Tours,Loire Valley,France

You can sample the old Tours by visiting the popular Place Plumereau with its carefully restored half-timbered townhouses. The area is packed with cafes/bars and restaurants of every kind and everything from aperitif to late night coffee is catered for.

A stroll through the old quarter day or night offers many distractions and delights. Rue Colbert which lies midway between Place Plumereau and the cathedral is gaining a reputation as one of the most fashionable streets in the city for its young population. You could spend weeks here and still not sample all the culinary delights the city has to offer.

For those who wish to seek out the culture of the city there are many fine monuments and museums. The Cathedrale St-Gatien with its flamboyant Gothic faï¿½ade is an imposing piece of architecture both by day and by night. Musee des Beaux-arts is a fine provincial museum in the Palais des Archeveques and is worth a visit to view its rooms, furnished to suit the dates of the paintings on display, alone. There are works by Rembrandt, Degas and Houdon to be savoured.

The new Basilique de St-Martin, on rue Descartes, is a late nineteenth-century neo-Byzantine building erected to honour the relics of St Martin, rediscovered in 1860, they are now housed in the crypt.

The 'Hotel Gouin' on Rue de Commerce is worth a look without the need to visit inside unless you are really interested in Palaeontology though it is free and is a good place to shelter from the summer sun.

A visit to the Tourist Office opposite the spectacular railway station will give you all the information you need to explore the city.

Tours benefits from a number of parks and gardens which offer a tranquil retreat. The vast Jardin des Prebendes, with its lake, is only a stones throw from the city’s historical centre and offers an ideal place to shade from the hot summer sun. There is a very grand set of gates to the park on Rue de Roger Salengro. Within the garden there are bandstands and two wooden bridges stepping over the lake.

You can also visit the gardens of the Musee des Beaux Arts, south of the cathedral. North of the city lies Sainte Radegonde garden on a former island. Further downstream, the ile Simon park. To the west, the Botanical gardens: rare plants, animals, green-houses. To the south, the Balzac park on an island in the Cher river.

Tours is truly a garden city.

Modern Tours offers many opportunities for shopping or just browsing with pedestrian areas full of small boutiques and large department stores to tempt you. In the area near the railway station you will find shops selling clothes, jewellery, leather goods plus much more.

There are also more than 30 markets held throughout the city offering everything from flowers to antiques to fresh fruit and veg.. One of the liveliest is the Marche Gourmand held on the first and third Fridays of the month in place de la Resistance(4-10pm).Typical of French towns and cities there are a number of large out-of-town shopping complexes on its perimeter.

As you stroll through the city, day or night, you can only but admire the freshness and feel of the place and understand its attraction, not only for tourists, but for the French people themselves, many who see it second only to Paris, perhaps overstating it a little-but you are indeed in a very fine city. You will leave with fond memories and a desire to return.

Although lying between the Loire and its tributary the Cher the city does not seem to feature them to any great extent although driving in and out you cannot help but notice their presence and effect on the landscape. There are some parks and leisure facilities on their banks

One of the view places where it does embrace it is at the south side of the 'Pont Wilson' bridge at the top of Rue Nationale. Here, from the 17th May until the 22nd September the bank of the river offers a wide range of diverse and varied activities under the title of 'Tours sur Loire' including a bar, restaurant, concerts, sport, entertainment and games for children , outdoor cinema and dance floor.

Tours sur Loire

It is advisable to enter and leave Tours from the autoroute as it is not the easiest city to navigate by car. It is however worth finding your way to the underground car park in front of the railway station as it is a good position for access to the centre of the city (and tourist office).

The entrance is not obvious but as you approach the traffic lights with the fountain and railway station on your right there is a filter lane (keep in the right lane) directly into the entrance. Don’t worry if you miss it first time round – just go round again – many people do!

The TGV ( which literally translates as the 'Big Fast Train') runs to Paris and Bordeaux from Tours station, well actually St-Pierre-des-Corps just outside the city, you take the train from Tours station to change there. There are approximately 16 return TGV services to Paris Gare Montparnasse per day. The journey takes less than an hour.

Getting to Tours by train:

Most trains bound for Tours, including all TGVs (as many as 10 per day), depart from Paris' Gare Montparnasse for the 55-minute trip. A limited number depart from Gare d'Austerlitz. Many, but not all, of the non-TGV trains pull into the the main Tours station.

TGV trains however arrive at the isolated station of Tours/St-Pierre-des-Corps, about 6 km (4 miles) east of the centre of Tours. If you end up here, wait for the next train into Tours centre, grab a taxi, or await a free navette (bus) for ongoing transport to the centre of the city. See more details here......

Touring without a car !

Car deprived travellers who want to visit the chï¿½teaux of the Loire Valley will be happy to know that the tourist office sponsors an armada of eight-passenger minibuses that depart from the office between 9am and 9:30am and between 1pm and 1:30pm daily, year-round. Tours visit 2 to 4 chï¿½teaux, depending on the schedule; destinations change frequently. Costs range from €20 to €50; depending on the stops and their distance from Tours. The price does not include admission to the chï¿½teaux, but participation in the tour qualifies you for reduced group rates.

The public transport system within the countryside of Touraine is well subsidised making access to the city from outlying villages affordable. So if you rent a rural gite you can still take advantage of this lovely city without the car. For example to travel up from Le Grand Pressigny in the south of the region you will be charged only 1.70euros - great value!