Nearby Places to Visit

Montsoreau & Candes-St-Martin

A charming riverside town (also see PICNICS & WILD SWIMMING, above). Well worth a trip, especially if their idyllic Sunday ‘puce’ is on, hailed as the largest brocante in the Loire Valley (see BROCANTES). Beautiful to stroll through, even for non-shoppers. There is a good weekly Sunday (food) market here too. A dedicated cycle route runs from Chinon to Montsoreau and beyond, please ask at the Azay-Chinon Tourist Office in Chinon for more info (also check out our page here on CYCLING). Candes is a lovely village hailed as being one of most beautiful villages in France. It sits on the confluence of the Vienne river and the Loire. It has a lovely shop, very popular with locals, selling beautiful and very authentic French soap.

Azay-le-Rideau

With a wonderful and recently refurbished château, you can also hire a canoe here (check the water level first as someone has a sluice gate and half the water in the river disappears if he opens it; if it’s shut, the canoeing is gentle and easy and circles round the château) and picnic on the riverbank. Eat at L’Épine and also collect some excellent charcuterie from award-winning Hardouin.

Saumur

Plan a trip to coincide with their large Saturday morning market and a possible visit to the Château de Saumur. I say possible, because if you eat lunch first at Le Terrier du Château (pictured), you may feel that you’ve already seen its best angle (plus this château wasn’t really used as a residence, so helps to justify only seeing it from the outside). If you are going to Saumur, make sure you also pop in to the lovely cheese shop there (there are three but La Fromagerie du Puits Neuf is the one to aim for).

The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud

This is unmissable, not far from Saumur and so good to take in on the way back to La Fuye if you’re heading to Saumur. Equally it’s only a 30 minutes drive from here, so worth the trip in its own right.

One of the largest surviving abbeys - it now houses an art museum, restaurant, and hotel…as well as a unique set of religious buildings and cloisters, all superbly restored. You can see the Plantagenet tombs of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine and their son, Richard the Lionheart, in the main abbey. They host incredible concerts here too - check their website to see if there is one on during your stay.

Tours

Tours is our nearest big city and has a wonderful food market, Halles de Tours (1 Place Gaston Paillhou) near the cobbled old town, and a variety of good shops and restaurants. If you want to go for trad and unfussy food, we recommend beautiful Brasserie Le Molière for lunch. For those in search of high-end luxe, and to give you a sense of the size of the city, there is an Hermès store. Try the glasses shop next door, Edgar’s, for Parisian-style specs. One of my favourite destinations.