Loire Valley Castles Day Trip from Paris with Complementary Wine

Daniel was an awesome guide - entertaining, funny and informative. The tour was very interesting. The wine tasting was a great part of the trip. Highly recommend this trip!

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the tour, but Daniel did an absolutely amazing job! He was incredibly engaging, personable, and easy to talk to. He shared so many interesting stories and made the entire experience enjoyable for everyone in the group. I would highly recommend the Loire Valley day trip with Daniel—you won’t be disappointed!

+2

We had a great day visiting Castles in the Loire Valley.. Our guide Daniel was very entertaining and had lots of interesting stories about the history and people. Also, our bus driver Nadia was incredibly competent and did an amazing job navigating through the narrow streets in the villages.

Daniel was wonderful, he was very informative and entertaining. We have been on castle tours in other countries and this was by far one of the best. The cost was reasonable for the trip time.

I hesitated booking this tour because let's be honest, 13hrs?! That's so long! And im not one to love being tied to a group and be stuck in one place if I don't like the place (for context). But I'll be first to say that this tour felt not long enough ! That's right... 13hr was not enough lol I'll begin with key info then provide our experience. Key info: 1) They are punctual! The bus leaves at 7:30 am, not 7:36...don't be late! 2) it is a 2 hour 15 min drive to first destination. So eat before (see next point) 3) If you book this tour on a Sunday or Monday, plan your breakfast the day before. Nothing opens before 7am in Paris on Sunday lol the tour bus leaves at 7:30am and you cannot eat on the bus, not have hot drinks (coffee). Depending where you are staying, you may not have time to eat before you leave. We grabbed a pain au chocolat from a bakery at 7am on the dot and jumped in an Uber to get us to the meeting point which was 23 mins away! When we arrived, the group was walking to the bus. We cut it close but got to eat a little something and have a small coffee before boarding. The bus: Punctual (love it!), clean (love it!), air conditioned as well The tour operator: She had a strong Indian accent but we understood her well. She was very i formative giving some information about where we were going, how long it takes, meeting point, organizing ticket handout, etc. She did not hesitate to command attention when Important info was being shared and people were not listening. She was very good at what she does! We loved her. The tour: 2hr bus ride to go and about 3hr bus ride back and 2 other transfers of about 20 mins or so (about a total of 6.5/7hrs spent on bus). At each location, you have free time. You are not tied to the group which was great. You do you, but be back at the meeting point on time. Each castle is big! We had about 1.5hr at each location and this is where we felt we did not have enough time to enjoy it all. Each castle is beautiful. The first (Chambord) was huge but mostly empty of decor/furniture but still wow to visit. Thank goodness the grounds were more plain lol. Off to Blois we went next. Blois is so lovely! We ate at a crepe/galette place called Mamie Bigoune. It was good and their décors inside are worth a visit! So many beautiful things to see around, but not a lot of time (if you want to eat). We still got an eye full! Then back on the bus to go to Château Chenonceau. The group was divided in two for the wine tasting. We explored the Château first and had to meet up at a set time for our wine tasting. Yummy! Infor.stive as well (color of wine, smell, twist and smell again, location, appellation, etc.). We did not have time to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous grounds (flowers, trees, buildings). The wine, all three (rosé, white and red) were delicious and affordable. We wish we would have bought some to bring home but the weight of the bottles and the risk of breaking them in the suitcase scared us off a bit but we would absolutely buy some otherwise! It was our last day on Paris and we had dinner plans, otherwise we would have had a bottle or 2 in our hotel room lol this is where I really wish we had more time to appreciate the grounds. So so beautiful. But we grabbed a chocolate bar and chips from a vending machine to snack on for the ride back (about 3hrs or more if traffic once in Paris). We were back at our meeting point around 8pm. Time flew by so fast! So so worth it!! But please be punctual to meeting points and back on bus time...any delay takes away from the next stop. Also, please don't have a phone or video call conversation on the bus, on speaker phone... hard to believe we still need to remind people of this. Book the tour! 13 hr is not that long once you take out the travel time! When on the bus you can read a book, sleep or do whatever. When on location you are on your own to do as you please. You can leave your items on the bus. Its locked and secure once we exit. You return to your initial seats so this is great to know. Loved this a lot. And I promise I considered cacelling it twice before the due date because it felt like I was losing a day if I went and I was tired from all our walking and visits from the two prior days. Don't cancel! Go! You will not regret it :) You may think that 13hr turned out to be just not enough lol. We visited from Canada. We had fantastic (perfect really) weather, so that helped for sure! Sunshine, clouds, not too hot....everything was perfect. Thank you!

This was very well organised tour, Riti gave very clear instructions about where to meet and what to expect. Riti has sound knowledge of the history of the area and gave us just the right amount of commentary. Thank you and also thank you to Nadia for a very smooth bus ride :)

+4

Excellent experience and great guide! Through City Wonders, Lawrence was very knowledgeable and entertaining.

Lawrence was great! Fascinating storytelling and content.

Really enjoyed this amazing tour seeing 2 castles and visiting the town of Blois for lunch. Our guide Lawrence was fantastic! He was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Highly recommend!

Laurence was an amazing guide and we had some wonderful visits to chateaus along with excellent and enlightening commentary. Highly recommend doing on of these tours.