French Chateau Touring Tips -
Info on the Châteaux of France

French chateau touring is one of the most popular activities for tourists visiting France.




Château is the French term for a palace. “Château” is the singular form and “châteaux” is the plural.






Châteaux are dotted all over the French countryside. There are literally hundreds, both private residences (some open to tourists and others not) and public museums. The most numerous and beautiful certainly occur in the Loire Valley, where there are over twenty famous châteaux that you can visit all year round. Being only 3 hours away by car from Paris, it’s a feasible destination for a day trip.

For list, images and links of French Château favourites, click here.




French château touring by hire car gives you more freedom than a bus tour would. It also means that if you can arrive early and leave late, you can avoid the busiest times of day.


French Chateau Touring TIP: It’s wise to limit yourself to two châteaux per day, any more and you will not enjoy or remember details from the visit...

We tried once to visit 4 châteaux (!!!) in a day… we only managed 3 but like a bunch of crazy tourists, ended up spending as much time in the car as we did at the châteaux. By the end of this we couldn’t recall exactly what we saw where. The trip became a “château blur”. Never again!

The second time we did some basic planning: we decided on two châteaux and the interesting Pagode Chanteloup. We arrived at the first château just as the gates opened and had the whole place basically to ourselves for a good ½ hour before the first buses started to arrive. We were nearing the end of our visit and ready for a coffee break just as the tour groups were starting.


French Chateau Touring TIP: If you are restricted to one day only and you are based in Paris, start EARLY. Pick your favourite 2 châteaux from the list below (or click here for more) and visit the earliest opening one first, for instance Villandry and Ambroise open at 9am all year round, whereas other châteaux can open as late as 9:45 depending on the time of year. From about 10am to 3pm there is a steady stream of tour buses spilling out their crowds. Outside these hours are your least crowded times.


Other sites of interest...


Pagode de Chanteloup
Another site of interest is the Pagode Chateloup, a 44 metre high Chinese-style viewing tower with wrought iron and stone spiral staircase, situated near the edge of the Ambroise forest, just a short drive from Ambroise. The Pagode de Chanteloup, by comparison, is not as well known as some of the châteaux (a château did exist on the grounds originally) but still makes for a fun visit for kids where they can stretch their legs running around the park-like grounds. From the different levels of the Pagode, they can also have fun spotting and counting the giant red, white and orange carp that live in the huge pond. At ground level they might even spot the occasional frog or tadpole around the pond edges


PLEASE NOTE: there are no barriers here, so be vigilant and remember it’s your responsibility to ensure your kids don’t fall into the pond!





French Chateau Touring TIP: the confined nature of the pagoda structure means it gets crowded very quickly, go either at the beginning or the end of the day. In summer you can hire row boats for the lake, but apart from this, climbing the tall tower and strolling around the surrounding grounds, there is not much else to do or see here. So, unless you intend on having a picnic, this site is a good one for a quick visit.

Take your binoculars along for some birds-eye views.




Here's a list of some of our French Château favourites...

Château de Blois - for it's accessibility (town centre) & wealth of displays;

Château de Chambord - for it's sheer size, architecture and tapestries;

Château de Chenonceau - for it's overall effect... literally, a one stop, full Château experience;

Château de Cheverny - for it's compact size packed with original and immaculately maintained period furniture and vivid tapestries;

Château de Versailles - for it's history, extravagance & proximity to Paris;

Château de Villandry - for it's extensive and amazing ornate gardens;


Return to Homepage from French Chateau Touring