paris — Tours the city close to Loire Valley runs quite frequently. Every 40 mins trains leave from Gare Montparnasse to Tours. You can see the schedule here. The cheapest train ticket, if you buy it in advance, will be 36 EUR round trip.

However, take into consideration that this train will also be the slowest 2 hours one way. Filter by Your filters English. Less than 3 hours. Half a day. A day. Type of tour. On your own. Transport type. On foot. Tourism type. Theme parks. Additional options. Products on offer. Products for private hire. Priority access. Pick-up included. Disabled access. Suitable for children.