Generally easy walking with few ascents / descents, but perhaps the occasional long day.
The season for this holiday is:
01 April 2020 - 31 October 2020
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| °C | 7 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 24 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 7 |
| mm | 62 | 58 | 54 | 52 | 63 | 50 | 49 | 45 | 53 | 58 | 65 | 62 |
We can only accept payment in GBP, but you can use this converter to find out how much the holiday equates to in your own currency.
7 nights: 01 April 2020 - 31 October 2020
Start any day | End by latest date(s) shown above
| Starting | Price | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 1 - 24 Apr 2020 | £920 | £320 |
| 25 Apr - 21 May 2020 | £975 | £320 |
| 22 May - 24 Sep 2020 | £995 | £330 |
| 25 - 30 Sep 2020 | £975 | £320 |
| 1 - 24 Oct 2020 | £920 | £320 |
| 3rd & 4th person discount | -£50 | |
| Single traveller supplement | £50 |
Includes accommodation, meals and services integral to the holiday as described, plus walking notes and maps, but no travel from the UK, nor any connecting travel from the airport unless stated below.
Book your flights through us and we'll find the best route and times to suit you. Please contact us to find out more about our flight booking service. We can also book connecting travel - see below.
7 nights: 01 April 2020 - 31 October 2020
Start any day | End by latest date(s) shown above
| Starting | Price | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 1 - 24 Apr 2020 | £1195 | £320 |
| 25 Apr - 21 May 2020 | £1265 | £320 |
| 22 May - 24 Sep 2020 | £1295 | £330 |
| 25 - 30 Sep 2020 | £1265 | £320 |
| 1 - 24 Oct 2020 | £1195 | £320 |
| 3rd & 4th person discount | -£135 | |
| Single traveller supplement | £135 |
Includes all elements in the 'walk price', plus standard-class travel by Eurostar from London St Pancras or Ebbsfleet International to Lille or Paris, with onward travel as described below.
Included travel from the UK: UK–Lille/Paris (Eurostar), Lille/Paris–St Pierre des Corps (TGV), approx. duration 6h plus 0h40 taxi transfer. Home, St Pierre des Corps–Lille/Paris (TGV), Lille/Paris–UK (Eurostar), approx. duration 6h plus 1h30 taxi transfer.
> More about 'by rail' prices
> The 'rail experience': what to expect
If you book your holiday less than 6 months in advance of your travel date, seats may no longer be available at the tariffs on which our prices are based, but we may be able to offer you seats on the same services at a supplement.
7 nights: 01 April 2020 - 31 October 2020
Start any day | End by latest date(s) shown above
| Starting | Price | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 1 - 24 Apr 2020 | £1035 | £320 |
| 25 Apr - 21 May 2020 | £1090 | £320 |
| 22 May - 24 Sep 2020 | £1125 | £330 |
| 25 - 30 Sep 2020 | £1090 | £320 |
| 1 - 24 Oct 2020 | £1035 | £320 |
| 3rd & 4th person discount | -£145 | |
| Single traveller supplement | £145 |
Includes all elements in the 'walk price', plus a return ferry crossing between Dover and Calais with P&O Ferries for your party and one car.
We also include a transfer back to the first town at the end of your holiday to collect your car.
> More information about travelling self-drive
A supplement of £35 per car per single journey applies for outward travel on 3-5 & 10-12 April 2020, and for homeward travel on 12-13 April 2020. A supplement of £47 per car per single journey applies outward on Fridays & Saturdays 22-23 May & 10 July-15 August 2020 and homeward on Saturdays & Sundays 30-31 May & 18 July-30 August 2020.
