Amboise was never on my mind as a place to visit. In fact, i naively had never heard of it prior to traveling there. My best friend Jenna invited me to join her and her family on a trip through France. The trip was going to start somewhere in Loire Valley and end in St. Tropez. With the help of Jennas mom we landed on Amboise. I flew from London as I had a wedding into Paris then hopped on a train to Gare de St Pierres de Corps. The train was roughly two hours. I wont go into my travel morning but it consisted of 2 hours of sleep a 5 am flight to a 10 am train- so i was delirious! Pulled a confessions of a teenage drama queen (Lindsey Lohan reference) and changed in the loo before setting out on a day of Chateaus.
Jennas parents picked us up in their car and we headed to our first chateau- Chateau Villandry. This was the first chateau experience i had been too. We had lunch first at La Doulce Terrasse which was on site. I was pleasantly surprised by the food options, freshness and quality + the wine selection. So i do recommend checking this spot out. The chateau has gorgeous gardens- we did not go inside but just walked around the rose gardens which are manicured into a stunning pattern- hints their logo. Fun fact, you can buy placemats and napkins for the cafe that have the garden pattern on them! Chateau Villandry is a must check out! From there, we headed to our second chateau of the day- Chateau de Chenonceau. This was out of this world. Massive grounds, you could tour the inside- lots of art and history about the family that lived there. People were enjoying the gardens there were boats in the waters- very bustling. This chateau too had a cafe (less nice than Villandry) but it did have a wine tasting room and fun terrace to have a glass of wine (or a bottle) outside. This leg of the trip we stayed in an Airbnb in town. It was in a great neighborhood and Jenna and i were able to walk to the village and explore the market streets. That night we drove to dinner. It was tiny stand alone restaurant all by itself but super quaint and cute with great food- Les Closeaux. The restaurant barely spoke English so we were using google translate but highly recommend. The produce was super fresh and i remember loving the white asparagus and fish i ordered - 10/10! The next morning, Jenna and I attempted to run down the Loire River- this was quite challenging as only one way down the river had a path- the other was high grass. After our "frolic" we headed to down and purchased some local produce to make ourselves a homemade lunch at our airbnb outside. The town spoke very little English so i was fun to practice French (Jenna is much much better than I). For the afternoon, we headed to Chombard- very well known chateau do to the liquor which the bottle is shaped like the chateau. Chombard had everything- gorgeous restaurant on site, hotel on site, cute bar, bikes to use, again small boats in the water. It reminded me of Versailles. Again, we toured the grounds and the inside of the Chateau- so many rooms and lots of history to learn. That evening, we had dinner at another Chateau that was also a hotel- Chateau de Chissay, sensing a theme here? lots of chateaus. The setting had lots of stone and red velvets- had almost a medieval feel. The outside was gorgeous and sat up on a hill so there was great views from the outside. Again, very French cuisine - would recommend. Other close by recommendations: Chateau de Pray Le Chateau du Close Luce Chateau Gaillard L'Ecluse Patisserie Bigot Chateau d Amboise Domaine Olga Raffault Domaine Huet l' Enchansonne |
chateau de chenonceau
chateau villandry gardens
la dolce terrasse- cafe at chateau villandry
les closeaux interiors
interiors at Chambord
trying to run in amboise
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dinner at chateau chissay
les closeaux
plat principale- les closeaux
cheeseboard at Chambord restaurant (inside hotel)
village of amboise
![]() roses at chateau villandry
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