Loire Valley castles from Amsterdam by car: 4 days
4 days · 8 châteaux · 181 km
A day on the road, then Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau, Chinon, Amboise, Chenonceau, Blois, Cheverny and Chambord in three days from Tours.
Written for visitors driving down from Amsterdam, Utrecht or Rotterdam with four days, the first of them spent on the road. Tours is roughly 800 km away by the E19 through Antwerp and Brussels, then the A1 to Paris and the A10 beyond it: one long day of driving, with tolls on most French motorways, or a journey broken by a night in Lille or Paris. The three days shown below start the next morning in Tours and end at Chambord, the easternmost castle and the closest to the A10 for the drive home. The rhythm is three castles a day, two hours at each and short hops between them; the day totals are calculated between stops. Book Chambord and Chenonceau online for any date in July or August; the fiches of the other six say whether a reservation is required and give the hours as they were verified.
Day 1
30 km on the road
The first morning after the drive, three visits within 30 km west of Tours: Villandry, which is mostly gardens, first; then Azay-le-Rideau on its island; then Chinon, a fortress that takes two hours to walk through, for the afternoon.
The rest of the route
The stops on the following days. The full plan, with distances, goes out by email.
Day 2
East along the river: Amboise first, Chenonceau at midday, then 35 km to Blois for the late afternoon. Sleep in Blois rather than driving back to Tours; the next morning starts 13 km away.
Day 3
Cheverny first, Chambord for the afternoon. Chambord is the castle closest to the A10, so the drive north starts from there: Paris is about 180 km, and Amsterdam roughly 500 km beyond it, the same road as on the way down.
Before you go
Opening seasons vary from one castle to the next, and several close for part of the year. Check each castle’s fiche before you fix your dates: it carries the hours and prices as they were verified, with the date of verification.
The order of stops is chained nearest-first from the starting town, and distances are as the crow flies: allow a third more by road. Only châteaux whose opening to the public we know are included.