Press kit
Figures to quote
- The names of châteaux in Sarthe are typed into Google 34,550 times a month (102 ranked châteaux).
- The most searched-for is Château du Lude (8,100 searches a month), number 102 nationally.
- The department ranks number 52 in France by searches, with 1% of national demand.
- Nationally, the most searched-for is Palace of Versailles.
Source: Chateaupedia, “France’s most searched-for châteaux in 2026”, https://chateaupedia.com/en/presse/chateaux-les-plus-recherches-2026/sarthe, volumes as of October 18, 2026
The 10 most searched-for châteaux in Sarthe
| Rank | Château | Town | Searches per month | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Château du Lude | Le Lude | 8,100 | 102 |
| 2 | Château de Sablé | Sablé-sur-Sarthe | 3,620 | 209 |
| 3 | Château de Sourches | Saint-Symphorien | 2,400 | 394 |
| 4 | Château de Poncé-sur-le-Loir | Loir en Vallée | 1,600 | 546 |
| 5 | Château de Courtanvaux | Bessé-sur-Braye | 1,300 | 682 |
| 6 | Château de Fontenailles | Écommoy | 1,300 | 693 |
| 7 | Château de Lavardin | Lavardin | 880 | 986 |
| 8 | Château du Grand-Lucé | Le Grand-Lucé | 880 | 1,011 |
| 9 | Château de Chéronne | Tuffé Val de la Chéronne | 880 | 1,032 |
| 10 | Castle of Sillé-le-Guillaume | Sillé-le-Guillaume | 720 | 1,168 |
The full study: national ranking, regions and departmentsAll châteaux in SarthePays de la Loire
Free to reuse
The figures and rankings on this page may be reused freely, including commercially, provided Chateaupedia is credited with a link to this page (ODbL 1.0 licence for the file).
Suggested citation
Source: Chateaupedia, “France’s most searched-for châteaux in 2026”, https://chateaupedia.com/en/presse/chateaux-les-plus-recherches-2026/sarthe, volumes as of October 18, 2026
Sample sentence
According to a Chateaupedia study of Google searches, Château du Lude is the most searched-for château in Sarthe in 2026, with 8,100 searches a month.
Method
The volume used is Google Ads data, read from DataForSEO: the average monthly searches for the château’s name over twelve months, as typed in the country’s language (“château de Chambord” in France, “Schloss Neuschwanstein” in Germany). Each name is re-read every ninety days.
A keyword volume is not always a place’s. We set aside names too ambiguous to attribute: with no Google reviews and three Wikipedia languages or fewer, a volume of 5,000 searches or more almost always measures something else (a town, a park, a brand). When Google knows the place, the volume is capped at twenty times its reviews. Bordeaux wine estates, searched for the wine, and the Château de Vincennes, whose name is also a metro station, are left out of the ranking. Names made only of generic words (“motte castrale”, “Le Châtelet”) and entries named after their occupant (a court, a hotel) are set aside. Namesakes count once, for the best known.