Busabout Adventures

Its 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 300m east of place Jean Jaurès. The old city is centred on place Plumereau, which is about 400m west of rue Nationale. The northern boundary of the city is demarcated by the River Loire, which flows roughly parallel to the River Cher, 3km south.

Office de Tourisme de Tours ((02 47 70 37 37; www.ligeris.com; 78-82 rue Bernard Palissy; h8.30am-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-12.30pm & 2.30-5pm Sun mid-Apr–mid-Oct, 9am-12.30pm & 1.30-6pm Mon-Sat, 10am-1pm Sun mid-Oct–mid-Apr)

In an exceptional 17th- to 18th-century archbishop’s palace, the Musée des Beaux-Arts ((02 47 05 68 73; 18 place François Sicard; adult/student/child €4/2/free; h9am-12.45pm & 2-6pm Wed-Mon) has an excellent collection of paintings, furniture and objets d’art from the 14th to the 20th centuries.

Tours’ Gothic-style Cathédrale St-Gatien (h9am-7pm, closed during services) dates from the 13th to the 16th centuries. The spectacular exterior does not however overshadow the interior, which is renowned for its marvellous 13th- to 15th-century stained-glass ­windows.

The Musée de l’Hôtel Goüin ((02 47 66 22 32; 25 rue du Commerce; adult/child €3.50/2.60; h9.30am-12.30pm & 1.15-6.30pm Apr-Sep, 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm Oct-Mar) is housed in a Renaissance residence built around 1510 for a wealthy merchant. Its façade is worth seeing, even if the eclectic prehistoric, Gallo-Roman, medieval, Renaissance and 18th-century artefacts don’t appeal.

TOURS AREA CHATEAUX
Some of the most interesting Loire chateaux can be seen in an easy day trip from Tours. Those accessible by train or SNCF bus from Tours include Chenonceau, Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau, Langeais, Amboise, Chaumont, Chinon and Saumur. The tourist office in Tours has details of son et lumières (sound and light shows), medieval re-enactments, and other spectacles performed at the chateaux during summer.

The best chateau is the 16th-century Château de Chenonceau ((0820 20 90 90; www.chenonceau.com; adult/student & child €8/6.50; h9am-7pm mid-Mar–mid-Sep, to 6.30pm mid-end Sep, to 6pm early Oct & early Mar, to 5.30pm mid-end Oct & mid-end Feb, to 4.30pm Nov-Jan, to 5pm early Feb). With its stylised moat, drawbridge, towers, turrets and vast park it’s how a fairy-tale castle should be (but its interior is only moderately interesting).

Built on an island in the River Indre, and adorned with ornate fortifications and turrets, Château Azay-le-Rideau ((02 47 45 42 04; adult/aged 18-25/child €6.10/4.10/free; h9.30am-6pm Apr-Jun & Sep-Oct, 9.30am-7pm Jul & Aug, 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm Nov-Mar) also has an elegant exterior.

Tours
Touring chateaux by public transport can be slow and expensive, so consider taking an organised bus tour. The interesting English-language tours are surprisingly relaxed and informal. Most allow you between 45 minutes and one hour at each chateau. Tour prices don’t include entrance fees, but as part of a group you may get discounts. If you can get five to seven people together, you can design your own minibus itinerary. Try Acco-Dispo ((06 82 00 64 51; www.accodispo-tours.com), Quart de Tours ((06 85 72 16 22; www.quartdetours.com) and St-Eloi Excursions (%02 47 37 08 04; www.saint-eloi.com). Typical prices are from €18 to €31 for a half-day trip to various chateaux sharing a minibus for up to eight people. Reservations can be made at the Tours tourist office or via its website.

Services Touristiques de Touraine (STT; (02 47 05 46 09; www.stt-millet.fr) operates full-sized coaches for individuals rather than groups from April to mid-October. These have wine tasting in Vouvray or Montlouis-
sur-Loire. Afternoon/day tours taking in three chateaux cost €34, including admission fees.

The bus network serving Tours and its suburbs is run by Fil Bleu ((02 47 66 70 70), which has an information office at 5 bis rue de la Dolve. Most lines stop around the periphery of place Jean Jaurès.

From May to September, friendly Amster’ Cycles ((02 47 61 22 23; 5 rue du Rempart) rents out road and mountain bikes (€14/21/55 for one/two/seven days).

In the old city, place Plumereau and nearby rue du Grand Marché and rue de la Rôtisserie are loaded with restaurants, cafés, crêperies and boulangeries (bakeries), many with lovely street terraces. Another tasty cluster graces rue Colbert.

Comme Autre Fouée ((02 47 05 94 78; 11 rue de la Monnaie; lunch/dinner menus from €10/19.50) You can install yourself in this old stone building for a good few hours while they constantly replenish your basket with oven-fresh fouée, an age-old regional speciality: a small disc of dough thrown into a wood-fired oven for 45 seconds and served immediately, piping hot. The pitta-like bread is then used to scoop up fouéefuls of rillettes (potted pork, duck or goose), haricots blanc (white beans) or farmhouse goat’s cheese.

Le Petit Patrimoine ((02 47 66 05 81; 58 rue Colbert; lunch menu €9, dinner menus €12-26) This simple but atmospheric place is excellent value for hearty portions of tasty, well-presented French food.

Sandwich stalls sell well-filled baguettes and pastries in the Grand Passage shopping centre (18 rue de Bordeaux). There’s a large, permanent covered market (place Gaston Pailhou) and an Atac supermarket (5 place du Général Leclerc; h8.30am-8pm Mon-Sat, 9.30am-12.30pm Sun)

Bars and cafés are easy to find in Tours, especially in place Plumereau. A favourite is the stylish Le Vieux Mûrier ((02 47 61 04 71; 11 place Plumereau; h11am-midnight).

Au Temps des Rois ((02 47 05 04 51; 3 place Plumereau; h11am-2am) Across the square from Le Vieux Mûrier, there’s more of a student vibe here.

There are also lively student bars along rue de la Longue Echelle and the southern strip of rue du Dr Bretonneau.

Live jazz venues include alternative café-theatre Le Petit Faucheux ((02 47 64 50 50; 12 rue Leonard de Vinci) and the brilliant Bistro 64 ((02 47 38 47 40; 64 rue du Grand Marché) – blues in a 16th-century interior.