A long week-end of holidays in the Loire Valley

A long week-end of holidays in the Loire Valley

4.7/5 on 23 Reviews

This mini-vacation will have you biking on the "Loire à Vélo", a designated bike path along the Loire River. You’ll pedal past magnificent castles such as the Chateau de Chambord, the Chateau de Chaumont-sur-Loire, the Chateau de Chenonceau, the Chateau du Clos Lucé and many others!

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Ref: L0402ST

Loire Valley
4 day(s)
Easy
~ 32 km/day
Itinerant

When travelling?

From June to August

Minimum age

7 y/o

Related categories:

Heritage

4 days to discover the best of the Loire Valley by bike

From Blois to Amboise, cycle along the Loire to discover some of France's most prestigious châteaux: Chambord, Chaumont-sur-Loire, Chenonceau, Clos Lucé, as well as Blois, Cheverny and Amboise! The Loire Valley, a Unesco World Heritage site, is ideal for a cycling tour: cycle paths and tracks take you through forests, plains and vineyards on flat terrain. Day by day, as you cycle through this enchanted region, you'll discover the magic of Chambord, taste the wines of the Loire, and be seduced by the city of Amboise. This tour gives you the chance to enjoy a gentle bike ride next to forests, vineyards and fairy-tale castles.

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Program

Day 01

Blois – Cheverny via Chambord’s castle

Exists in :

43 km
68 km

Start your ride by pedaling through Chateau de Chambord’s lush forest with massive trees. Take a peek at the stone bridge salamadenders engraved on the walls of Loire’s most extravagant castle. Leaving the castle, you can enjoy a bucolic jaunt to Neuvy, with its many ponds (+ 26 kms), or head more quickly to Bracieux. As you enjoy the shade from hundred-year-old tree, you’ll follow the trail along Crosson creek to the Chateau de Cheverny. The inspiration for Moulinsart Castle came from the Tintin comic books.

Chocolate factory Max Vauché

Discover all the secrets of chocolate making, learn about the history of cacao tree plantations and observe the work of chocolate makers. Of course at the end of the tour you'll be able to taste a selection of chocolates. Dogs not allowed.

Included

Visit of Chambord’s castle

Take a self guided tour of the castle and its gardens of this must-see estate, a veritable work of art in the Loire Valley.

We recommend to allow at least 2h for this visit.

Options:

19,00 € € Entrée adulte (18 ans et plus)
0,00 € € Entrée enfant et jeune (moins de 18 ans et moins de 26 ans Européens)

Day 02

Cheverny – Chaumont-sur-Loire area

Exists in :

29 km
41 km

Today you have the choice of two bike routes. if you like, stroll through the Chateau de Beauregard’s art gallery. You’ll find over 327 portraits of famous European leaders that forged history between 14th and 17th Century. Looking for something more active? Ride through vineyards before arriving in front of the Fougeres-sur-Bieve drawbridge. Your ride then takes you on a delightful route as you follow the toues, or traditional boats along the path from Loire to Chaumont-sur-Loire. The city is famous for its fairy tale castle as well as the International Garden Festival which displays over 30 themed gardens with a variety of garden art.

This stage is longer or shorter depending on where you're staying the night (+ 10Km or - 7Km).

Visit of Chenonceau’s castle

Take a self guided visit of the castle and the estate, enjoy the art and garden exhibitions as part of the International Garden Festival (from April 19 to November 2).

We recommend that you allow 3 hours for your visit.

Options:

21,00 € € Entrée adulte (18 ans et plus)
13,00 € € Entrée jeune (12 à 17 ans)
6,00 € € Entrée enfant (6 à 11 ans)
0,00 € € Entrée tout petit (moins de 6 ans)

Day 03

Chaumont-sur-Loire area – Amboise

Exists in :

13 km
22 km

Ride directly to the beautiful city of Amboise and let the medieval atmosphere of this city seduce you. Discover the architecture of the “château d’Amboise”, which is iconic of the transition period from Gothic and Renaissance architecture.

Visit of Clos Lucé’s castle

Take a self guided tour of Leonardo da Vinci's last living place : the castle, Leonardo's workshop, the cultural park and the "Leonardo da Vinci, painter and architect galeries".

We recommend that you allow 2 hours for your visit.

Options:

19,50 € € Entrée adulte (18 ans et plus)
14,00 € € Entrée jeune (7 à 17 ans)
0,00 € € Entrée enfant (moins de 7 ans)

Day 04

Day trip to the castle of Chenonceau

Exists in :

46 km
70 km

Let us guide you through the forest and along the river banks to the Renaissance masterpiece, the Chateau de Chenonceau on the Cher, a Loire château born of the whims of a favorite. You can also continue your ride to an underground city and a mushroom cellar near Bourré (+ 24 Km).

