Paris Day Trip to Loire Valley - Summer

Far too much to see in a day, and my trip was in 1992, but my favorite stop in the area was actually at Chinon. The castle there was a real fortress, not a palace, and it's where Joan of Arc led the French army out to attack the English. The castle was interesting, and I really enjoyed the town. I remember eating some ice cream from a little shop near the river in late afternoon as the low sun reflected on the water and feeling very much at peace.

As others have mentioned, it's not really a day trip destination. It's better to rent a car and a villa and spend three days exploring the area at your leisure.

If you only have one day to spare and you really want to check this off your bucket list then you have a few options:

1. Book a (long) day tour with a company out of Paris. These usually involve riding in a minivan for 3 hours down to Chambourd and Chenonceau with a lunch stopover at Amboise then riding 3 hours back to Paris. Obviously you spend most of the day in a minivan. Not ideal on a vacation.

2. Take the early morning TGV train down to St Pierre des Corps station in Tours (about 1 hour) and pre-book a private driver or tour operator out of Tours. This would give you a little more variety and time. A link to a local tour operator: LINK. If you book a private driver you can maybe find 3 or four Chateaux near each other and arrange your own itenerary. But they can be pretty spread out. That's also going to get a bit pricey I would image.

You might also consider going to Versailles or Chantilly instead. Both are much more manageable as a day trip from Paris and you scratch that grandiose itch.