Visiting the Loire Valley: Château Admission, Hours and Where to Base Yourself

There is no gate and no ticket for the valley itself. You pay at each château you enter, and you choose where your days start. Comparing Loire Valley day tours? Settle those two things first and the rest follows.

A region, not a site

The Loire Valley is about 280 km of the middle Loire, from Sully-sur-Loire to Chalonnes, inscribed by UNESCO as a cultural landscape in 2000. It holds towns, vineyards and Renaissance châteaux, and each château is run by its own owner, sets its own price and keeps its own hours. So a “Loire Valley ticket” is really one of three things: a château's admission, a tour whose fare includes that admission, or a tour that takes you there and leaves the ticket to you.

What the châteaux charge in 2026

These are the adult prices the châteaux publish on their own sites. Château de Chambord is the one to read twice: for 2026 it charges €21 if you are a national or resident of the European Economic Area and €31 if you are not. Château de Chenonceau asks you to reserve a timed slot, and Clos Lucé, Leonardo da Vinci's last home in Amboise, raises its adult price during its summer exhibition.

Which tours include château tickets

The small-group days from Paris that visit Chambord, Chenonceau and Amboise list all three entry tickets. So do the Chambord and Chenonceau day from Tours or Amboise that names both entrance fees, the Azay-le-Rideau and Villandry day, the private Chenonceau and Chambord day, and the 2-day trip by train. The wine tours visit no château, and the Chenonceau e-bike ride stops for a picnic facing the château from the other bank without going in. Every tour card says which kind it is before you click, and Loire Valley tour reviews show how each day went for the people who booked it.

Opening hours: plan around the season

Hours move through the year. Chenonceau's times below are the last ticket access; the château closes 30 minutes later and its gardens 30 minutes after that. Château de Chambord opens at 09:00 and closes at 18:00 from 28 March to 25 October, and at 17:00 in the winter months, with last access half an hour before closing. Amboise opens at 09:00, closing at 19:00 in August, 18:00 in September and 17:30 in October, with a lunch break from 2 November.

Chambord and Amboise close on 1 January and 25 December. Villandry's château opens from 7 February to 11 November and again from 28 November, while its gardens stay open all year except Christmas Day. If your date is near a season change, check the château's own page the week you go.

Where to base yourself

West of Tours, Chinon is the base for its own vineyards and bike rides, and Saumur for e-bike wine days; both appear on the historic towns of the Loire. Blois, on the train line east of Amboise, suits a stay nearer Chambord.

Getting there

By train, you arrive at Tours or at Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, the high-speed station beside it. Château de Villandry gives the high-speed train from Paris Montparnasse as 55 minutes. Regional trains carry on to Amboise and Blois. By car, most châteaux have their own parking. The routes, stations and every tour's starting point are on how to get to the Loire Valley and the Loire Valley map.

The Tours tourist office

It is where most tours from Tours begin: the Office de Tourisme at 78–82 rue Bernard Palissy, in the centre of Tours. It opens Monday to Saturday all year. In September you will find it open 08:30 to 18:00, and from October to March 09:00 to 12:30 and 13:30 to 18:00, with Sunday mornings 09:30 to 12:30. In July and August it opens 08:30 to 18:30, and on Sundays 09:30 to 17:00. Be outside 10 minutes before your start time.

What makes a day go well

• Shoes for stairs and gravel. Travellers mention many steps inside the châteaux, long gravel avenues and uneven cellar floors.
• Time, not a checklist. Two châteaux in a day gives you about two hours at each. Three means an hour or so at each.
• Eat before a tasting. Some wine tours pour without food; the inclusions say which pair wine with cheese or a picnic.
• A spare slot for balloons. Flights go only in calm air, at sunrise or in the early evening, and can move at short notice.

How the seasons change the gardens, the rides and the flights is on Loire Valley weather.

Frequently asked before you go