Lively Tours has the cosmopolitan, bourgeois air of a miniature Paris, with wide 18th-century avenues, formal public gardens, café-lined boulevards and a thriving university with 25,000 students. The French spoken in Tours is said to be the purest in France.
Orientation
The focal point is place Jean Jaurès, where the city’s major thoroughfares – rue Nationale, blvd Heurteloup, av de Grammont and blvd Béranger – meet.
The train station is located 300m east of place Jean Jaurès. The old city is centred on place Plumereau, 400m west of rue Nationale.
Sights
Occupying three floors of an impressive 17th- to 18th-century archbishop’s palace, the Musée des Beaux-Arts (02 47 05 68 73; 18 place François Sicard; adult/student/under 13yr €4/2/free; 9am-12.45pm & 2-6pm Wed-Mon) has an excellent collection of paintings, furniture and objets d’art from the 14th to the 20th century.
Tours’ Gothic-style Cathédrale St-Gatien (9am-7pm, closed during services) dates from the 13th to the 16th centuries, and is renowned for its marvellous 13th- to 15th-century stained-glass windows.
The city’s archaeological museum (02 47 66 22 32; 25 rue du Commerce; adult/student €4.50/3; 10am-1pm & 2-6pm Tue-Sun) is housed in the Hôtel Goüin, a Renaissance residence built for a wealthy merchant around 1510. The Italianate façade is arguably more exciting than the collection of prehistoric, Gallo-Roman, medieval and Renaissance artefacts on display inside.
Some of the Loire’s finest châteaux can be visited on a day trip from Tours. The tourist office in Tours has details of son et lumières and other spectacles performed at the chateaux during summer.
With its moat, drawbridge, towers and turrets, the 16th-century Château de Chenonceau (08 20 20 90 90; www.chenonceau.com; adult/student & child €8/6.50; 9am-7pm mid-Mar–mid-Sep, to 4.30pm rest of year) is everything a fairy-tale castle should be, although the chateau’s antique-stuffed interior is overshadowed by the glorious landscaped gardens that surround the castle. There’s even a fabulous yew tree labyrinthe (maze) in which to get thoroughly lost.
The grand fortifications and turrets of the Château Azay-le-Rideau (02 47 45 42 04; adult/18-25yr/under 18yr €7.50/4.80/free; 9.30am-7pm Jul & Aug, 9.30am-6pm Apr-Jun & Sep, 10am-12.15pm & 2-5.15pm Oct-Mar) were designed to indicate the rank and prestige of the castle’s owners. The château’s most impressive feature is an extraordinary staircase with ornamented loggias on each floor.
The crenellated Château de Langeais (02 47 96 72 60; adult/10-17yr/under 10yr €7.20/4/free; 9.30am-7pm Jul & Aug; 9.30am-6.30pm Feb-Jun & Sep–mid-Nov; 10am-5pm mid-Nov–Jan) is the most authentic of the valley’s châteaux, with an atmospheric interior packed with period furnishings, tapestries and original 15th-century floor tiles. There’s even a working drawbridge and a ruined 10th-century donjon (keep), thought to be the oldest in France.
Perched above the River Vienne, the mostly ruined medieval Château de Chinon (02 47 93 13 45; adult/student €6/4.50; 9am-7pm Apr-Sep, 9.30am-5pm Oct-Mar), consists of three sections separated by waterless moats: the 12th-century Fort St-Georges, the Châteaudu Milieu (the Middle Castle) and, at the western tip, the 13th-century Fort du Coudray. Superb views are on offer from the 14th-century clock tower, and four of the castle’s rooms are dedicated to Joan of Arc, who in 1429 picked out Charles VII from among a crowd of courtiers in the Salle du Trône (Throne Room).
Getting around
Détours de Loire (02 47 61 22 22; www.locationdevelos.com; 31 blvd Heurteloup; hybrid per day/5 days/week/additional day €13/43/56/4; 9am-1pm & 2-7pm Mon-Sat, 9.30am-12.30pm & 6-7pm Sun & holidays Easter-early Oct; 9am-1pm & 2-6pm Mon-Sat early Oct-Easter) is part of a network of 16 Loire Valley bike rental sites.
Information
Information
Bureau de Change (8.45am-6pm Mon-Sat, to 6.30pm Jun-Sep, closed Jan) Inside the train station. There are banks around place Jean Jaurès. Emega Cyber¬station (43 rue du Grand Marché; per hr €2; noon-midnight Mon-Sat, 2-11pm Sun) For internet access.
Laundrettes 22 rue Bernard Palissy (7am-8pm); 149 rue Colbert (till 7.45pm); cnr rue Bretonneau & rue Mûrier (7am-8.30pm)
Post office (1 blvd Béranger) Has a Cyberposte and currency exchange.
Tourist office (02 47 70 37 37; www.ligeris.com; 78-82 rue Bernard Palissy; 8.30am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-12.30pm & 2.30-5pm Sun & holidays mid-Apr–mid-Oct; 9am-12.30pm & 1.30-6pm Mon-Sat, 10am-1pm Sun & holidays mid-Oct–mid-Apr)
Eating
In the old city, place Plumereau, rue du Grand Marché and rue de la Rôtisserie are loaded with restaurants and cafés. Further east, cheap eats are available along rue Colbert.
Comme Autre Fouée (02 47 05 94 78; 11 rue de la Monnaie; lunch menu €10, other menus from €16-19.50; lunch Fri & Sat, dinner Tue-Sat, also open lunch Tue-Thu mid-May–mid-Sep) This place specialises in fouée (or fouaces): small, flat discs of dough baked in a wood-fired oven, and filled with either pork rillettes, haricots blancs or goat’s cheese.
Le Bœuf’ Salad (02 47 66 70 58; 19 rue du Grand Marché; menus €14-22; sometimes closed Tue & Wed) An informal French eatery, decked out in white and blue, serving Tours’ cheapest steak-and-fries platter (€6.90; available October to May).
The best place for fresh produce is Les Halles (covered market; place Gaston Pailhou; 7am-7pm). General supplies are sold at two Atac supermarkets place du Général Leclerc (7.30am-8pm Mon-Sat); place Jean Jaurès (inside the shopping arcade; 9am-7.30pm Mon-Sat).
Drinking
The old town is full of bars – a good starting point is place Plumereau, which fills to bursting in the summer, and nearby rue du Grand Marché.
Le Palais (02 47 61 48 54; 15 place Jean Jaurès; 7am-2am, closed Sun Nov-Mar) Each Monday starting at 8.30pm, this trendy bar-brasserie hosts a café des langues, where you can meet linguistically motivated locals by conversing with them in English (and lots of other languages). Thursday is karaoke night (from 10.30pm).
Le Baromètre (02 47 38 49 80; 33 rue du Grand Marché; 10am-2am) A smoky corner bar whose animated habitués often take advantage of an old guitar that’s kept in the cellar. Annie, the patronne, has a personality that’s much larger than her establishment, which is kept warm in winter by a roaring fire. The background music is jazz, blues and chansons.
Le Paradis Vert (02 47 66 00 94; 9 rue Michelet; adult/student billiard table per hr €10/8; 10am-2am) France’s largest pool hall with 36 tables. The Monday night tournament (7.30pm to 1am) is open to all comers.
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