Room upgrades (£ per person per night)
| Hotel de France, Chinon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Superior: 01 Apr - 31 Oct 2020 | £22 |
| La Croix Blanche, Fontevraud | ||
|---|---|---|
| 'Mini suite': 01 Apr - 31 Oct 2020 | £25 |
Extra nights (£ per person per night) in a double or single room
| Hotel de Biencourt, Azay-le-Rideau (B&B) | Double room | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Apr - 31 Oct 2020 | £70 | £115 |
| Hotel de France, Chinon (B&B) | Double room | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Apr - 31 Oct 2020 | £80 | £130 |
| La Croix Blanche, Fontevraud (with dinner) | Double room | Single room |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Apr - 30 Apr 2020 | £120 | £156 |
| 01 May - 30 Sep 2020 | £146 | £182 |
| 01 Oct - 31 Oct 2020 | £120 | £156 |
Travelling from the UK
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Aberdeen - Paris CDG | Air France, KLM |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Birmingham - Paris CDG | Air France |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Bristol - Paris CDG | Air France, easyJet |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Edinburgh - Paris CDG | Air France, easyJet |
| Edinburgh - St Pierre des Corps via Paris CDG air/rail | Air France |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Glasgow - Paris CDG | easyJet |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Leeds Bradford - Paris CDG | jet2 |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Liverpool - Paris CDG | easyJet |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Gatwick - Paris CDG | easyJet |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Heathrow - Paris CDG | British Airways |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| London Southend - Paris CDG | easyJet |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Stansted - Tours | Ryanair |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Manchester - Paris CDG | Air France, easyJet |
| Manchester - St Pierre des Corps via Paris CDG air/rail | Air France |
| Outward route | Airline |
|---|---|
| Newcastle - Paris CDG | Air France, KLM |
| Newcastle - St Pierre des Corps via Paris CDG air/rail | Air France |
This list of flight options should be used as a guide only, and you should check each airline’s website for current routes, frequency and schedules. Not all flights operate daily, and may not run for the entire season. You should also heed the latest flight arrival time and earliest flight departure time stated in the connecting travel section, as it may not be possible to arrange connecting travel outside these times. Please do not book your flights until we have confirmed your accommodation to you. Alternatively, our expert reservations team will be happy to offer advice and to make flight bookings for you. We charge £35 per person for our flight booking service (£60 for India and Nepal). Your flights are then covered by our package-booking conditions, which give you greater protection in the event of delay or cancellation, as well as providing ATOL cover.
Connecting travel options - flying via Tours
| Outward route | Price per person |
Latest flight arrival time |
|---|---|---|
| direct taxi Tours airport to hotel (0h45) | £42 | flexible |
| Homeward route | Price per person |
Earliest flight departure time |
|---|---|---|
| direct taxi hotel to Tours airport (1h15) | £64 | flexible |
Connecting travel options - flying via St Pierre des Corps
| Outward route | Price per person |
Latest flight arrival time |
|---|---|---|
| taxi St Pierre des Corps hotel (0h45) | £35 | flexible |
| Homeward route | Price per person |
Earliest flight departure time |
|---|---|---|
| taxi hotel to St Pierre des Corps (1h30) | £60 | flexible |
Connecting travel options - flying via Paris
| Outward route | Price per person |
Latest flight arrival time |
|---|---|---|
| rail direct TGV Paris CDG to St Pierre des Corps (1h40), taxi St Pierre des Corps to hotel (0h40) | £75 | 1700 |
| rail Paris Montparnasse to St Pierre des Corps (1h05), taxi St Pierre des Corps to hotel (0h40) | £73 | 1700 |
| Homeward route | Price per person |
Earliest flight departure time |
|---|---|---|
| taxi hotel to St Pierre des Corps (1h30), rail direct TGV St Pierre des Corps to Paris CDG (1h50) | £100 | 1500 |
| taxi hotel to St Pierre des Corps (1h30), rail St Pierre des Corps to Paris Montparnasse (1h) | £97 | 1500 |
If you've experienced this holiday first hand, why not write a review?
We are keen for as many customers as possible to review their holiday. To make it easier to do so, we include a specific review section on our post-holiday questionnaire, and this is what we publish here, unedited. Read our full review policy >
Could have done without the day in Chinon, but did find a little bar with very cheap Ricard, and went to the lovely little Creperie du Grand Carroi for a light lunch. In Azay I dined twice at La Credence practically next door (Cote Cour and Les Grottes were both closed - the latter on Thursdays) and is very good proper basic French three course menu about 23 euros. Wine by the pichet.) In Chinon I found Table de Jeanne very good as recommended, and used it twice.
