Our tips to plan your stay in the Loire Valley châteaux: itineraries, activities and good addresses, written from Cour-Cheverny.
Which Loire Valley châteaux open on Christmas Day, what non-EU visitors pay at Chambord, and how to see Cheverny's illuminations on foot: our Christmas 2026 guide.
Read the article23 December 1588, eight in the morning. The Duke of Guise crosses the king's chamber. He will not leave it.
Read the article"Marlinspike Hall is inspired by the central section of the Château de Cheverny." Hergé, 1975.
Read the articleSeptember 1519. On a Sologne marsh that nothing marked out for glory, Francis I has the first stone laid of a château he will never really have the use of. Four…
Read the article1980. Françoise Delord opens a bird park at Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher. Parakeets, flamingos, a few birds of prey. Nothing that hints at what the place will become.
Read the article1519. Eighty thousand vines leave Burgundy for the Sologne, on the orders of François I. The palace they were meant to accompany would never be built.
Read the articleAn itinerary designed for children, with a day at Beauval Zoo.
Read the articleLoops and routes to link the châteaux by bike from the house.
Read the articleOur recommended itinerary from Cour-Cheverny to see the essentials without spending your days on the road.
Read the articleChâteaux, vineyards, nature and good addresses within 30 minutes of the house.
Read the articleEverything we write about here is within reach of the house: Cheverny a ten-minute walk away, Blois and Chambord twenty minutes by car.
