Château de Villandry: Gardens, Hours and How to Visit

Hours, Tickets and Practical Details

The essentials in one place. The gardens open every day of the year except 25 December. The chateau opens from 7 February to 11 November and again from 28 November to 3 January, and closes for several weeks in winter and late autumn.

The dated entry ticket for Château de Villandry is booked through the entry ticket further down this page. Tickets are also sold on site any day, and online tickets are not time-stamped and carry no fast-track.

When to Go and What Changes by Season

Villandry says its busiest times in high season are around 11:00 and 12:30 and from 14:30 to 16:00, so early morning or late afternoon gives you calmer paths. March runs 9:00 to 18:00 for the gardens, and the chateau shuts at 17:00 in the last week of October and at 17:30 in December. Summer brings the events: the Nights of a Thousand Lights run 31 July to 2 August with more than 2,000 candles and mandatory online booking, and on those days the site closes at 18:00 and reopens at 20:00 for the evening.

The gardens switched to organic management in 2009 with no pesticides. Rendez-vous in the Gardens falls on 6 and 7 June, and Vegetable Garden Days on 26 and 27 September. From April to October, guided chateau tours in French run daily except Sundays and major weekends, and last about 1 hour 15 minutes.

Dogs on a lead are welcome in the gardens, but only small carried dogs inside the chateau. Picnics are not allowed in the gardens, though there is a picnic area 100 metres from the entrance behind the tourist office. For food, La Doulce Terrasse, the restaurant and tea room at the entrance, is open daily from 1 April to 11 November, and a takeaway kiosk sells sandwiches, crêpes and homemade ice creams.

The Keep

Start where the building starts. Villandry is built around a 14th-century keep, the last piece of the medieval fortress that once stood here, and it is the spot where Philip II of France met Richard I of England. Jean Le Breton bought the fortress and added Renaissance decoration when the present chateau went up around 1536.

The keep is the historical anchor of the visit and puts everything else in order: fortress first, Renaissance rebuild second, the 18th-century comfort of the Marquis de Castellane third, and the Carvallo family from 1906 onwards last. It is a short stop but it frames the whole site.

The Main Staircase

The main staircase is one of the listed chateau rooms on the official visit route, and the chateau allows about 1 hour for the interior in total, and this stairway is the spine of that circuit. Guided tours in French, running April to October and lasting about 1 hour 15 minutes, use this route too. The Villandry and Azay-le-Rideau Half-Day Tour lists entrance fees to Villandry Gardens and guided visits, and does not name the chateau interior.

The Dining Room and Kitchen

The dining room and the kitchen are the two service rooms on the official room list, and they show how the Marquis de Castellane turned Villandry into a comfortable 18th-century home. Henri Carvallo, the current owner, represents a family that has held Villandry since 1906.

Prince Jérôme's Bedroom and the Library

Napoleon acquired Villandry for his brother Jérôme Bonaparte in the early 19th century, and the bedroom named after Prince Jérôme is the room that remembers it. The library is on the same room list. Joachim Carvallo bought the chateau in 1906 with the fortune of his wife Ann Coleman.

Together with the art gallery and the oriental drawing room, these rooms are what the 1-hour interior allowance is spent on. If you only have time for the gardens, they stay open on days when the chateau is closed.

The Kitchen Garden

This is the best-known garden: vegetable beds set inside boxwood patterns. Joachim Carvallo recreated the Renaissance gardens at Villandry between 1908 and 1918, after finding an English-style park here in 1906. The kitchen garden is the working heart of the site, managed organically since 2009 with no pesticides.

Vegetable Garden Days, on 26 and 27 September, celebrate it directly. Budget the bulk of your 1.5-hour garden allowance here and work backwards from it through the other gardens.

The Ornamental Salons and the Love Garden

The ornamental gardens are laid out as salons in boxwood patterns. The love garden and the garden of the crosses were designed with the painter Lozano and the Spanish landscape architect Javier de Winthuysen. In high season, aim for before 11:00 or after 16:00, since Villandry flags the midday window as its busiest.

The Water Garden and the Sun Garden

The water garden is one of the garden salons on the circuit. The sun garden was inaugurated in 2008, the newest of the plantings, and the herb garden next in the sequence dates from the 1970s. This trio shows the site is still growing: the garden you see today is not a frozen 1918 restoration but a landscape extended across a century by the same family.