Visit of Villandry’s castle

Take a self guided tour of the castle and its gardens and discover the great history of the site, also called the ladies' castle.

We recommend that you allow 2 hours to this visit.

Options:

18,00 € € Entrée adulte (18 ans et plus)
15,00 € € Entrée jeune (7 à 17 ans)
0,00 € € Entrée enfant (moins de 7 ans)

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Accommodation

Standard

Convenient stops for cyclists: easily accessible accommodation, essential comfort, and immediate proximity to bike paths or village centers.

Breakfast
2 stars

Haut de gamme

Comfortable stays in characterful accommodations with cycling-friendly services, attentive hospitality, and ideal locations along our most scenic routes.

Breakfast
3/4 stars

Comfort

Well-located stops along our cycling routes, combining comfort and quality, secure bike storage, local tips, and a friendly atmosphere.

Breakfast
3 stars

*Typical example of accommodation corresponding to the proposed category. These photographs are for illustrative purposes only.

Equipment

For this trip, bicycles are equipped with 2 waterproof saddle bags with a 10 to 20 L capacity each to carry your luggage. Do not forget to put your items in a soft travel bag to be able to place it easily in your saddle bags.

For more comfort, you can choose to add luggage transport in your booking:

We transport your luggage from one accommodation to the next using a private vehicle.
Your luggage is directly delivered in your accommodation before you arrive.
We provide a saddlebag for the things you'll need during the day (included in your bike rental).
We advise you to take an extra set of clothes with you if you expect to arrive before 5 p.m. at your accommodation.

Our word of advice : as we know from experience, we strongly recommend you to avoid wearing a backpack during your cycling trip.

On your arrival day, we provide you with:

a touring bike suited to your size;

equipment: a front panier, a saddlebag (or two if luggage transport is not included), a helmet (on demand).

We also offer on this trip:

electric assisted bikes for children and adults (+1m35);
children bikes suited to their size;
children equipment (trailer, seat, follow-me system);
tandems;
electric three-wheeler.

You can of course also bring your own bikes, in this case a discount will be applied.

For this trip, you can also use our smartphone app featuring GPS guidance (without extra fee). You will find in the app all the information given in the map and step-by-step roadbooks. You will be located on the itinerary with the GPS device of your phone. The route and directions to follow will be both viewable on the screen of your phone and announced aloud. As you ride along the itinerary, you will be given information about visits, restaurants, services and useful alerts on the way. -> You need to have a smartphone and download Le Velo voyageur app on your Apple or Android store before the trip. All details regarding the download and use of the app will be given after we have confirmed the booking and the balance is paid. Once the trip is downloaded, the GPS guidance can be used off-line.

A cycling holiday is the best way to explore a region and discover its culture, landscapes and local traditions.

Your tour is self-guided to give you the freedom to ride at your own pace. You will be provided with all the information you need to enjoy the itinerary and its points of interests. We can send printed travel documents (extra cost of €15 for printing and postage, in France only), which include:

a roadbook with maps that we drew at the easiest scale to follow on a bike;
a roadbook with step-by-step description giving the direction to follow at each intersection and highlighting the points of interest.

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Information

Beginning of the trip

You start your trip with a cycling day, and can arrive at any time of the day depending on the opening hours of the bike store or depot point. However, we recommend arriving at the departure point early enough in the morning to make the most of the day.

Please note that if you select the luggage transport option, you will be asked to arrive early in the morning of the first day.

To get to the departure point

By plane: flight to Paris or Tours and then train to Blois.

By train: arrive at Blois-Chambord train station, from Paris (direct or with connections), by regionnal train or high speed train (TGV). Plan your journey with Trainline.

Car park

If you’re coming by car, you can park your vehicle in one of the city’s public parking lots. You can also look at the Parkopedia website to find out the location and price of each parking lot.

To get back to the starting point

You take the train back to your departure point. The ticket can be bought in advance online or directly at the station on the day of travel. There are several trains during the day. If you’re traveling with your own bike, be sure to ask the SNCF about conditions for traveling with a bike.

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4.7/5 on 23 Reviews

From

379 €/pers.

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Ref: L0402ST

Loire Valley
4 day(s)
Easy
~ 32 km/day
Itinerant

When travelling?

From June to August

Minimum age

7 y/o

Related categories:

Heritage

Tried and tested stays!

