Fully guided over 5 days
Highlights: Castles Grand Tour - Wine & Gastronomy - Life style - Free time
Date: All year along
Transportation: Fully chauffeured private luxury car with your guide
Accommodation: Luxury holiday rental downtown Amboise
Overview
This tour is long enough to make you feel part of the Loire Valley.
It, of course, includes all the must see of the area like the castles of Chenonceau, Amboise, Chambord, Cheverny, Clos Lucé, Azay le Rideau and the gardens of Villandry and Chaumont, but also more confidential villages.
The length of your stay will also allow you to enjoy the peaceful way of life that prevails in the region. Go to the market in Amboise to meet the cheese producer, chat with the fruit and vegetable grower or taste the locally made walnut oil… Visit the most elegant or truly original shops in Tours, and have a drink in the Trip Advisor voted “best place”, the Place Plumereau.
To give you more flexibility and increase your feeling to be “at home”, we have selected for you a luxury rental apartment, also run by RiverLoire, located downtown Amboise. It is not only comfortable with top of the art features, but the well equipped kitchen will allow you to cook your local product unless you rather have a private chef cooking them for you, for a unique experience!
Remember that this is just a suggested itinerary… but we have a lot more to offer… So don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and tell us what your dream would be… and we will do our best to make it happen.
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival in Amboise, the heart of the Loire Valley
According to your time of arrival, enjoy a light typical French lunch, at the bottom of Amboise Castle, before starting the visit of this iconic chateau, with your private guide. Discover your new “Home away from Home”, at the bottom of the castle, for your first royal night!
Day 2: Downstream the Loire river
Start your exploration of the Loire valley, with a day between castles -Azay le Rideau-, gardens -Villandry- and wines –Bourgueil and Chinon- for a full experience.
Day 3: Chenonceau, the Ladie's Castle
Chenonceau castle, known as the “Ladie's Castle” is worth a full day visit. Beside the castle it-self, take your time to stroll in the magnificent gardens, look at the Loire River gently running between its arcs and don’t miss the gourmet lunch at the Orangerie restaurant.
Day 4: A unique experience around local wines & french gastronomy
Some tourists just taste the wine, but you are going to “experienced it”. Be ready to “see” and “touch” it in a style offered to few travelers and in places open only to RiverLoire guests. To complete your French experience, learn how to prepare what French people call an “aperitif” with a private chef.
Day 5: A day off the beaten tracks…
Loire Valley is often called the “garden of France”. Discover some of the most beautiful villages, including some hidden jewels far away from the crowded tourist path.
Day 6: Upstream the Loire river
Continue your exploration of the Loire Valley, following the Loire River downstream to Chambord, the largest castle of the Valley and Cheverny, the most elegantly furnished one. On the way back you will drive through well preserved villages, farms, forest that make this area so unique.
Day 7: Amboise, cradle of the Renaissance
No travel today. Take your time to discover by foot, the city of Amboise, its market and its other highpoints… the Clos Lucé, the last residence of Leonardo da Vinci, dedicated to the life and work of the genius.
Day 8: Between heaven and earth
Chaumont is known worldwide for its international Garden festival that runs from mid-April to mid-October. After wandering through the 25 elaborate gardens arranged around the theme of the year, it will be time to go back to Amboise for a free afternoon, before embarking on board your air balloon for a new perspective!
Day 9: Tours, Capital of the Loire Valley
Tours is the regional capital of the Touraine. From the food market to the delightful shops, you will have plenty to do and see today. Don’t miss the medieval and renaissance area, the ideal place to enjoy lunch surrounded by 1000 year old houses. A must do according to Trip advisor!
Day 10: Last day in the Loire Valley
Time to pack and say good-bye! We hope you have truly felt special during your stay…
Price & inclusions
Price starting from € 4 995,00 per person (€ 9 980,00 for 2 people sharing a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment)
Subject to availability at the time of booking.
It includes:
- 9 Nights in a luxury 2 bedroom apartment in Amboise.
- The necessary for your first breakfast.
- 7 lunches with drinks included, and 3 dinners, without the drinks, in outstanding places, to experience the Loire cuisine.
- All private transportation and transfers with a private English-speaking guide throughout your entire stay, with periods of free time.
- All the entrance fees of the Loire castles and gardens listed with private guiding (Amboise, Villandry, Azay le Rideau, Chenonceau, Montresor, Chambord, Cheverny, Clos Lucé, Chaumont sur Loire).
- A stop at a charterhouse.
- Privately guided walking tours of the towns of Loches and Tours.
- The access to the wine cellars with wine tastings.
- The visit of a privately owned castle.
- A cooking class in a private property with a personal Chef followed by a tasting served with Sancerre wines.
- RiverLoire local assistance.
- Fees and taxes.
If you’ve just returned from this “Fully guided over 5 days” tour we’d love to hear from you...
Fred & Donna (USA) - September 2015
Ban & Patricia (Australia) - September 2015
We have just returned home after a wonderful holiday in France. Our guides were terrific, and the hotel was fit for a king. All of the selected restaurants were ideal.
Thank you for making this a terrific vacation, and please thank our guides Delphine and Mathilde for their special attention.
Sandy (USA) - September 2014
The highest praise must go to our guide Manon. She had a difficult job to do including driving in Paris and long distances (in bad weather at times) as well as providing very knowledgeable background information on the places we visited and dealing with our last-minute changes to the plans for the day. She did this while being always pleasant and helpful yet discreet.
The program you designed certainly included some of the most well known and spectacular of the chateaux in the area. Because of the distance and expense involved in travelling from Australia we tend to try to cram in too much while in Europe. The difficulty is to pace ourselves so we see a lot but without getting physically and mentally exhausted!
I would definitively recommend Riverloire to other people, particularly if Manon was to be the guide or if your other guides are of the same high standard.
Yours Faithfully.
Hannibal (Australia) - July 2014
Having heard how wonderful my parents thought the trip you put together for them was, I would like to share my thanks and appreciation for such a fabulous Loire experience, they thought it was such an enjoyable few days, and created some lovely memories. Thank you very much indeed, much appreciated.
Dougal (UK) - June 2014
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