What to see in Centre-Val de Loire

Chartres

Prefecture of Eure-et-Loir, whose sloping medieval centre runs down to the river Eure, dominated by the uneven spires of its Gothic cathedral.

Château d'Amboise

The Château d'Amboise rises above the Loire. One of the most visited monuments in France, on a par with the castles of Chambord, Blois, Chenonceau and Azay-le-Rideau.

Château d'Ussé

The Château d'Ussé overlooks the Indre. It is built halfway up the slope, on the south side of the valley.

Château de Chambord

Chambord, which measures 156 m by 117 m and has 440 rooms, is the largest of the Loire castles.

Château de Chenonceau

In the heart of the Loire valley, Chenonceau is the most visited private castle in the world. The present castle was built from 1513 to 1521 by Thomas Bohier, receiver of finances under Charles VIII, Louis XII and Francis I.

Château de Loches

The Château de Loches is one of the most representative cases of the evolution of feudal architecture.

Château de Valençay

Built in 1540 by Jacques d'Estampes, the Château de Valençay was bought by Talleyrand in 1803, when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Château de Villandry

Villandry, completed around 1536, is the last of the great Loire castles built in the Renaissance in the Loire Valley. Villandry was built by a finance minister of Francis I, Jean le Breton.

Argenton-sur-Creuse

A small town nicknamed the "Venice of the Berry", whose colourful houses with wooden balconies directly overlook the calm waters of the Creuse.

Blois

Prefecture of Loir-et-Cher tiered on the hillsides overlooking the Loire, whose royal castle sums up several centuries of French architecture on its own.

Bourges

Prefecture of the Cher with a rich medieval and Renaissance heritage, dominated by its UNESCO-listed Gothic cathedral and its marshes district.

Chinon

A medieval town on the banks of the Vienne, dominated by the imposing royal fortress where Joan of Arc recognised Charles VII, surrounded by a renowned vineyard.

Château de Cheverny

The Cheverny estate is a lordly property that has belonged to the same family for more than six centuries.

Grottes de Savonnières

A natural curiosity, pointed out by Bernard Palissy in 1547.

Les Etangs du Grand-Brun

The ponds of Grand-Brun and Mer Rouge: the Brenne, land of a thousand ponds, is a paradise for rare animal and plant species.

Les Rochers de Courçay

On the banks of the Indre, you will discover the admirable immaculate rocks of Courçay and the pure waters of the Doué. You can also reach the Doué resurgence, which scatters its limpid waters into a basin.

Orléans

Prefecture of the Loiret liberated by Joan of Arc in 1429, whose street named after her leads straight to the cathedral of Sainte-Croix.

Sancerre

Village perched on top of a hill overlooking the Loire, capital of a vineyard renowned for its dry white wines made from sauvignon.

Tours

Capital of Touraine at the confluence of the Loire and the Cher, whose medieval quarter enlivens Place Plumereau, ringed with half-timbered houses.

Abbaye Notre-Dame de Fontgombault

Abbaye de Noirlac

Noirlac abbey is a Cistercian abbey in the Cher, built in the second third of the twelfth century.

Apremont-sur-Allier

The little village of Apremont lies on the banks of the Allier, on the border of Burgundy and Berry: it is overlooked by a very fine castle.

Arboretum National des Barres

A former nineteenth-century property of the Vilmorin family, the Arboretum national des Barres has been enriched over the years thanks to the discoveries of famous botanists, and now gathers one of the richest collections of trees and shrubs from the five continents.

Argentomagus

Candes-Saint-Martin

In Gaulish "candate" means confluence, and it is at the meeting place of the Vienne and the Loire that the village settled.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres

Partly built from 1145, and rebuilt in twenty-six years after the fire of 1194, Chartres Cathedral is the monument par excellence of French Gothic art.

Cathédrale de Bourges

Admirable for its proportions and the unity of its design, Saint-Étienne cathedral in Bourges, built between the late twelfth and late thirteenth centuries, is one of the great masterpieces of Gothic art.

Centre de création contemporaine Olivier Debré

The main art centre in the Centre-Val de Loire region, the Contemporary Creation Centre of Tours now incorporates a historic collection of the painter Olivier Debré.

Centre international du Vitrail de Chartres

The International Stained Glass Centre is set in Chartres in one of the most remarkable Gothic cellars in France, a thirteenth-century building, listed as a Historic Monument.

Château d'Ainay-le-Vieil

Château d'Anet

Château d'Argy

Château d'Azay-le-Ferron

Château d'Azay-le-Rideau

Located in Touraine, it belongs to the prestigious line of Loire Valley châteaux.

Château d'Ingrandes

Château de Beauregard

The castle's history goes back to the sixteenth century. The château de Beauregard hides behind the foliage of the Russy forest.

Château de Blancafort

Château de Blois

The castle was built on a promontory overlooking the Loire and the Arrou. This place has been fortified since very ancient times.

Château de Blosset

Château de Bouges

Château de Chamerolles

Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire

The château de Chaumont-sur-Loire, which overlooks the Loire Valley classified as UNESCO World Heritage, illustrates both the defensive architecture of the Gothic period and the pleasure architecture of the Renaissance.

Château de Châteaudun

Château de Courtalain

Château de Culan

The château de Culan is a medieval fortress in the commune of Culan, in the Cher and the Centre region.

Château de Fougères-sur-Bièvre

Built in the second half of the fifteenth century and finished in the early sixteenth by three generations of ennobled Blois notables, the château de Fougères-sur-Bièvre offers the almost ideal image of a small late-medieval fortress: curtain wall, keep, gun-loop arrow slits, wall-walks and…

Château de Gien

Château de Gizeux