Experience
15 years' experience in cycling to advise and satisfy you
Tested & Approved
The whole team goes out into the field to design the itineraries and select the best partners (accommodation, bikes, etc.).
Quality of service
A dedicated customer service team available and ready to listen, from the moment you book until you return from your holiday.
Secure payment
Individual or fractional payment by secure means via our website

They've just returned from their travels!

The 23/06/2025

5/5

« 4 days of heaven on the Loire »

If you want to combine a very manageble bike tour with some cultural and gastronomic experiences that s the solution for you. The daily mileage is perfectly compatibile with extra activities like castle visits and wine tasting and in one hotel you have also the possibility to finish tha day in the spa. What you need more?

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Alessandra.

The 10/06/2025

4/5

« Memories made »

We went as a family of 5 (ages 13,10,8) on the regular bikes provided and stayed in 3-4* rated hotels on a 4 night trip. The experience itself was great, saw much of France we wouldn’t have seen. Beautiful countryside and amazing chateaux. The luggage transfer was great! Most of the bike paths share a road with cars, which it wasn’t much of an issue, though cars don’t typically slow down much for you. The app and signs along the way helped navigate our way around (with google maps helping at times). The bikes needed some maintenance- and the hotels were ok, a couple nicer than others. We are in pretty good shape as a family and a couple of the days were 25+miles and quite hilly and it was challenging. If we do it again, which would be fun in other countries as well, we will wait until all our kids are big enough for e-bikes. Overall I’m glad we did it and would recommend!!

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Laura.

The 12/09/2024

5/5

« 5 day Loire trip »

Le Velo set up our trip well, the itinerary was beautiful, the e-bike batteries lasted a long time, the hotels were nice and the luggage delivery worked well. God I love wine.

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God I love wine!.

The 28/06/2024

3/5

« Great trip »

Very nice itinerary however we encountered flooding on our trip and had some issues. Trails should have been vetted by the operator. I would have given a 5 star if it wasn’t for that issue.

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Brad.

The 15/09/2023

5/5

« Anton »

Loved it !! Thank you fir organizing

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Anton.

The 08/06/2022

5/5

« Perfect Trip »

Another fabulous trip organized by Vélo Voyageur. Their routes and services are really quite exceptional. Their app on my iPhone worked flawlessly, taking us on roads and pathways with little or no traffic, and it was impossible to get lost. If for whatever reason we veered off track, the program alerted us immediately, and we were able to retrace our steps and proceed in the right direction. This is my second trip with Vélo Voyageur, and both have been exceedingly enjoyable. They also arrange to custom fit the type of bicycle and equipment I prefer, and the bicycles always perform without any problems.

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Jaimie.

The 07/09/2020

5/5

« Excellent Holidays »

Last week we did a family trip, we chose the 4 days long weekend option Chateaux de la Loire. I was a bit skeptical at first since there were a lot of logistics involved: bikes, luggage transport, different hotel each day, etc. But I must say that with the Velo Voyager we had one of the best holiday experiences ever. Everything was just PERFECT, no snags. The electric bicycles they prepared were in perfect condition, they included everything you may think of that may be needed in case of urgency, including rain covers for all bags – which we needed the first day. The B&Bs were well chosen, our luggage was always there when we arrived. Thank you, Sarah and Cloe, for your assistance and flawless organization.

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Vanessa.

The 29/08/2019

5/5

« Do it! »

Great trip: the selection of restaurants and hotels was absolutely terrific. We really appreciated the chocolate tour; Chenonceau is not to be missed, which we almost did because we had seen so many chateaux by then. I loved the bike route planned around that visit especially but all the routes were great. An electric bike allowed one of us to do the trip even though she had a pulled groin. Fantastic trip. Top tips: bring a bike odometer so you can know exacly how many kilometers you have gone so as to follow the directions much more easily; don't hesistate to get an electric bike (one of us had a pulled groin & was still able to do the trip); don't assume, as I did, that a gps app would be better than the printed booklet and maps--these were great, crucial even. Nothing like sitting at dinner with your map for the next day and talking through your plans with family over a delicious meal. Almost as good as being outside all day biking on the bike paths!

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Jonathan.

The 08/08/2019

5/5

« Magic Chateaux »

Wonderful time and fantastic organization

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francesco.

The 13/09/2018

5/5

« Excellent bike trip. »

Well organised. Great bikes and accomodation. Superb weather. A great experience.

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Judith.

The 14/08/2018

5/5

« Nico »

Excellent trip

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Troillet.

