Visit the Loire Valley: castles, when to go and budget

Three major castles cluster around Blois, less than 20 kilometres apart. Chambord, the largest, has 440 rooms and is set in a park enclosed by 32 kilometres of wall. The royal castle of Blois juxtaposes four architectural styles around one courtyard, home to seven kings. Cheverny, furnished and still lived in by the same family, is seen in about ninety minutes. Allow two days for the trio without rushing, and add Chaumont-sur-Loire and its garden festival if time allows.

The historic heart of the Val de Loire. Chenonceau spans the Cher on five arches and draws over a million visitors a year: be there at opening. Amboise and the Clos Luce hold the memory of Leonardo da Vinci, who died here in 1519. Villandry closes the set with its recreated Renaissance gardens, including an ornamental kitchen garden in nine checkerboard squares.

To the west, in Anjou, white tuffeau stone dominates. The Chateau de Saumur overlooks the Loire opposite the Cadre Noir cavalry school and its dressage demonstrations. The royal abbey of Fontevraud, one of Europe's largest monastic complexes, founded in 1101 and led by abbesses, holds the tombs of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Plantagenets. In Angers, the Apocalypse Tapestry unrolls 100 metres of 14th-century weaving in a gallery built for it inside the medieval castle.

The Loire a Velo route follows the river for about 900 kilometres, 300 of them in the region, on flat levees and quiet roads with no real gradient. It links most of the castles and crosses the vineyards of Vouvray, Chinon, Bourgueil and Saumur-Champigny, often tasted in cellars cut into the tuffeau stone. Three to four days are enough for the Blois-to-Saumur section, the richest in castles, with luggage transfer available from station to station.