Loire Valley

This is inland France, and the Loire is not a bathing river. Its currents, shifting sandbanks and sudden holes make swimming dangerous, and it is discouraged almost everywhere along its length. In summer, locals swim at supervised lakes instead, such as the Lac de Maine on the edge of Angers and a few leisure lakes in Touraine and Sologne, with roped areas and lifeguards in July and August.

The Atlantic beaches lie west of Nantes, a long drive from the château country. Many rental houses and chambres d'hôtes have pools, and in practice that is where most visitors swim. Do not come here for the beach.

The valley is wine country first. Sancerre and Pouilly in the east, Vouvray and Montlouis around Tours, Chinon and Bourgueil with their Cabernet Franc reds, sparkling Saumur aged in tufa caves, and Muscadet towards the sea. Tasting cellars are cut into the riverside cliffs, and you can cycle from one wine village to the next. The cooking matches the wine: rillettes and rillons from Tours, river fish in beurre blanc, goat cheeses such as Sainte-Maure and Selles-sur-Cher, tarte Tatin, and pears and apples from the Anjou orchards.

Town markets are the best way in, especially the covered halls and Saturday stalls of Tours, Amboise and Saumur. Tours and Angers have the most restaurants, from bistros to serious gastronomic tables. Village dining is good but short on choice, and many places keep traditional French hours.

The Loire holds the greatest concentration of Renaissance châteaux in the world, and the stretch from Sully-sur-Loire to Chalonnes is a UNESCO-listed landscape. Chambord, with its double-helix staircase and forest of chimneys, and Chenonceau, built across the Cher on arches, are the two most famous. Royal Blois and Amboise sit above their towns, Leonardo da Vinci's last home is at Clos Lucé, and Azay-le-Rideau, Villandry's formal gardens, Ussé and Cheverny add more.

The older layers are just as strong. Fontevraud is one of Europe's largest medieval abbeys and holds the tombs of the Plantagenets. Angers keeps the vast medieval Apocalypse Tapestry inside its striped fortress, and Chinon and Loches have dramatic medieval castles. The cathedrals of Tours and Orléans and the old timbered quarters of Tours complete the picture. Base yourself around Tours or Amboise to reach the most within easy distance.

Evenings here are mostly long dinners and a glass of local wine. For going out, the place is Tours, where Place Plumereau and the surrounding medieval lanes fill with students at café-bar terraces on warm nights, with a few late bars and small clubs nearby. Angers has a similar student bar quarter. Amboise, Saumur and the villages are quiet soon after dinner, and if you stay in the countryside, you will have almost no nightlife.

This is soft, lowland country. The wide braided river is lined with willows and sandbanks, the tufa cliffs are riddled with troglodyte dwellings, and the valley is framed by vineyards, orchards and forests. The Loire à Vélo route follows the river on quiet lanes and towpaths and is the best way to see the valley, flat enough for unhurried riders and families. Canoes and traditional flat-bottomed boats let you explore the islands, where terns and herons nest, and hot-air balloon flights over the châteaux are a summer tradition.

The Sologne to the south-east is a land of heath, ponds and hunting forest, good for walking and deer spotting in the autumn rut. There are no hills worth the name and no wild country, so a visitor looking for hiking or adventure will find the outdoors pleasant rather than dramatic. Late spring and early autumn are the best seasons.

A stay here is a chain of day outings. From a base around Tours, half a dozen distinct towns are within easy reach: Amboise and Blois on the river, medieval Chinon and Loches, Saumur with its cavalry tradition and sparkling-wine cellars, and Angers further west. The wine villages of Vouvray, Montlouis and Bourgueil make easy afternoon trips, and the troglodyte villages around Saumur, with their cave homes and mushroom cellars, are unlike anything else in France.

Sancerre and Pouilly lie at the far eastern end of the valley, about two hours' drive from Tours, so they are a full day out from there. Wine lovers do better to spend a night or two around Orléans or Sancerre itself. Chartres and its cathedral, Bourges and Poitiers are each within about two hours, and Paris is about an hour from Tours by high-speed train. The variety is wide, but château fatigue is real, so mix towns, wine and caves with the great houses.

The valley works well with children if you plan for them. The ZooParc de Beauval, near Saint-Aignan, is one of Europe's leading zoos and is worth a full day. Futuroscope near Poitiers and the Puy du Fou history park in the Vendée are each a long drive from the valley's western and southern edges. Among the châteaux, the most child-friendly are Clos Lucé, with its park of full-size Leonardo machines, Blois, where the Maison de la Magie faces the château, and Chambord, with carriage rides and bikes in its grounds. Angers has the Terra Botanica plant park.

Daily life is easy: quiet roads, safe towns, farm and gîte stays with pools, and the flat cycle route suits young riders. A long run of formal interiors will tire children quickly, and you will need a car to get to most places.

A car is the simplest way to explore. Roads are good, traffic is light outside Tours and Orléans, and the main sights are rarely more than an hour apart. Without one, a regional rail line follows the river through Orléans, Blois, Amboise, Tours, Saumur and Angers, Chenonceau and Chinon have stations of their own, and seasonal shuttle buses serve some châteaux, but villages, wineries and Chambord are harder to reach.

The bicycle is the local answer. The riverside route links towns at an easy pace, bike hire is widespread and luggage can be sent ahead. Town centres such as Tours, Amboise and Saumur are compact and pleasant to walk.

Most things worth buying here are things to eat or drink. Visitors buy wine direct from the cellar doors, goat cheese, rillettes and preserves from the town markets, and sweets such as the Cotignac quince paste of Orléans. Gien faience is the region's best-known craft, and the Saumur area keeps a tradition of fine leather. Tours has the widest choice of shops in its old town and main shopping streets, but this is not a place to come for fashion, design or anything you could not find in any French provincial city.

Prices here are moderate by Western European standards and well below those of the capital. Guesthouses, gîtes and town hotels in Tours, Blois or Saumur cost a fair amount, set lunch menus are good value, and cellar-door wine costs little for the quality. What adds up is the sightseeing: each major château charges its own entrance fee, and seeing several a day soon takes a noticeable share of the budget. Château hotels and summer rentals near Amboise and Chenonceau are much more expensive, and a car is usually needed on top. Spring and early autumn are easier on the wallet than July and August.

The performing arts follow the summer calendar. Several châteaux, including Blois and Amboise, stage evening sound-and-light shows, and summer brings chamber music festivals in barns and churches, notably the Fêtes Musicales en Touraine at the medieval Grange de Meslay. Angers fills its streets with outdoor performers each September for its street-arts festival.

The rest of the year belongs to the cities. Tours has its Grand Théâtre opera house, Angers shares an opera company with Nantes and is home to a regional orchestra, and Orléans has a busy theatre and concert programme. It is a respectable provincial offer, rather than something a visitor would travel here for.

The Loire has no spa towns or bathing culture, so the wellness offer is mostly the hotel spas in converted châteaux and country manors, often with treatments built around grapes and wine. What the region does offer is pace. Slow days of riverside cycling, long lunches, walks in the formal gardens of Villandry and Chaumont, and nights in quiet guesthouses among the vineyards make this an easy place to unwind, especially in the villages of Touraine and Anjou, away from the busiest châteaux.