The 24/05/2018

5/5

« Ganz toller Reiseveranstalter »

Die Reise, die wir gebucht hatten war genau so wie wir sie uns vorgestellt hatten. Das Informationmaterial war sehr nützlich und die Unterkünfte ebenfalls sehr gut. Bei einem Problem während der Reise hat uns Velo Voyageur hervorragend weiter geholfen.

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MH.

The 16/05/2018

5/5

« great trip in the Loire »

Had a very good trip in the Loire Valley. The trip was very well organized. great location for bike trip

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Dan.

The 05/09/2017

1/5

« No way »

Not so much. We had a lot of problems, first we didn't find the bikes when we were supposed to find them and we los a half day which meant (being with small children that we lost the first day on a 4 days trip. Then we had the trailer bikes whwn I had ask for a sporadic way to connect my childrens bike to mine. Then we had dinners included but in one hotel we found a cold dish and not the restaurant and the cold dish was impossible for us to eat because we have food allergies....the third night the restaurants was too far from the hotel. we will ask for remboursement.

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Rome.

The 05/07/2017

5/5

« Magnificent »

Very well organized and nice routes were chosen.

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ALT.

The 17/04/2017

5/5

« Stede »

They were very responsive in communications. The bikes were excellent quality and the lodging was also very good especially in Mosnes.

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Stede.

The 29/09/2016

5/5

« Teenagers in Loire »

This was a really well organised trip. The communication with Velo was exemplary. The equipment and trip not were flawless.

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Roslyn.

The 15/08/2016

5/5

« Superbe séjour »

What an amazing trip! It started with a very good logistic of dropping luggage and picking up bikes! The circuit was very well describe with some great restaurant recommendation ( my mouth is still watering when i think of the resto "le lion d'or" in Candé-sur-Beuvron) and had a booklet with history of few castles. We had a problem with my daughter's bike's brakes on Sunday. To my surprise I had to gave only one phone call to get a new bike waiting for us in our accommodation. it is our first trip with velo voyageur but definitely not the last!

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cecile.

The 29/07/2016

5/5

« Cycling through France (with a 2 year old baby) »

Great company to deal with. Chloe went out of her way to arrange and help plan sections of our ride. This allowed us to just do the cycling!

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David.

The 11/07/2016

5/5

« Loire Valley by bike »

This was the highlight of our trip in our second trip to France. Good bikes, fun, and reliable; picnic area suggestions-nice idea; good accommodations and friendly hosts (we took option B, 3 star accommodations)-only one was not central and harder to find; however they were all from good to nice (in one we could see the Loire below from our window); great itineraries and castle selection; baggage logistics-worked well, no issues at all; booklets - nicely put together; overview maps-good; good balance quality / price. Can be improved: directions in English: we found 80% were OK, the rest of 20% were sufficient to mess up part of the day. Google maps on the phone saved the day several times (we got an Orange SIM card for the iPhone and spent around E20 for cards). Also, we found that often it was better to simply trust the sign marked "Loire a velo" (once the first was found) or find one (check the length in km) and forget the booklet directions. General impression: great trip, great memories, nice bike rides-sometimes through peaceful villages or vineyards, rarely shared with cars, sometimes through forests or by the Loire. The directions can be improved. Nice accommodations. Highly recommended, we would come back and would go with Velo Voyageur again.

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A Romanian couple from Canada.

The 29/06/2014

5/5

« Well done, Vélo Voyageur »

Well done, Vélo Voyageur. Our trip was nothing but a nice ride through a beautiful piece of France. Good bikes, Bike Locks, bike monitor and bags were good to find. Also the helmets. A beautiful area excellent and well prepared for biking. A lot of things to see. Mostly recommended. Have a nice trip.

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Kverrvilla.

The 28/04/2014

5/5

« 4 days visiting chateaux »

The Chateaux de la Loire is a great region for combining nice biking rides and cultural visits. We have enjoyed very much. We are very satisfied for the organization. Everything went fine. The indications and information in the documentation were very complete and useful. The accommodation according to our expectations and in general very well received. The baggage transport service really great.

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PereM.

The 23/05/2013

5/5

« Fantastic! »

Extremely satisfied! We felt like we had a unique and authentic experience in a part of France that not as many tourists get to see. We felt the daily distances were well-planned, the accommodations were very nice, and the included activities (wine tasting, etc.) were real highlights of the trip. Good friends, great food, and the best wine we've had anywhere. The biking was excellent exercise but at no point overwhelming, there is plenty of time to go at your own pace and see the countryside in a way that would simply not be possible otherwise.

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Higgins.