TOURS
Tours is buzzing and lively, and there are no end of ways to explore the city: in the little sightseeing train or a horse-drawn carriage around the streets, on a bicycle, along the royal river in the wake of the Loire bargemen... choose your mode of transport!
A Town of Art and History, a Gallo-Roman city then the capital of the kingdom of France in the 15th and 16th centuries, Tours has an extraordinary artistic and architectural heritage. There's nowhere more picturesque than the Plumereau district with its cobbled streets, old cafés and half-timbered houses.
LOCHES - DESCARTES - LE GRAND PRESSIGNY...
Here you are in the heart of the mediaeval city of Loches en Touraine, capital of the South Side of Touraine... A ring of houses huddled around the foot of the citadel reveals its secrets: the Royal Lodgings, the Castle Keep, 18th century houses and a Renaissance Hôtel de Ville are but a few of the clues. The nearby state forest tells nature-loving ramblers of legends they never knew existed.
Here, places officially recognised as "the Most Beautiful Villages of France" (Montrésor), "The loveliest Detours in France" and "Towns of Art and History" (Loches) are legion among the authentic villages of Touraine, huddled around their Romanesque churches (Chédigny, Ferrière-Larçon and Preuilly sur Claise) or set in stunning verdant surroundings (Chanceaux près Loches).
Prehistory also shows us the marks left behind by our ancestors in Le Grand Pressigny and in the Claise and Creuse Valleys
POITIERS & THE FUTUROSCOPE
Poitiers has been the provincial capital since Gallo-Roman times and as such, its architectural heritage is outstanding.
Just 13km away is the Futuroscope, a cinematographic theme park packed with thrills, images in giant-screen format, extraordinary encounters, mind-blowing shows, role-playing, and more.
