About The Loire Valley

Renowned for its spectacular châteaux, the vestiges of royal days gone by, the Loire Valley is rich in both history and architecture. This vast region runs through the heart of French life, just as the Loire river runs through its valley, with sophisticated cities, flourishing landscape, and magnificent food and wine.

Orleans was France's intellectual capital in the 13th century, attracting artists and poets to the royal court. But the medieval court never stayed in one place for very long, which led to the building of magnificent châteaux all along the Loire.

Due to its central location, eclectic culture, and excellent cuisine, Tours is the natural visitor's capital. Angers follows closely, but more authentic are the historic towns of Amboise, Blois, Beaugency, and Saumur, brilliantly strung along the river like the queen’s royal jewels.

Chambord and Chenonceau remain the two greatest and most prestigious Renaissance châteaux ever built. They are glorious symbols of imperial rule, dazzling with their ornamental gardens. This is the classic Loire Valley, a château trail that embraces the Renaissance gardens of Villandry and the fairytale turrets of Azay-le-Rideau.

Blessed with a temperate climate and easy access to the heart of France and Europe, the Loire valley in the last decade has gone beyond its touristic traditions to become a favored European site for retirees to buy homes and corporations to establish headquarters. Only a morning’s trip by train from London, Strasbourg, Brussels, or Amsterdam, Pontlevoy and its region are today a crossroads to new Europe. Where warring aristocrats once erected grand castles to protect their subjects from the uncertainties of life in the heart of an unstable Europe, today the Loire’s central location brings with it only stunning advantages.

The lush Loire valley is, in a word, majestic.