Chenonceau: The Most Visited Chateau in France After Versailles, Built and Fought Over by Women

The Chateau de Chenonceau has been shaped by an unusual succession of women who owned or controlled it – Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henri II who received it as a gift in 1547 and built the bridge across the Cher River; Catherine de Medici, the queen who expelled Diane after Henri’s death in 1559 and added the gallery over the bridge; Louise de Lorraine, who retreated here in mourning after Henri III’s assassination in 1589 and had her rooms painted black. The men associated with the chateau are mostly background figures.

During World War I, the gallery spanning the river served as a hospital. During World War II, the Cher River formed the boundary between occupied France and the Free Zone. The chateau sits on the occupied side; the bridge crossed to the free side. People used it to cross in both directions.

The Chateau

Built from 1514, the main building sits on piers in the river. The bridge that Diane de Poitiers commissioned in 1556 to 1559 was extended by Catherine de Medici into a two-storey gallery, now 60 metres long, spanning the full width of the Cher. The gallery is the most distinctive feature of the chateau and the reason for its silhouette on every Loire Valley travel photograph.

Entry is 15 euros for adults. Open daily from 9am (closing times vary seasonally, from 5pm in winter to 8pm in July and August). The self-guided visit takes around 90 minutes and includes the main reception rooms, Diane’s garden, and Catherine’s garden on the opposite bank of the river.

The river boat tours on the Cher below the chateau run in season (roughly May through September) and give the ground-level view of the bridge structure that is worth seeing.

The Gardens

Diane de Poitiers designed the geometric garden on the east side of the main building; Catherine de Medici’s larger garden is on the west. Both are still maintained in their original formal French style and are included in the admission price. The kitchen garden supplies the chateau’s restaurant.

Getting There and Staying

The village of Chenonceaux (note the spelling difference from the chateau: the village adds an X) is two hours from Paris by TGV to Tours and then a regional train. By car from Paris, allow about 2.5 hours. Tours is the main regional hub with a full range of accommodation options; several smaller towns near the chateau (Amboise especially) are more atmospheric bases for a Loire Valley stay.

For the chateau area specifically, the Bon Laboureur hotel in the village of Chenonceaux is a comfortable mid-range option and has a consistently good kitchen serving Loire Valley dishes: local freshwater fish, goat cheese from the region, Vouvray and Touraine wines.

The Loire Valley Context

Chenonceau is one point on a triangle that makes sense to visit together: Chambord (45 minutes east, the largest chateau in the Loire, a hunting lodge of impossible ambition for Francois I), and Amboise (20 minutes east, perched above the river, with the chapel where Leonardo da Vinci is buried). Leonardo spent the last three years of his life at the Chateau du Clos Luce in Amboise, brought to France by Francois I, and died there in 1519.