Nice to Tours, a taste of the Renaissance!

In fine weather, Tours is a great place to enjoy a relaxing weekend and explore the city as a couple or with friends. You can indulge your love of culture by visiting the city's museums. Feast your eyes on old Renaissance buildings and half-timbered houses. Stroll through the narrow streets of the old town, indulging in a spot of window-shopping. Delight in tasting the local produce prepared by inspired chefs, and linger until midnight with the young locals on the terrace of an open-air dance hall on the banks of the Loire.

But the city and its surroundings are also an ideal destination for long, enjoyable family holidays. Your days will be full of joy. Wander through old villages, passing century-old houses with slate roofs. See how many chateaux you can visit, each one more beautiful than the last. Marvel at the parks and famous formal gardens that have earned the region its nickname of ‘the garden of France.’ Paddle among the many migratory birds that inhabit the Loire-Anjou-Touraine Regional Nature Park. Take a boat trip on the Loire in a gabarre (flat-bottomed boat) or a toue cabanée (a traditional fishing boat) and, because cycling around the region is a must, pedal together through the vineyards of Bourgueil or Sancerre. Even more original: you can admire this beautiful countryside from the sky in the basket of a hot-air balloon.

• Stroll through the streets of the city centre, admiring the half-timbered houses and Renaissance façades, and shivering under the arches of the Passage du Coeur Navré, the covered alleyway that is said to have led convicts to their place of execution.
• Chill out on a café terrace in Place Plumereau or Place de Châteauneuf, in the shade of the Clock tower or the dome of St Martin’s Basilica.
• Push open the door of the Château de Tours, a cultural mecca that houses the Atelier Histoire de Tours, the Museum of Contemporary Art and several high-quality exhibitions devoted to photography, among other subjects.
• Continue your cultural journey to the city's other museums: the Fine Arts Museum, housed in the former episcopal palace, the Natural History Museum with its stuffed animals and its vivarium housing reptiles, insects and fish, the Villa Rabelais, home to the Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie, and the Musée du Compagnonnage, dedicated to the skills of the famous Compagnons du Devoir or Medieval Trade Guilds.
• Visit Tours Cathedral to admire its fabulous stained-glass windows, then go on to St Martin’s Basilica, home to the tomb of St Martin, the saint of the Gauls.
• Discover the Renaissance châteaux of the Loire Valley: Chenonceau and its famous gallery on the banks of the Cher, Chaumont-sur-Loire and its remarkable gardens, Amboise, the link between heaven and earth, Azay-le-Rideau, which glistens in the waters of the Indre and - leaving the best for last - Chambord, the largest of them all.
• Walk in the footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci at the exhibition devoted to him at the Château du Clos Lucé, where the Tuscan genius peacefully ended his days.
• Lose yourself in the cobbled streets of Loches, a charming town with an incredible heritage, from its glorious past as a ‘Royal City.’ Don't miss nearby Montrésor, one of the most beautiful villages in France.
• Follow the Loire Valley wine route, from Chinon to Sancerre, via Vouvray and Bourgueil, and combine culture and viticulture by visiting a wine estate, a historic monument or a charming village.
• Try some of the local specialities: rillettes (potted meat) from Tours, rillons (crackling) from Touraine, andouillette (tripe) from Vouvray, crottin de Chavignol or bûche de Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine (goat’s cheese), nougat and sucres d'orge (barley sugar) from Tours or macaroons from Cormery.