In March 2021, I moved to France for work. When I arrived in France, covid restrictions prevented my ability to get out and see anything. Once May 2021 rolled around, my family luckily were approved French long stay visas! It wasn’t too long after their arrival, France decided it was time to roll back the restrictions! What a relief! So what is our first adventure going to be?

We decided our first adventure out in France would be Château de Chambord.

In 1519, King François I seized 6200 acres of farmlands creating the Château de Chambord grounds, but in 1645 the duke of Orléans expanded the castle grounds and completed the 32km wall fencing in the property. And thus, Château de Chambord became the largest château in the Loire valley spanning 13500 acres with a perimeter wall running around the castle grounds.

Château de Chambord was not complete until under King Louis XIV. The architecture of this château is absolutely breathtaking and is a world treasure representing the French Renaissance through its design. At the heart of Château de Chambord is the Leonardo Di Vinci inspired double helix staircase.

Château de Chambord offers plenty to see during a visit or even a holiday stay on the château lands. Relais de Chambord is a hotel that offers you the ability to stay on grounds for a vacation in a two person only room if you desire to enjoy more of this UNIESCO world site. If you want to admire the art, decor, and architecture of Château de Chambord, you have the ability with a self guided tour. My wife, Beth, loved walking around with the self guided tour equipment to learn of the history of everything displayed at this site. It even boasts a scavenger hunt to find medallions placed in various rooms of the château!

If you are a lover of nature and animal photography, the château grounds offer you an oasis to see different animals such as stags, boar, horses, and a diverse bird population of 150 species. If you travel to France and enjoy partaking in sampling of wines, Château de Chambord offers wine made from the vineyards on site. If you are plantsman and enjoy a leisurely stroll through gardens, you have that option as well!

We attended a live performance show that told the story of Château de Chambord. The narration and the dialogue from the actors/actresses is spoken in their native French creating some confusion for my family. Our French is not on that level yet! We still found it rather entertaining as the scenes were well coordinated with horse riding, stunts, and tricks, trained hawks, and the animation from the actors/actresses acting out the scenes in the performance. It is something definitely not to miss if you visit Château de Chambord. Though you may not speak French like us, the show had us laughing, sitting on the edge of our seats, and our hearts pounding for fear of the talented riders performing acrobatics.

Seeing is believe I guess, but after visiting the impressive Château de Chambord just for an afternoon excursion I can understand why this is a world known château! You have options if you decide to come visit Château de Chambord. If you want to stay on the grounds, I looked up the price of Relais de Chambord and it will set you back over $200/night. If you want to stay close but don’t mind a 20 minute drive, you can stay in a hotel or AirBnB in Blois. The ticket price to enter Château de Chambord is roughly $16 per ticket.

I believe Château de Chambord meets the expectations of an ideal fairy tale castle. I highly recommend a stop at this UNESCO world site. Would you visit Château de Chambord if you visited France?