Loire Valley Wineries Day Trip from Tours

Included in the $174

The listing includes two Loire Valley winery visits with tastings, one in the Chinon region and one in Bourgueil, the visit to Chinon town, the driver-guide, and transport by Mercedes minivan. The includes list also states hotel pickup and drop-off, yet the meeting point given is the central Tours tourist office and the itinerary runs from the office back to the office. Treat the office as the real start point and ask the operator before booking if you expected pickup at your hotel.

Because no castle entry is part of this product, there is no separate castle ticket to budget for. The tastings themselves are covered, and in France they usually come with no snacks, as the listing warns, so eat a good breakfast first.

Meet and Drive to Chinon

You meet your driver-guide in front of the central Tours tourist office. The van covers about 70 minutes of road to reach the Chinon area. There is no pickup stage in the published itinerary, so plan to be at the office at the start time shown when you book.

Chinon Winery Visit and Tasting

The first stop is a traditional winery where the guide walks you through wine production from grape to bottle. You see the vineyards and hear about the soils that give Chinon reds their delicate, fruity character. Chinon wine is mostly red from Cabernet franc, with a small share of rose.

The visit and tasting last 1.5 hours.

Two Hours in Chinon Town

A short 15-minute drive brings you into Chinon itself, a small town surrounded by vineyards and known for half-timbered and Renaissance townhouses. You have 2 hours here for lunch, which is not included, a stroll through the old streets, a little shopping, or local specialties such as pork rillettes. The listing describes this part as lunch, a guided tour and free time.

Bourgueil Winery and Tasting

After Chinon the van drives about 30 minutes to the Bourgueil wine region, which gained AOC status in 1937 and covers about 1,400 hectares, planted mainly with Cabernet franc. A second winery visit of 1.5 hours ends with a tasting of rounded local reds.

Back to Tours

The final leg is about 65 minutes back to the Tourist Office Tours Loire Valley, where the day ends. No return time is stated, but the whole trip runs 8 hours door to door from the office. Remember that snacks are usually not served at French tastings, so the lunch stop in Chinon is the moment to eat properly.

Not Suitable for Under-18s, Pregnant Women or Wheelchair Users

The listing is explicit: not suitable for children under 18, pregnant women, or wheelchair users. Tastings are the core of the day, so this is a adults-only product. If you travel with teenagers, the same operator runs a castle-focused day instead: Chenonceau and Chambord Tour from Tours visits two chateaux with tickets included.

• No children under 18 and no pregnant women
• Not suitable for wheelchair users
• No pets allowed

It Is a Full 8 Hours with No Hotel Pickup Confirmed

The day takes 8 hours and meets in front of the Tours tourist office, so you need to reach the office yourself. If you expected to be collected at your hotel, note that the includes list and the meeting point disagree, so ask before booking rather than after. Travellers with only a half day free should look at the Villandry and Azay-le-Rideau half-day tour, which runs 4 hours from the same city.

No Castles, and Lunch Is Extra

This is a wine product. You see Chinon town but you do not enter any chateau, and meals and drinks outside the tastings are not covered, so add roughly the cost of a lunch in Chinon on top of the $174. Travellers who want castles and wine together should read the Loire Valley castles day trip with wine tasting from Paris or the castle days from Tours.

For a wider view of Loire Valley wine tours, the comparison pages list what each product includes.

Reaching the Tours Tourist Office

From Paris, the TGV from Paris Montparnasse takes just over an hour, with about 25 TGV connections a day. Paris Austerlitz trains take about 2 hours. Tours has two stations, Tours Centre and Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, 5 minutes apart, and Tours sits about 238 km from Paris by road, roughly 2 hours 40 minutes by car.

Once in the city, the Fil Bleu network runs one tram line plus buses, with trams every 6 to 10 minutes between 7:00 and 20:00, and the central tourist office is the stated meeting point. For the full rail picture, see Paris to Loire Valley by train.

• TGV Paris Montparnasse to Tours: just over an hour
• Two stations in Tours, 5 minutes apart
• Trams every 6 to 10 minutes, 7:00 to 20:00

Add a Cellar Visit Without a Car

The tour does not go to Vouvray, the white-wine appellation east of Tours. The Cave de Vouvray runs through 3 km of troglodytic galleries holding 6 million bottles, and a visit with an aperitif board costs €32 for two, per the Tours tourist office. The Tours City Pass 48h, at €38, also includes a guided tour with tasting at the Cave de Vouvray and a tasting at La Maison Lacheteau in Rochecorbon, on top of castle entries in the city.

Add a Chateau and the Gardens

Since the tour enters no castle, you can pair it with one the next day. The Chaumont-sur-Loire domain lists 10:00 to 17:30 from November to January on its own page. For the castle-by-castle detail, read Chaumont-sur-Loire and Château de Chambord, or see the Loire Valley map to plan the pairing.