Charming stylish hotel
This stylish charming hotel has 11 bedrooms with views over the Loire or the gardens and is decorated in a simple and neutral chic design using natural materials. Its private gardens are immaculately landscaped and there is a small spa pool.
There is a tea room in the hotel, which is open to guests and visitors alike. The hotel also offers room service, and picnic baskets.
The spa includes a heating swimming pool, a hamman, a relaxation area and offers treatments including massages and facials.
Canoeing and kayaking tours on the Loire river are offered by this company based in Loire. An excellent way to enjoy this beautiful countryside, you can take overnight tours, camping at night, or do the more active sport kayaking in fast rapids.
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.
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.
In the grounds of the 17th century Château Perrièrre, the golf club is within ancient trees, water features and different plant varieties that create this undulating course offering a diverse round.
Built in the grounds of the Château de l'Epinay, this 18-hole golf course extends over 67 hectares. The 5,790-metre course has slightly wavy greens and small rivers, ponds and streams. A reasonably easy course with the Martin Hawtree signature.
Located on the banks of the river Loire with Sancerre hill in the background, this course in the midst of century-old trees, ornamented by natural water hazards, is considered one of the most attractive golf courses in the centre of France. An 18-hole course with bunkers and water hazards which offer some interesting problems. There is also a pro-shop, restaurant, 6-hole practice course, driving range and putting green.
This café-bistro is located in the centre of Saumur, right on the busy Place Saint-Pierre.
This excellent restaurant in Orléans serves traditional French fare using quality local produce.
This restaurant, translated as The Fisherman's Place, offers an excellent selection of predominantly fish dishes served with locally grown vegetables. Christophe Cosme has earned a Michelin star for his dishes in this small spot in Blois.
An Asian-influenced menu in a great setting with beautiful views over the Loire. The fabulous setting was designed by Jean-Pierre Wilmotte. The fabulous menu was created by Jean-Yves Gueho. It has a fabulous wine cellar too. Definitely worth a visit.
This cute traditional French restaurant in Blois serves good quality food on, as the name suggests, red benches! The dishes are innovative and work well, and the is atmosphere charming.
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.
Between Saumur and Chinon, on the hillside along the Loire River, you will find Le Saut aux Loups. It was favoured in prehistoric times by men and wolves who found a home here. Since the Middle Ages, there have been limestone quarries in the hillside for the stone required to build the châteaux the region is so famous for. The quarrymen also built the troglodyte houses as lodgings and these have been preserved in their original state here at Le Saut aux Loups. The caves are now home to extensive mushroom production lines and here you can visit their 800 metres of underground galleries before trying the speciality of the house, galipettes, delicious stuffed mushrooms, in their restaurant.
This vast royal abbey was founded in 1101 by Robert of Arbrissel, a preacher from Brittany. Its monastery buildings are Romanesque in design and were built to house 300 nuns. The abbey church, with its pristine white interior, was not completed until 1160. Having housed royal abbesses, its fortune changed and, from the early 19th century, it was turned into a prison before being donated to the French Ministry of Culture in 1960.
Owned by the Filliatreau family, this grand manor is part troglodyte cave. Once the dwelling of lords, it has a fine chapel and extensive vineyards producing some of the best Saumur-Champigny wines in the area.
Originally built in the 10th century, this pretty château with its blue slate roofs overlooks the enchanting town of Saumur. The existing building dates back to the 12th century when it was rebuilt by Henry II, King of England. Having been an army barracks at one time and a prison at another, today the château is also a museum of horses, given the importance of the equestrian school to the town.
This town is almost as crazy about horses as it is about wine. This museum describes the history of the French cavalry - though you might notice that not all French achievements, or otherwise, are alluded to in the museum!
With one of the largest collections of tanks in Europe, this museum charts the history of the development of this armoured fighting vehicle. It's a must for military history enthusiasts as it contains good international examples and demonstrates technological advances through the years. Although you may only view around a couple of hundred tanks, the museum actually holds over 800!
