Domaine des Hauts de Loire Hotel, Onzain

Bateaux Nantais offers cruises along the river Erdre or the river Loire on their modern and sleek boats. Particularly popular are their lunch or dinner cruises and their themed evenings.

Windsurfing, Stand-Up paddleboarding, Catamaran sailing and Kayak tours ranging from half day to several days can be taken with this canoe and kayak company based on the Ile Millocheau in Saumur.

Located in the heart of the Sologne, this 27-hole club offers three courses; Sarcelles, Faisans and Chevreuils. You can do 9 holes, combine two courses to do a round of 18, or if you're feeling energetic, you can do all 27!

Take in the magnificent scenery of the Loire by air in a hot air balloon. Offering a number of different tours and launch sites along the Loire river, what better way to take in the châteaux from up above where their size and splendour can really be seen.

This relatively new course, set in beautiful Saumur, is a pleasant 9-hole round if you're searching for a change from historical monuments and châteaux.

This golf course is part of the Blue Green group of golf courses.

This restaurant brands itself as 'almost traditional' and offers contemporary twists on classic French cuisine.

This excellent restaurant in Tours was named after the original chef and serves gastronomic delights from a contemporary ambitious menu. The talented Hervé Lussault now heads up the kitchen and was awarded a Michelin star in 1998. Lussault is also famed for his excellent bread. The restaurant is light and spacious, feeling luxurious and warm, and has a lovely garden for when the weather permits.

This modern restaurant is located at the top of an art gallery and its floor-to-ceiling glass windows and terrace offer great views of the quays. Simple white chic tables and chairs with dark walls and a splash of colour give this place a fun trendy feel. The cuisine is modern European, with lots of excellent fish dishes.

This wonderful restaurant run by Bernard Robin, the renowned chef, used to be a coaching house. Today is serves excellent traditional cuisine in a fine dining setting accompanied by an excellent wine selection. A top dining spot in the Loire with a Michelin star to match.

Charming little coffee shop and lunch spot offering good food on its terrace or tucked away in the cellar. Look out for the decadent dessert selection.

Chef, Didier Edon, has a Michelin star for his excellent restaurant in the Hautes Roches manor house.

Château de Chaumont dominates the Loire Valley skyline and is an illustration of both the defensive architecture of its period and the beautiful Renaissance style. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the château, which belonged to Queen Catherine de Medicis and later Diane de Poitiers, knew an intense period of intellectual activity. The Le Ray de Chaumont family welcomed, one after the other, the sculptor Nini, the American Benjamin Franklin and writer Germaine de Staël. The wider Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire reached its peak at the end of the 19th century thanks to Prince and Princess de Broglie. The royal couple designed magnificent modern stables, with the help of Maison Hermès, and entrusted Henri Duchêne, the landscape architect, with the creation of a landscaped park. The château is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Built in the purest Louis XIII classical style and distinguished by an extraordinarily symmetrical architecture, Château de Cheverny dates back to the first part of the 17th century. It is the masterpiece of architect, mason and sculptor, Jaques Bougier and represents the desire for this royal château to be of extreme high quality and design. Inside, it is as you would expect, ornately adorned and beautifully finished. It houses the finest artwork collection of any château in the Loire. The grounds are immaculate with magnificent flowerbeds, ancient Cedar trees and Pines. You can hop on a boat tour along the château's canal. Interestingly, it inspired Tintin author, Hergé, who designed Captain Haddock's Marlinspike Hall based on the château's central structure but with the outer wings removed. The château houses a permanent exhibition on Tintin and his friends.

This royal château offers a true panoramic survey of art and history of the châteaux of the Loire Valley. The residence of seven Kings and 10 Queens of France, the château is reminiscent of the power and daily life at court in the Renaissance. It has impressive royal apartments which are furnished and embellished with magnificent polychromatic decors. In 1845 it was the first historical residence to be restored and acted as a model for the restoration of many other châteaux. The Château Royal de Blois is classified as a Museum of France and is filled with more than 35,000 works of art. It presents its collections in the Royal apartments of the François I wing, in the Fine Arts Museum set in the Louis XII wing and in many temporary exhibitions.

This emblematic monument and its landscaped gardens offer one of the most remarkable panoramas of the Loire Valley. A regal heritage, the Château d'Amboise has been home to Charles VII, Louis XI and Charles VIII. The château is registered as a World Heritage site by UNESCO. Still incredibly impressive, the current buildings are just one fifth of the original palace which was destroyed and neglected over the years. Leonardo da Vinci is buried in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert in the château's grounds.

Home to Leonardo da Vinci during his final years, this house was built in the 15th century and was a gift to da Vinci from King François I. The death of Leonardo da Vinci, on 2nd May 1519, marked the end of an era in the history of the Château du Clos Lucé. Today the château is a listed monument and has been restored in an authentic style, displaying an impressive collection of da Vinci's inventions and machines.

A museum dedicated to the magician Robert Houdin, born in 1805, and who brought modern magic into being. In his home here in Blois, you can find out about the personality of this man who once performed at Buckingham Palace. It is also a performing arts centre with some good interactive features.