Amboise

The Château royal, Clos Lucé and Chenonceau from Amboise

Amboise and Chenonceau together need two days. Spend day one at the Château royal, including Leonardo's tomb in the Chapelle Saint-Hubert, and at Clos Lucé, where he lived and died. On day two, cycle through the forest to the Pagode de Chanteloup and on to Chenonceau, which spans the Cher.

Day one, morning. Be at the gate of the Château royal when it opens. Start on the terrace, where the view up and down the Loire explains why kings wanted this rock, then walk through the royal wing and finish at the Chapelle Saint-Hubert, whose carved lintel sits above Leonardo's tomb. The gardens on the ramparts are the place to catch your breath.

Afternoon. Walk up Rue Victor Hugo to Clos Lucé. The bedroom where Leonardo died and his workshop take an hour; the park, with its life-size machines built from his notebooks, takes as long again and is where children come alive. On the way back down, stop at the Hôtel Morin for the town museum.

Evening. Eat on Rue Nationale or by the river, then cross to the Île d'Or to see the château floodlit.

Day two. Hire a bike and ride south through the forest to the Pagode de Chanteloup; climb its seven storeys for the view over the forest. Carry on to Chenonceau, which spans the Cher on its arches, and give it the whole afternoon, gallery, kitchens and gardens. Ride or drive back for a last dinner with a glass of Montlouis.

Rillettes, fouées and Loire wine in Amboise

Touraine cooking in Amboise runs on pork, goat cheese and wine. Try rillettes de Tours and rillons, Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine goat cheese from the Sunday market by the Loire, and fouées, wood-oven bread rounds filled with rillettes or cheese. Drink Touraine-Amboise, or Chenin Blanc from Montlouis and Vouvray, where many cellars are cut into tufa.

Touraine cooking is pork, goat cheese and wine, and Amboise serves all three without fuss. Rillettes de Tours, pork cooked slowly in its own fat and pulled into coarse strands, come in jars at every charcuterie and in a pot on most restaurant tables. Their richer cousin, rillons, are chunks of belly browned until crisp at the edges, served warm or cold.

For cheese, look for Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine, a log of goat's milk dusted with ash and pierced lengthwise by a rye straw that carries the producer's mark. It is sold at every stage from fresh and mild to dry and sharp, and the Sunday market by the Loire is the place to taste your way through.

Some restaurants and guinguettes on the river bake fouées, small rounds of bread dough puffed in a wood oven and split open to be filled with rillettes, goat cheese or white beans. They make a cheap, filling lunch.

The wine to drink is local. The Touraine-Amboise appellation covers vineyards right around town, and Chenin Blanc from Montlouis, across the river towards Tours, and Vouvray, on the north bank, runs from bone dry to sweet to sparkling. Several producers in the area open their cellars, many of them cut into the same tufa as the houses on Rue Victor Hugo.

Chenonceau, Chaumont, Blois and Villandry within reach of Amboise

Amboise is close to the main Loire châteaux. Chenonceau is about 15 minutes south, Chaumont-sur-Loire hosts the International Garden Festival from spring to autumn, Blois is about 20 minutes by train, and Villandry's kitchen gardens peak in June. The Loire à Vélo path links Amboise and Tours. Plan one big château a day.

Amboise sits at the centre of the château country, and its best day trips are close enough to reach by bike on the Loire à Vélo path or in under half an hour by car.

Chenonceau, about 15 minutes south, needs no introduction: the château bridging the Cher, with its long gallery over the water. Go at opening or in the last two hours of the day; between those it can feel like a queue. Chaumont-sur-Loire, upstream towards Blois, pairs a château on a bluff with the International Garden Festival, held from spring to autumn, when designers lay out themed gardens in the park. It rewards a slow half day.

Further upstream, Blois has the château with the open spiral staircase of François I and a pleasant old town; trains get there in about 20 minutes. Downriver, beyond Tours, the formal kitchen gardens of Villandry are at their best in June when the vegetable beds are full.

Closer still, the riverside villages make short rides. Montlouis-sur-Loire and Vouvray have wine caves to visit, and the Loire à Vélo path between Amboise and Tours runs mostly flat beside the water. Pick one big château a day. Trying to do three in a day leaves you seeing mostly queues and car parks.