Discover Local Centre-Val de Loire: What to Do Around Mercure Centre-Val de Loire

At Mercure, we believe you shouldn't need a guidebook to feel like you belong somewhere. That's the idea behind Discover Local: since 1973, every Mercure hotel has been built around its neighbourhood, not just dropped into it — from the décor on the walls to the flavours on the menu. Step into any Mercure and our teams are on hand with the kind of tips you won't find in a guidebook: the market stall locals queue for, the bar where nobody speaks English, the walk that skips the crowds. They live here. They know. Discover Local isn't a generic city guide — it's a short, honest list of the restaurants, markets and neighbourhoods our own hotel teams actually recommend to guests, updated as the city changes around us. Below, you'll find our picks for Centre-Val de Loire, an interactive map to help you find your way, and answers to the questions travellers ask us most. So — where will Discover Local take you?

Centre-Val de Loire in 5 picks

Tours

The old town, Vieux Tours, centres on the half-timbered Place Plumereau and makes a practical base for reaching most of the region's châteaux within an hour's drive.

Blois

The royal château here was home to French kings across several centuries, and its architecture shows it — different wings built in different eras, from Gothic through to Classical, sitting side by side.

Amboise

Its royal château overlooks the Loire, and just up the hill is Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years, from 1516 until his death in 1519.

Chambord

The largest château in the Loire Valley, built for François I, with a double-helix staircase whose design is often linked to Leonardo da Vinci's ideas.

Chenonceau

Known as the 'Château des Dames,' with a gallery built directly on a bridge spanning the Cher river. It's the most-visited historical monument in France after Versailles.

Where to eat
This is goat cheese country — Sainte-Maure de Touraine, a log-shaped AOP cheese with a straw running through its centre, and Crottin de Chavignol from further east. Loire wines from Vouvray and Chinon pair naturally, and rillettes de Tours is the local answer to a picnic lunch. For dessert, look no further than tarte Tatin, invented at the Hôtel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, in the Sologne.
Châteaux & the river
The Loire is the longest river in France, and this stretch of it is lined with more châteaux than you can reasonably see on one trip. The Loire à Vélo cycling route runs alongside much of it, and river cruises out of towns like Blois and Amboise offer a different angle on the same views.
Getting around
Tours is about an hour and ten minutes from Paris by TGV, making it a solid anchor point. From there, Amboise is roughly 25km, Chambord about 40km further, and Blois to Chambord just 18km — close enough to combine several châteaux by car in a single day, though cycling the Loire à Vélo route is a genuine alternative for shorter hops.
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FAQ

Two or three, comfortably, if they're close together — Blois, Chambord and Chenonceau, for example, can all be reached from Tours within short drives of each other.

Tours has stronger TGV links from Paris and sits closer to Amboise and Chenonceau; Blois puts you nearer Chambord and Cheverny. Either works — it depends which châteaux top your list.

Some, yes — Blois, Amboise and Chenonceau all have train stations. Chambord is trickier without a car or organised tour, since it sits further from the rail network.

Where to sleep

See our Mercure hotels across Centre-Val de Loire, ideally placed to explore these picks.

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Where to sleep

See our Mercure hotels across Centre-Val de Loire, ideally placed to explore these picks

View hotels