Gîtes and Villas near Blois

Blois sits on the north bank of the Loire, a compact town built around one of the valley's grandest royal châteaux. From its steep, cobbled streets you can walk to bakeries, wine merchants and the covered market, then climb to the terraced gardens above the river for views over slate rooftops and the distant forest of Sologne.

The town makes an ideal base for visiting the Loire's most celebrated châteaux — Chambord, Cheverny and Chaumont-sur-Loire are all within twenty minutes by car — yet Blois itself rewards a slower pace, with its own royal palace, a Renaissance staircase attributed to François I, and enough everyday commerce to feel like a working French town rather than a museum piece.

About Blois

Blois was a royal seat during the Renaissance, when successive French kings rebuilt and expanded the château overlooking the Loire. The result is a four-winged palace spanning Gothic, Flamboyant and Classical styles, each addition reflecting the tastes of a different monarch. The town grew wealthy from the court's presence, and much of the old quarter — the quartier Vieux Blois — survives intact, with half-timbered houses, narrow lanes and stone staircases linking the lower quays with the upper town.

Today Blois is the prefecture of the Loir-et-Cher département and a regional hub for wine, agriculture and light industry. It hasn't turned itself over entirely to tourism, which means the Saturday market on Place Louis XII draws locals as much as visitors, and you'll find hardware stores and pharmacies alongside the crêperies. The Loire here is wide and slow-moving, crossed by an eighteenth-century bridge that offers a fine vantage of the château's façade lit at night.

The surrounding countryside is a patchwork of vineyards, poplar-lined rivers and château estates. Sologne, the forested plateau to the south, is hunting country — silent, flat and punctuated by small lakes. To the north and east, the rolling farmland gives way to more vineyards and the lesser-known châteaux of the Val de Loire, many of them still privately owned.

Things to do near Blois

The Royal Château of Blois is the obvious starting point, a sprawling royal residence where you can trace four centuries of French architecture in a single courtyard. The Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, perched above the river fifteen minutes east, combines a Renaissance château with contemporary art installations and an annual International Garden Festival. Château de Chambord, half an hour northeast, is the largest and most theatrical of all the Loire châteaux, a vast hunting lodge built for François I with a famous double-helix staircase and a roofscape bristling with turrets and chimneys.

Château de Cheverny, slightly closer, is still occupied by the same family that built it in the seventeenth century; its interiors remain fully furnished, and the estate runs a working kennel of hunting hounds. Château de Villesavin and Château de Talcy are smaller, quieter alternatives — the latter a fortified manor with literary associations, the former known for its Renaissance dovecote and Italian-influenced architecture. In Blois itself, the Robert-Houdin House of Magic celebrates the town's most famous son, the conjuror who inspired Houdini, with exhibits on illusion and stagecraft. Blois Cathedral, a short walk from the château, is a modest Gothic building rebuilt after wartime damage, but its crypt and carved capitals are worth a look.

Food & drink

Blois sits at the eastern edge of Touraine and within reach of Sologne, so local menus draw on both: rillettes de Tours, game from the forest, freshwater fish from the Loire and its tributaries, and goat's cheese from nearby Selles-sur-Cher. The covered market on Place Louis XII, open most mornings, is the place to stock your gîte with charcuterie, fruit, Touraine wines and the soft, wrinkly rounds of Sainte-Maure de Touraine.

The Touraine appellation produces approachable whites from Sauvignon Blanc and light reds from Gamay and Cabernet Franc; many estates between Blois and Amboise offer tastings by appointment. For a more formal meal, LES HAUTS DE LOIRE, a Michelin-starred restaurant-hotel west of town, serves refined regional cooking in a nineteenth-century hunting lodge, though it's a special-occasion choice rather than an everyday option.

Getting there

Paris Orly is 148 kilometres northeast, just under two hours by car via the A10. Paris Charles de Gaulle is slightly further at 182 kilometres, also around two hours. The Eurostar arrives at Paris Gare du Nord, 162 kilometres away; from there you can hire a car or take a TGV to Blois-Chambord station, which sits on the Tours–Paris line and is served by a handful of direct trains daily.

Drivers arriving by ferry from Portsmouth will dock at Caen/Ouistreham, 217 kilometres northwest — a three-hour drive south via Alençon and Le Mans. The A10 autoroute runs close to Blois, making the town easily accessible from Calais (around four and a half hours) or from the Channel ports via Paris.