Talk to me about the Loire Valley (France) with a 9 year old son. Advice needed!

[thetravellingtrio]

Just that really!
It's been my mum's dream to go to the Loire Valley for as long as I can remember. She's decided that she'd like to go there next spring time for her milestone birthday.
Has asked if I'd like to go and I'd love to. Issue is that I'm a single parent to a 9 year old son and I can't imagine it's his idea of a "fun" holiday.
Mum wants to spend time exploring the famous chateaux and surroundings but I need to balance this will something that would be enjoyable for my son.
He likes to be on the go, very sporty and also enjoys train travel when abroad. I wouldn't be selfish enough to spend the whole trip dragging him around various chateaux as I know this would be miserable and boring for him, especially as he doesn't speak French (I do).
So, I'm just looking for ideas from people who have travelled to the Loire Valley with children on how to keep them entertained and out of mischief :)
We'll be on public transport, car hire isn't an option for us.
Which is the best airport to fly into and town to base ourselves in?
We'll probably be there for around 4 or 5 days.
Thanks for any advice :)

We spent a few holidays in the Loire with children this age. They loved Saumur; it’s a proper castle with dungeons, horses and armour. I seem to remember lakes for swimming and plenty of frites and ice cream.

Some of the chateaux offer chocolate tasting, olive oil tasting went down well too. Mine were 8&10 and we stayed in saumur . Hired bikes, kayaks boat trip

We took bikes and would visit a chateau briefly and then cycle around the grounds. We also hired some kayaks. On a rainy day we took a trip to LeMans which was great.

Lots of châteauxput on events specifically aimed at kids eg jousting at my local one, assuming the holidays coincide with French ones.

Troglodyte caves, excellent cycling, boat tours.....

You can fly into Tours easily and then get the tram into the town from the airport, which stops at the train station so provides easy access to other towns. Equally the TGV from Paris is quick and easy. A lot of the chateau are visitable by train or the tourist office in many of the bigger towns do organised trips by minibus for the ones that are more rural. Our kids have loved the chateau trips and exploring, but their highlight was the evening culture- sitting in the squares, giving them a bit of freedom to pop over to the ice cream shop etc (my eldest was 10 when we went). They still talk about it now even though we didn’t do any children’s activities at all- they just loved soaking up the lifestyle.

We stayed at Chinon, hired bikes and cycled to the Chateau de Rivau, which has fairytale themed gardens with all these amazing sculptures in- definitely aimed at kids. There is also a world class (and fun!) art exhibition inside.

The other thing we did was row down the river Cher (a tributary of the Loire) and right under the arches of the famous Chateau de Chenonceau. It was stunning. We had our own boat, but there is a kayak hire place a mile or two downstream, and I think some upstream, too.

I would also have liked (but didn't have time) to have explored some of the underground troglodyte dwellings and attractions around Saumur.

Near the mouth of the Loire is Nantes, which is a really interesting city (a bit like a French Bristol), and the old dockyard island in the middle of the Loire has all kind of cool stuff for kids, most famous of which is Les Machines de l'Ile, which is just....World class. It's the place with the enormous mechanical elephant....honestly, I can't recommend it enough!

Fantastic zoo at Doue https://www.bioparc-zoo.fr/en/your-visit/

And the tank museum at Saumur https://museedesblindes.fr/

Zooparc beauval is a nice day out. The light show at the cathedral in Orleans at night is breathtaking and the river has a nice vibe to it where you can see dancing in the evening.
Seem to remember a decent swimming part of the Loire in amboise and like everyone else says, hiring bikes is defo the way to see some sights.
We even saw kids in wine tastings, as the learning and caves were still quite interesting to them I think.
The Loire is enormous so you will find plenty to do! You can also fit Paris in a trip that way, we did twice in the last couple of years.
I love it there, I want to move to the Loire valley sigh

I really liked Saumur, you can stay at the Flowers chalet campsite which is walkable into the lovely town and there is a chateau. We did wine tasting in the troglodyte caves. Well, the kids didn’t but the came along.

I was in Tours last night. We stayed in the Ibis Styles and it was wonderful. There's a swimming pool, climbing frame, and other things for kids, one of the best breakfasts I've had in France, and friendly, helpful staff. We often use Ibis hotels but this one really stood out. For dinner we opted for the €19 menu (2 courses) and the food was excellent.

Your dc may like the saumur tank museum.

Anyone been to Chambord?

@IlPorcupinoNilSodomyEst would you explain your username? 😂

We stayed at Terrasses de Saumur. Just out of town, with a good pool and the rooms are like small chalets with 2 floors. If you have a car it's a good location. E we're there as a couple, and looking at some of the historic sites, linked to the Plantagets. If you got him interested in that period of history, knights, castles, etc he may enjoy the defensive castles rather than the pretty chateau. There is boat hire on the river, but I loved going round castles when I was his age, and my DC did. Spark their imagination, Fontevraud Abbaye is worth a visit if you are close by.

loire-gites.com

we stayed here in one if the gites, although you can also camp. Lovely site run by a lovely English couple. Would recommend.

We've stayed at a Eurocamp near to chambord. The chateau is breathtaking.

I bet there will be some high ropes go ape style places, in French they are called Accrobranche and my kids love them!

DS might like some of the small theme parks that you can find in France, like this one. There's also bigger places like Futuroscope and Puy du Fou.

@BaronessBomburst A Terry Pratchett thing - Nanny Ogg sings 'the hedgehog can never be buggered at all'!

Clearing my Mums house I found pictures of us at a tank museum in the early 80s- looked great . I wasn't sure where we were but your post has triggered a memory of a holiday in Samur- thank you

@Gazelda we went to Chambord. It is stunning, isn't it! 😀

Puy de Fou is awesome for primary age kids with any interest in history

Lots of good suggestions for activities.
I've been to France many times with my DDs. My top tip is stay somewhere with a pool. Then you can do a variety of activities but come home to the pool or even stay by the pool some days depending how long you are there.

Mine are in their twenties and late teens and they still talk about buying french pony magazines and ordering their own ice creams when they were around 9 or 10. Also caves and lakes!

My experience of travelling around the Loire valley last year we were travelling by car and did loads of chateau’s ( no kids) was that everyone we met spoke English apart from one lady in a tourist place and even there we were able to get by with my frankly awful French. We also went to Le Mans great museum if your son likes cars and we were luckily there when they were doing some bike racing so very exciting.