Loire Valley Castles: Chenonceau, Amboise & Da Vinci from Paris

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.18 (17 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/28

Duration13h 30m

GroupUp to 7

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Three Loire Valley Castles in One Day: Chenonceau, Amboise & Leonardo's Last Home

You get picked up from your hotel and spend the day visiting three of the Loire Valley's most significant castles: Château de Chenonceau with its Renaissance gardens, the Royal Château d'Amboise where Leonardo da Vinci is buried, and Clos Lucé where he spent his final years. All entrance tickets, a guided wine tasting at a local winery, and lunch time in Amboise are included. The drive is long — 14 hours round trip — but the minivan is air-conditioned and the group never exceeds seven people.

13h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Loire Valley Castles and Wine Tasting

07:30 Hotel pick-up in Paris
Drive 3 hours to Château de Chenonceau
Visit Château de Chenonceau and gardens
Drive 20 minutes to Amboise
Lunch break in Amboise city
Visit Château Royal d’Amboise with guide
Wine tasting at local family winery
Visit Château du Clos Lucé with guide
Drive 3 hours back to Paris
21:00 Drop off at hotel in Paris

The Experience

You're picking up at your Paris hotel at 7:30 in the morning, and the Mercedes minivan is already running. Three hours on the highway gets you to Château de Chenonceau, the one that actually spans the River Cher — not just sits next to it. Your guide walks you through the rooms, and you get a printed brochure so you're not just nodding along. The gardens have over 130,000 flowering plants, which sounds like marketing until you're standing in them and it's actually true. By 12:30 you're heading to Amboise, twenty minutes away, and you've got an hour to eat lunch wherever you want in the town itself.

The Royal Château d'Amboise is where things get personal. This is where Leonardo da Vinci is buried — not in some distant tomb, but in the Saint Hubert Chapel right there in the castle. You get an interactive Histopad guide that walks you through each room and explains the transition from Gothic to Renaissance architecture, which actually makes sense when you're looking at it. After that, there's a wine tasting at a local family winery — seven wines, with someone explaining how they've been made for centuries. It's not rushed.

The last stop is Clos Lucé, Leonardo's actual final residence. He lived there from 1516 until he died in 1519, invited by King Francis I. It's connected to Amboise by an underground passageway, which is the kind of detail that makes you understand how these castles weren't just monuments — they were homes for people who could afford to tunnel between them. The whole Loire Valley tour wraps up around 6 p.m., and you're back in Paris by 9 p.m. The group stays at seven people maximum, so it never feels like you're herding through with fifty others.

What’s included

Hotel pickup and drop-off in Paris.
transportation in an air-conditioned Mercedes minivan for up to 7 passengers.
entrance tickets to Château de Chenonceau, Château Royal d'Amboise, and Château du Clos Lucé.
guided tour at each castle with printed brochures.
one hour lunch break in Amboise.
wine tasting of seven local wines at a family winery.
bottled water.
professional English-speaking guide.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPublic transport nearbyNot for pregnant travelersNot for heart conditionsNot for back problems

Operated by Clewel Travel

Is this one for you?Right for travelers who want to see the Loire Valley's most famous castles without renting a car or juggling separate tickets — the small group size and fixed itinerary mean you spend the day looking at history instead of organizing logistics. The long day (14 hours round trip) is what makes three castles, a wine tasting, and lunch all fit into one trip from Paris.