Dogs on a lead are allowed here as everywhere in the gardens.

The Maze and the Wood

Villandry describes its gardens as running from the maze and the wood to the ornamental salons, the water garden, the sun garden, the herb garden and the kitchen garden. Cyclists should know that the chateau sits 500 metres from the Loire à Vélo route and that free lockers are available for cyclists after the ticket office. The Loire Valley bike tour page covers the wider route network.

From here, Azay-le-Rideau is a short drive away, and its own visit is covered in the Azay-le-Rideau guide.

From a Fortress to a Renaissance House

The site goes back to a 14th-century keep where Philip II of France met Richard I of England. In 1536 the château as you see it was built. Jean Le Breton, who bought Villandry when it was still a medieval fortress, added Renaissance decoration to the older structure.

Later the Marquis de Castellane turned the building into a comfortable 18th-century home. In the early 19th century Napoleon acquired the estate for his brother Jérôme Bonaparte, whose name survives in Prince Jérôme's bedroom among the château rooms.

Joachim Carvallo and the Gardens

When Joachim Carvallo bought Villandry in 1906, with the fortune of his wife Ann Coleman, he found an English-style park on the site. Between 1908 and 1918 he recreated the Renaissance gardens that made the estate famous. He worked with the painter Lozano and the Spanish landscape architect Javier de Winthuysen on the love garden and the garden of the crosses.

Later generations added more: the herb garden dates from the 1970s and the sun garden was inaugurated in 2008. Since 2009 the gardens have been managed organically with no pesticides. The Carvallo family has owned Villandry since 1906, and Henri Carvallo is the current owner.

What You Walk Through Today

The gardens run from the maze and the wood to the ornamental salons, the water garden, the sun garden, the herb garden and the kitchen garden in its boxwood patterns. The château rooms include the dining room, the kitchen, the main staircase, Prince Jérôme's bedroom, the library, the art gallery, the oriental drawing room and the keep. The site is one of the few gardens open to the public all year round.

If you want to pair it with its neighbour, the page on Azay-le-Rideau covers that château in full. Both appear in the wider guide to Loire Valley castles.

By Car

Villandry is 20 minutes by car from Tours via the D7, and parking at the site is free. Tours sits about 238 km from Paris by road, and the TGV from Paris Montparnasse to Tours takes just over an hour per the Touraine tourist board.

By Bus and Train

Villandry is reachable by Tours bus line 32, which is the straightforward public transport option from the city. There is no station at Villandry itself, and no walking distance from any station to the château is given. On a bike day trip you can ride out from Tours and take a train back from Druye station, which the Tours tourist office lists as a return option on this route.

Regional trains connect Amboise, Chenonceau and Chinon in the area, and all Rémi trains allow bicycles on board.

By Bike on the Loire À Vélo

Villandry sits 500 metres from the Loire à Vélo route, with free lockers for cyclists after the ticket office. France Vélo Tourisme lists Tours to Villandry at 21.81 km, about 1h27 of riding, while the Tours tourist office puts it at 22.2 km along the Cher. Allow a good part of a day for the round trip.

The Loire à Vélo is a 900 km network running from Nevers to Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, fully signposted, with more than 700 Accueil Vélo accommodations along the way. The guide to a Loire Valley bike tour has more on riding the region. To compare buses, bikes and organized days across the whole valley, start from Loire Valley castle tours.

The Half-Day Tour from Tours

The pick for this page is Villandry and Azay-le-Rideau Half-Day Tour, priced at $131 per person for 4 hours. It leaves from Tours, in front of the Tourist Office, where the guide waits wearing a hat. The group is 8 people at most.

Entry is in the price: the listing includes entrance fees to Villandry Gardens and Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau, guided visits, and a driver/guide. Be clear about what it does not include: no hotel pickup or drop-off, no lunch, no gratuities, and no French-speaking guide is offered. Tours is about an hour from Paris by TGV.

Compare it with other Loire Valley chateaux tours from Tours if you want a longer day.

Ticket and Price

The table lists the entry ticket for this chateau with its starting price and the rating travellers gave it on the booking page. Prices change by date and option, so the final figure shows at checkout.