Must-SeeParis
Île-de-France
About 121 miles away
The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre-Dame and a thousand cafés. The world's most visited city, and it earns it.
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Château de Chenonceau
An elegant château built on arches across the River Cher, shaped by the women who owned it.
- Open
- Every day
- Price
- Paid; book online in summer
- Time Needed
- 2½ hours
- Address
- Château de Chenonceau, 37150 ChenonceauxDirections
- Getting There
- About 20 minutes by car from Amboise; Chenonceaux station is a short walk away.
Why Go
The château was built from 1514 on the foundations of a mill and later extended across the river. Henry II gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who added the bridge; after his death his widow, Catherine de' Medici, took it back and built the long gallery on top. Their two formal gardens still flank the château.
In World War II the Cher marked the line between occupied and free France, and the gallery's far door let people slip across.
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About 170 miles away
A walled corsair port, wild coasts, and Carnac's thousands of standing stones.
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