Azay le Rideau is magnificent. The chateau and its position are beautiful. The guided tour was very interesting and the restoration of the property allows a better understanding of the skill in construction. Villandry gardens are beautiful sure, but we would have preferred to skip Villandry and spend the extra time at Azay le Rideau.

Our guide SOPHIE was so charming fun and knowledgeable the chateaus were so beautiful. Sophie filled us in on the history of each chateau..excellent guide...a great day spent

Maryann our group leader was A++++ outstanding. She was friendly, knowledgeable, humorous, a safe driver and top notch in every way. I cannot commend her more for the job she did in guiding our adventure. The two main castles were amazing and must-see sights…. almost unimaginable. The van was clean and comfortable to ride in. The time in the van was very tolerable for this big sightseeing trip as it was broken into small pieces going from place to place. That said, the time allowed at the two big castles was way too short! We had to rush on our free time to see just a few of the optional sites at each castle. And felt like we really got shorted on this experience. The needed extra time at the big chateaus would have been easy to add by removing the 3 hour visit to the small chateau where we had a very small, modest, unmemorable lunch. We appreciated seeing how a small privately owned chateau that is not funded by the government pales in comparison to the more glorious French funded chateaus but I would have gladly given up this one part of the day to have more time at the two big chateaus. This shortcoming was not Maryann’s fault, this was the fault of the planning by the tour company. In all, a wonderful opportunity to see the French countryside and two amazing chateaus but too little time to see more of them.

Our tour guide Dimitri was friendly and accommodating. He had good knowledge of the castle history and guided us seamlessly through the day. The castles were extraordinary. The half day was a nice compliment to our full day the day before. If you are wanting to learn more about castles in the Loire Valley and how the people lived during that time - This is a great tour!

Great tour! Guide was very knowledgeable and made us feel comfortable. We had a very fun and relaxing time while still learning something.

A very pleasant trip despite the weather.The château was enjoyable and the gardens of Villandry were special indeed.Cami was a friendly and knowledgeable guide who allowed us to practise our poor French with great patience.Although a wet day we still enjoyed our visit.

Marion was a very personable and informative guide who engaged us with ease. We felt very relaxed and enjoyed the experience very much. Her English is very good.

Perfect way to see these chateaux. We arrived at Azay almost ahead of everyone so had a very good visit, then walk in garden. Quick trip to Villandry and long garden walk, vast and varied sculpted spaces. Wonderful and fast (9:30-1:30).

The tour guide and driver Alex made the tour a wonderful experience. She was bright, knowledgeable, friendly, and created at atmosphere as though we were back in the era.

The Villandry castle was spectacular and the guide was very knowledgeable. And the pace of the tour was perfect.

Let's start with the positives... friendly tour guide with great English! She was lovely, and had a great time generally conversing with her. So I feel bad writing this, but the tour was far from good. Details given in the tour were incorrect - a quick google search about the Tuscany ceiling informed me it was from a dismantled palace...and the tour guide was unsure then said it was from a church. There were other details too that were incorrect, or unknown by the your guide, that I thought were not difficult questions. And the food was not as expected. I eat almost anything other than pork - and no substitute was provided, just a vegetarian salad. Though I was full, I was really looking forward to this, and was not satisfied. Loved the places, but would have leaned more walking the Chateaux on my own, and choosing better options for food from a local place like a market.

My husband and I had a wonderful time with Fabre on the tour and would highly recommend it to our friends and others to try. It was a miserable day with the rain and we truly appreciated Fabre's great sense of humor and giving us a fantastic tour. He was very professional, patient and knowledgeable about all of the Chateaux and wines we discovered that day. I loved the Chateau Villandry the best - the gardens were the best and the rain was the worst and he did not let that hinder our tour in any way. Thank you very, very much. The tour of the private chateau and lunch were very nice. Lovely grounds and garden. Having lunch in the Mill House was very pleasant and lovely. The food was interesting and very good. The wine tour was also excellent even without a tour of the vineyard itself due to the rain. We loved the tastings at Alain Robert and Bredif. The Vouvray wines presented to us were excellent and the snacks served with them were delicious. Our tour guide Fabre was excellent in every aspect and his knowledge of the history of the area and the Chateaux.

We visited Chateaux Villandry and had lunch at Isle. Our tour guide was Daphnie. She was friendly and welcoming guide. Our train from Paris to Tours (TGV) was late by an hour due to a technical issue. She was kind to wait half an hour for us. But the quality of the tour itself isn't upto the mark. They didn't provide us with water bottles as mentioned in the tour give aways. The lunch was really poor. There was hardly something to eat. Just a loaf of "dry" bread and veggies (since we asked them to include veg options), some pieces of boiled pork and a bottle of wine. Did not enjoy as much as I expected we would. Nothing extra ordinary. You don't need to take a tour for such a trip. You can just take a Taxi from Tours Station to the Chateau you want to visit and eat at your choice of restaurant/ Cafe in Tours (which there are many of them!) Wouldn't recommend it.

Agathe met us and gave us a very good day, the highlights of which were the gardens at Villandry and the picnic at Chateau L'Isette. She moved us along at a good pace with good knowledge of the history and a few fun stories. Sitting by the river having the picnic in the sunshine was a complete delight. Thoroughly recommended if the weather is good.

Had a lovely tour of Villandry with Daphne and a private lunch on a small private chateau. Daphne was very pleasant and catered the tour to our liking. Very accommodating and easy to get along with.

Chateau de Villandry was so so. Its garden was huge but rather dull. The private chateau, Chateau I'Islette was beautiful and charming. I fell in love with it the moment we walked it. The picnic was definitely highlight of the entire trip. It was almost as if we were in an enchanting fairy tale setup. The 16th century chateau gave a feeling of residential as the owner still lives there. We met the owner, who gave us a warm welcome. Our tour guide set up the picnic on this little island in the shade facing the chateau. Superb lunch! Even though the lunch was very simple but it was very memorable.

We were very lucky as there were just the two of us on the trip and the guide Agatha was easy to get on with. We started at Villandry with its magnificent gardens. Of the five chateaux that we visited in the Loire Valley this was our favourite. Then on to the private chateau which was in a beautiful setting. We had lunch on the side of the river with Agatha which was a nice touch. Just one minor thing - we are both vegetarian and Agatha thought there was just one of us who was. Consequently the catering could have been a bit better but there was enough for the two of us.

Nice tour! Villandry speaks for itself with the beautiful gardens! Picnic at a private chateau was really nice and an unique experience. Our guide was really nice and knowledgeable and spoke 100% french when I asked her to =) (i'm a french student)

The gardens here are huge and offer great variety. It can take some time to walk through them so make sure to schedule appropriately. We enjoyed smelling the roses with the wonderful fragrances.

I was picked up in the small town of Amboise, Loire Valley by the lovely tour guide Lara. I was the only one in that town so she came especially to pick me up and then we met the others in Tours to commence the afternoon. She was multi-lingual and moved with ease from English to French to Spanish for the group. The mini-van was a nice intimate group size and she was very friendly as well as organised with moving from one place to the next on time. The gardens of Villandry were amazing but Azay-le-Rideau was the prettiest I have seen. We finished with some lovely aperitifs at the Family Castle. I don't like long day tours so this shorter schedule suited me fine.