Daytrip from Paris

Learn about the intimate little secrets of the French Kings who once lived there. You’ll enjoy a visit to the elegant and the most romantic of all the Loire castles – the spectacular Chateau Chenonceau. More pleasure palace than fortress, the château was built in 1520 by Thomas Bohier, a wealthy tax collector, for his wife, Catherine Briçonnet. When he went bankrupt, it passed to François I. Later, Henri II gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. After his death, Henri's not-so-understanding widow, Catherine de' Medici, expelled Diane to nearby Chaumont and took back the château. Before this time, Diane's five-arched bridge over the River Cher was simply meant as a grand ceremonial entryway leading to a gigantic château, a building never constructed. It was to Catherine, and her architect, Philibert de l'Orme, that historians owe the audacious plan to transform the bridge itself into the most unusual château in France. Two stories were constructed over the river, including an enormous gallery that runs from one end of the château to the other, a design inspired by Florence's covered Ponte Vecchio, commissioned by a Medici queen homesick for her native town. The chapel, bedrooms and magnificent vaulted kitchens are still furnished and decorated from times gone by, showing off the castle’s many sweeping stone carvings. Don’t miss the impressive main hall, which spans the river Cher, or the gardens cultivated by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Medici – two of the famous owners that earned Chenonceau the nickname ‘the Ladies’ Château’.