39 km from the Château de Blois

36 minutes by road, 19 km of it on the motorway.

Four centuries in a single courtyard

Blois is not one château, it is four. You walk into the courtyard and there in front of you are the Gothic, the brick-and-stone Louis XII style, the François I wing with its spiral staircase open to the air, and Gaston d'Orléans's Classical block. Each demolished part of the last to build its own.

No other place tells the story of what French architecture did between the thirteenth and the seventeenth century so well. Allow a good half-day, and remember to look up.

Opposite, the Maison de la Magie keeps the children busy while the parents finish. The old town descends towards the Loire by staircases.

Sleeping in Beaugency rather than Blois

Blois has close to fifty thousand inhabitants, with the prices and the traffic that come with them in season. We are thirty-six minutes away, and halfway between Blois and Orléans , which halves your driving if you plan to see both.