Private tour of Loire Valley Castles from Paris

In private group of 7 people, you'll leave central Paris in direction of the Loire Valley for a day of immersion in French Kings life. You'll visit Chenonceau, Amboise, Chambord

You'll head first to the Chenonceau Castle, a Renaissance style castle that always belonged to women. It was built in 1513 by Katherine Briçonnet, and successively embellished by Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de Medici and Madame Dupin. The castle is surrounded by a vast, 70 hectares large park.

The tour continues to Chambord Castle begun by Francis I. He wanted a castle combining traditional French style with an Italian Renaissance style and invited Leonardo da Vinci to implement the project. One of the most striking monuments of the castle is the famous "double revolution" staircase. It consists of two spirals which cross over each other. The double ramp seems to be a single ramp, yet it allows people to climb without being seen by those who go down, and the two ramps never cross.

The Royal Château of Amboise was built in the 15th-16th centuries and became a favorite royal residence, after extensive renovations in 1431. The famous conspiracy of the Huguenots was discovered in Amboise, as they failed to gain power of France. Conspirators were hanged from the balcony of the castle, overlooking the Loire.

In the Clos Lucé castle, you can see the restored sketches of Leonardo inventions including models of a helicopter, swing bridge, tanks, paddle boats, machine gun, water wheel etc. Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life in the very comfortable castle the Clos Lucé provided by Francis I.