Maine-et-Loire: what to see and do
30 sites listed in the département. Heart of Anjou, the Maine-et-Loire strings together Loire châteaux, renowned vineyards and Angers, an art city dominated by its fortress and its famous Apocalypse Tapestry. This département charms with the gentle Anjou way of life praised for centuries.
Château de Brissac
Taller than all the royal castles, Brissac, with seven storeys and 204 rooms, deserves its nickname of giant of the Loire Valley.
Château de Saumur
Home of the Dukes of Anjou in the fourteenth century, then residence of the town's governors, a prison, and an arms and munitions depot, the Château de Saumur was bought by the town in 1906 to house the municipal museum.
Abbaye Royale Fontevraud
Founded in 1101 by Robert d'Arbrissel, heir to a prestigious past, the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud became in 1975, through the combined impetus of the Pays de la Loire Region and the Ministry of Culture, a Cultural Meeting Centre entrusted with heritage management.
Angers
Former capital of Anjou dominated by its fortified castle with seventeen towers, whose old town preserves superb half-timbered houses.
Cirque de Courossé
The "Cirque de Courossé", the main natural curiosity, is only a recess between two hillsides where the Èvre, a timid tributary of the Loire, gives itself the look of a gorge; the cirque lies between La Chapelle-Saint-Florent and Saint-Pierre-Montlimart (listed site of the Mauges).
Le château d'Angers
This colossus of tuffeau and slate piles up superlatives: 17 towers, a kilometre of walls, 1,000 years of history, plenty of activities and the largest medieval tapestry in the world.
Saumur
Town of the French cavalry and sparkling wines, whose white-turreted castle elegantly overlooks the banks of the Loire.
Bioparc de Doué la Fontaine
In the heart of the Loire Valley, the Regional Nature Park, near Saumur, Angers, Cholet, the wildlife park welcomes you in its troglodyte site unique in Europe.
Château de Baugé
Château de Brézé
Château de Challain-la-Potherie
Château de Martigne Briand
Château de Montgeoffroy
In the heart of Anjou, the château de Montgeoffroy, inhabited by the de Contades family since 1670, perpetuates the French art of living in the rediscovered freshness of its eighteenth-century decor.
Château de Montreuil-Bellay
The château de Montreuil-Bellay is a vast medieval construction, several times remodelled and standing in the heart of the walled town of Montreuil-Bellay in Anjou, in the Maine-et-Loire département.
Château de Serrant
The sumptuous château de Serrant, whose brown schist contrasts with white tuffeau, has a lot of personality.
Château du Plessis-Bourré
The château du Plessis-Bourré was rebuilt from 1468 on the foundations of a medieval fortress, the château du Plessis-le-Vent, bought in 1462 by Jean Bourré, grand treasurer and trusted man of Louis XI.
Château du Plessis-Macé
Château médiéval de Pouancé
Château-Musée de Montsoreau
The château de Montsoreau is the only Loire château built with its "feet" in the water.
Dolmen de Bagneux
One of the largest dolmens in Europe, in the heart of a garden in Saumur.
La Mine bleue
La Mine Bleue is an industrial tourist site of Anjou, in the commune of Noyant-la-Gravoyère, in the Maine-et-Loire. The site is on the former working of the Gâtelière slate quarries.
Le Jardin des Kangourous
Le chateau de La Montchevalleraie
Montsoreau
Very near a royal abbey, Montsoreau is built around its fifteenth-century castle, between Loire and hillside.
Musée Troglo
The village of Rochemenier is the most complete troglodyte site in the Loire Valley.
Musée de la Cavalerie
Set in the former stables of the Cadre Noir, the museum traces the history of the French cavalry from Charles VII to today's tanks.
Musée des blindés
Musée du Champignon
Parc oriental de Maulévrier
The Maulévrier Oriental Park, labelled "Remarkable Garden", invites you to stroll and daydream.