We both particularly enjoyed the sights (or maybe that should be the sites): The Troglodytic village outside Azay was fascinating and made an excellent contrast to the wonderful Chateaux in Azay le Rideau. We also found the Fortress in Chinon extremely interesting, and were very glad of the lift. In addition, the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud has been magnificently restored, and when we were there there was an exhibition of tapestries, which were breathtaking. As we visited the Fortress and the Abbaye on the weekend of Le Patrimoine, we had free entry to both places, which was a nice bonus. On a different note, we upgraded both nights for dinner at Fontevraud and enjoyed excellent food, and the waiter was most helpful in advising us of which local wine would go best with which dish. I now know that some French Chardonnay is extremely good from their local chateaux and not at all like the New World Chardonnay which is horrible. I'm very glad I took his advice.
As usual was an excellent holiday - cannot say anything else, we both enjoyed Chinon a lot but felt the hotel was not quite as good.
Could have done without the day in Chinon, but did find a little bar with very cheap Ricard, and went to the lovely little Creperie du Grand Carroi for a light lunch. In Azay I dined twice at La Credence practically next door (Cote Cour and Les Grottes were both closed - the latter on Thursdays) and is very good proper basic French three course menu about 23 euros. Wine by the pichet.) In Chinon I found Table de Jeanne very good as recommended, and used it twice.
We both particularly enjoyed the sights (or maybe that should be the sites): The Troglodytic village outside Azay was fascinating and made an excellent contrast to the wonderful Chateaux in Azay le Rideau. We also found the Fortress in Chinon extremely interesting, and were very glad of the lift. In addition, the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud has been magnificently restored, and when we were there there was an exhibition of tapestries, which were breathtaking. As we visited the Fortress and the Abbaye on the weekend of Le Patrimoine, we had free entry to both places, which was a nice bonus. On a different note, we upgraded both nights for dinner at Fontevraud and enjoyed excellent food, and the waiter was most helpful in advising us of which local wine would go best with which dish. I now know that some French Chardonnay is extremely good from their local chateaux and not at all like the New World Chardonnay which is horrible. I'm very glad I took his advice.
As usual was an excellent holiday - cannot say anything else, we both enjoyed Chinon a lot but felt the hotel was not quite as good.
We loved the mix of historical buildings and varied landscapes.
We loved each and every day of our walking holiday. In retrospect, and especially given the unexpected heat wave, we might have customized our tour to allow for an extra night in Usse. We arrived too hot and tired from the walk from Azay-Le-Rideau to take in the beautiful chateau that afternoon, and needed to leave early the next morning to beat the heat. It’s probably our age, really — almost 70. I also picked up three ticks on the walks, two of which latched on and and got engorged, so it might be good to emphasize even a little more the need for frequent tick checks. Again, I think we would have been better at this if it hadn’t been so very hot. (No worries, though. In Maine, ticks are all over the place and it will be a simple matter to get preventative treatment on our return to the US.) The Fontevraud Abbey, the Azay chateau and the fortresses at Chinon were all just fascinating. Despite temps in the mid-nineties, we spent four lovely hours at the Abbey! The food at the Croix Blanche was superb!
Thank you for your review, we are so pleased you enjoyed your holiday in spite of the unprecedented heatwave. It appears that the prolonged period of wet weather in early summer throughout many parts of Europe provided ideal conditions for ticks and so they seem to be more prevalent than usual. We have not received reports of ticks being a problem in previous years in the Loire.
This was a delightful hike. We brought our extended family, ages 14 to 72 and we all enjoyed the walks, hotels and villages chosen. The Loire valley is in a beautiful part of France. This was our 4th hike with Inntravel and this trip was another wonderful experience. They are so thorough and made our hiking vacation a success for the whole family. This hike is doable, especially for beginning hikers. Thank you!
Another wonderful trip! Straightforward walking through pleasant scenery, with excellent food and wine each day. Inntravel are friendly and efficient, and just make everything so easy! Looking forward to our next trip with you.
We loved our holiday experience. This was our first trip with Inntravel and it worked perfectly. Every train, taxi, luggage transfer worked without any hitches. We loved the walk. The map and directions were very helpful. We did use our phone on google maps every now and then to confirm our location. The hotels were all very nice and very helpful making dinner reservations for us. The lunches the hotels packed were great.
