Touraine-Chenonceau private tour
Description
This is our most popular tour, ideal for a day trip from Paris, or those staying locally. Minimum 2 people. A guided tour of the wonderful renaissance palace of Chateau de Chenonceau on the banks of the river Cher is included. The chateau itself contains an unequalled collection of renaissance art and is still privately owned. AOC Touraine-Chenonceau wines can be tasted nearby and a visit to a family wine-maker is always popular. Lunch is enjoyed amongst the locals at a restaurant in Montrichard and is followed by a further tasting of a wide range of Loire wines. Finally, we drive to the winery, vineyards and tasting room of a wine-making family with roots going back 500 years. There will be plenty of chances to buy the wine you taste and they are such good value you will want to send some home to enjoy with friends. We can help with the shipping. This tour is a fascinating introduction to the Touraine region of the Loire Valley, enjoyed by many clients before you.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Private guided tour of this magnificent Loire Valley chateau and its gardens.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
For the majority of our tours we pick up clients from ALL hotels in the Tours/Amboise region, and other towns by arrangement. If you are coming down for the day from Paris, use St. Pierre des Corps station. For the Sancerre tour, use Vierzon or Bourges stations and hotels in the Romorantin, Vierzon or Bourges areas.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(32)
We spent three wonderful days touring the Loire valley with Colin. He has a deep and varied knowledge of the region’s history and adds to this with his long experience as a garden designer and wine collector. He generated a balanced and varied itinerary for us and greatly enhanced our appreciation of the region.
Thank you so much for your kind words after touring with me. Your trip highlights why we only offer private tours, allowing me to craft a tour around your unique requirements and change it "on the fly" to ensure it suits you perfectly. I am delighted you enjoyed visit and grateful you chose to spend it with me.
My friends and I had the best experience on this tour! Colin took us to 4 exceptional wineries on our quest to find the best Sauvignon Blanc. We experienced everything from small family wineries to one larger corporate winery with Sancerre. He even brought us to an adorable town for lunch. Can’t recommend Colin and Loire Valley Wine Tours enough! He works to customize your private tour to meet your requests and what you want to try! He also facilites getting wine home to the States! And he is super knowledgeable about wines and the region and is a delight to be with for the day!
It's hard not to get excited about Sancerre and its wines and the delight for me is to have the opportunity to show them off to an appreciative audience. I'm so glad you enjoyed your day with me and thank you for letting the world in on our little secret.
Colin was a knowledgeable guide and did a fantastic job of building an ideal day in the Loire Valley. He was quick to answer our email questions in advance and we really enjoyed spending the day with him and feeling like we got a truly unique experience. We hope to be back in the region again and would happily book another tour with him!
So glad you enjoyed your time in the Loire Valley and I look forward to seeing you again. We aim to please and I am delighted we did.
This was a 10/10 tour. We were looking to do a lot in our one full day in the Loire Valley, and this tour certainly delivered. We got history and culture at the chateau in the morning ... local flavor with a great lunch ... wineries in the afternoon ... and great commentary from Colin along the way.
I am so glad you enjoyed yourself. Thank you for telling the world!
My wife and I (mostly her) spent a lot of time looking at different tours in the region for an excursion during our trip to Paris, and fortunately for us she stumbled upon this hidden gem. We selected the two-day Loire Experience tour: Chinon and Vouvray. Getting there was pretty straightforward from Paris. Colin had picked us up from our hotel in Tours where we instantly fell in love with our charismatic and knowledgeable guide, Colin. He made us feel so welcome during the entire experience. There was never a dull moment from that point forward. We sampled wines from Azay le Rideau, Chinon, Bourgueil, Quarts-de-Chaume, Coteaux-du-Layon, Anjou, Touraine, Touraine-Chenonceau, Touraine-Amboise, Crémant de Loire, Pouilly-fumé, and Sancerre. I honestly have never been so impressed by a tour like this in my life and I will always hold it near and dear to my heart. Thank you Colin for showing us a lovely and unforgettable time! We would definitely go again.
Your review has me smiling like a Cheshire Cat. Never before have I been described as a hidden gem but I will do my best to sparkle and shine for my future clients! With two days available to us we can do so much more and I am proud to have had the opportunity to show you some of the best that the Loire Valley has to offer visitors. It's so lovely to have Americans back here after the bleak Covid years. When you enjoy your work as much as I do the big difference between one tour and another is the clients I spend my days with. Thank you for making it such a pleasure to assist you.
We had a wonderful tour with Colin. He is a very professional guide who is immensely knowledgeable of the wines and history of the region. The tour of Chenonceau was littered with tons of details as he enabled us to be transported centuries back in time to imagine what life was like at the Chateau. We visited three wineries, each with unique stories and delicious wines. We we were throughly impressed by the depth, quality, and value of the wines at each winery. He provided great company and laughs throughout the day, and we'd happily recommend him to anyone wanting a great tour of the area.
I earn my living from clients, showing them the Loire Valley, its vineyards, chateaux, countryside and more, but there are times when I feel I have made new friends, had a delightful time and perhaps should be paying them for the privilege! Well, I am not complaining that after a Covid gap of nearly two years, customers are hammering on my door once again. What a delightful way to earn your living though, touring with lovely people, showing off the region I love, and getting paid for it! Thank you for your custom and for being such pleasant people to spend the day with; and for your kind review.
We took two private tours with Colin: one to Sancerre and one to Chinon. Both were outstanding. Colin’s knowledge of the area, it’s wines and it’s history was excellent. He was able to get us access to outstanding wineries and was a great person to spend two days with. Our group of four seasoned wine region travelers all agreed the tours were fabulous.
I am so very grateful both for your custom and for this review. I know how much TripAdvisor reviews are valued by potential clients so your comments can only add to the success of my humble business. We visited two very different regions with very different wines and I was pleased that we were accepted by all of the vineyards you expressed an interest in - this is not always the case. I also profited from the fact that some of these were new to me. I have already taken other clients to a couple of these so thank you for suggesting them. With wine, you never stop learning! I hope that when the wines you purchased arrive, you will remember this trip with affection.
We agree with all the five-star reviews above. Colin was knowledgeable, informative and interesting. He provided insights we never would have known. A thoroughly enjoyable day, well-spent, that we will remember for a long time.
Yet again I have to apologize for not having responded earlier to your kind review. If you remember with affection the Loire Valley and my contribution to your day, I can ask for no more. I am delighted you enjoyed your tour.
Colin treated us to an amazing day in the Loire Valley! He's unbelievably knowledgeable about the varietals local to the region, is well known to the staff at the vineyards we visited, and even jumped behind the tasting bar at the last one to pour for us since there was a larger group there at the same time. We swapped Chateau D'Amboise (beautiful) for Chenonceau on our tour because it's a bit more relaxed right now in terms of numbers they can admit and Covid related ticketing restrictions and it's just that kind of insight that makes booking a private tour worth it. Colin has excellent taste in wine, a great sense of humor and is just a pleasure to spend the day with. Couldn't recommend booking with him more. One of our favorite days of vacation and we can't wait for the wine we bought to arrive (Colin even organized and handled shipping for us) so we can open a bottle and talk about the wonderful time we had the day we bought it.
A truly enjoyable day. Colin is a knowledgable and informative guide not just in terms of the wine but the local history as well. He included fascinating insight into the techniques of wine making both traditional and modern and is obviously well trusted by the winery owners.
Sadly I was not informed by TripAdvisor that you had left this kind note; I would certainly have responded earlier had I known. Thank you so much for touring with me. I am delighted you enjoyed your day in the Loire Valley.