We were so lucky to have perfect weather for this holiday. At one point in Candace-St Martin we overheard a Chinese tourist tell her host with great enthusiasm that there were no crowds. When I mentioned that Nancy and I could be considered a crowd she carefully restated her original statement as, "No Clouds." And she was right. We had no clouds - what could have been more perfect. Also, it was a real highlight to make friends with other Inntravel customers, who were doing this walk one day behind us in the schedule. At each of the 2-night stops it was great fun to get together with them to boat ride on the Vienne, to look for restaurants in Chinon, or to sit in a cafe for a beer. We also very much enjoyed talking for 1/2 hour in the cool of the morning in Fontevraud with other Inntravellers, delaying the start of our walk on Day 6, but enriching our day immensely.
A great holiday. It was lovely to enjoy the walking without having to work out our own routes on unfamiliary terroritory and without having to carry all our luggage. The hotels were far better than we expected and always in the best location.
This was our first walking holiday with Inntravel, having heard about the company from a radio interview on a local South African station. We were impressed by the professional approach of Inntravel staff in UK and by the co ordination between Inntravel, hotels and taxis. The walks were varied and very interesting, combining trails along rivers, through forests and over undulating open countryside. The itinerary was well planned, with plenty of free time to explore charming towns and villages such as Azay-le-Rideau, Chinon and Fontevraud.
We had a fantastic walking tour with Inntravel on the Chateaux and Vineyard tour. The hotels were all of a good standard for Europe and the staff were extremely friendly and helpful and even spoke English - very useful! The hotels were all in superb locations, right in the middle of the villages with easy access to various restaurants. The walks were interesting, along country lanes mostly with some lovely scenery and also through some forest areas. There were some hills (not many) and they were easily negotiated. The routes notes and maps were very good - just about challenging enough in some areas to make it interesting. The staff at Inntravel themselves were knowledgeable and very helfpul and caring. We had a great trip and I would definitely use Inntravel again if they had a walking tour in the area I required - well done Inntravel
A fascinating insight into the history and culture of the Loire Valley, with stays in charming villages and towns. Do take the time before you walk to read about the key events and personalities explored in the places you will visit. This wiIl enrich your experience.
The holiday was perfect. It was very good to slow down to 3 mph and what a treat to have everything organised for us so seamlessly. The Hotel de Biencourt was exceptional.
We will definitely book with you again.
Thank you
We had an excellent lunch at the creperie "La Dentelliere" in Montsoreau - it looks out onto the river and is open on Mondays (when several other restaurants were closed).
I thought the trip was very well organized, with interesting background information and excellent walking instructions. I had a wonderful experience.
The travel arrangements worked perfectly! The amount of time allowed to get to the TGV from CDG was generous and appreciated. The taxis arrived right on time. The hotels were just fine, Azay being the standout (not the best-appointed rooms, but the best atmosphere and hosts). The dinners at the hotel in Fontevraud were superb, as were the outdoor patios for drinks.
Our walks were enough of a challenge for us and mostly beautiful terrain.
Overall we had an excellent time. The walks weren't particular interesting especially the one from Azay to Rigny. Would suggest that another walk is devised for this part given that I would only rate the hotel at Rigny as average.
The Chateau at Azay-le-Rideau is captivating especially since its recent external renovations. The hotel well-placed for enjoying this charming town. We enjoyed dinners at Cote Cour and at la Credence (a bit cheaper and perfectly acceptable).
Following recommendations we had dinner at At'Able in Chinon, this was excellent. We also went to La Maison Rouge in Rue Voltaire which was a bit cheaper but with an imaginative menu. The service was excellent in both restaurants.
The chateau at Chinon had a brilliant system of little guidebooks with electronic chip so that one could hear commentary in our own language as we toured the castle.
We enjoyed a boat trip on the river at Chinon - very uncommercialised, the trip in an open boat lasted about an hour. The skipper answered questions but did not have a non-stop patter!
The Hotel St Paul Rive Gauche gave the opportunity of a few very enjoyable hours in Paris. We managed to spend about two hours in the Louvre, and we enjoyed the stunning Art Nouveau decor of the restaurant Bouillon Racine.
Overall this was a superb holiday, we would not hesitate to go with Inntravel again.