Loire/Tours - Best Place to Stay?

[TrishT]

Can anyone recommend the best place to base ourselves for a trip to the Loire Valley?  We are thinking of staying in Tours as we want somewhere that has a good choice of eateries and is busy at night.  However we're not sure which part of Tours would be best for us as we'll be on foot in the evenings so don't want to stay 'out of it'. 

[Tourangelle]

Tours is a fantastic place to stay, it is a vibrant small city, which retains its character even when there are loads of tourists, unlike neighbouring Amboise, Loches or Chinon - these are all great places to visit though. There are lots of good restaurants, although there are some tourist traps too! I would recommend Le petit patrimoine on rue Colbert (for really authentic - in a good way, local food) and le Picrocole on the rue du Grand Marché, which is one of the best in a road full of restaurants, some of which are a bit dodgy. For sitting out in the evening nothing beats Place Plumereau, which is the old square with the half timber houses in it, my favourite cafe is Le vieux murier. In summer the area of Place Jean Jaures also has a couple of nice cafes and can be quite animated in the evening.

The city itself is lovely, a walk along the Loire in the evening is very nice. If you are there on a Saturday or Wednesday morning the flower market on boulevard Beranger is worth a look. The covered market on the Place des Halles has loads of great food in it if you ever want to picnic, local rillettes and St Maure cheese, the like of which is found nowhere else!

Basically when you are looking for a hotel, you want to be in the part of the city between the two rivers, the Loire and the Cher. Anywhere north of the place Jean Jaures, where the hotel de ville is, up until the Loire is a good plan, because everything is easily accessible by foot. If you do go south of the Place Jean Jaures don't go too far down the Avenue de Grammont because there is nothing there.

Hope this helps!

[TrishT]

[quote]Tours is a fantastic place to stay, it is a vibrant small city, which retains its character even when there are loads of tourists, unlike neighbouring Amboise, Loches or Chinon - these are all great p...[/quote]

Brilliant. This is exactly the information I wanted.  Sounds great & really looking forward to going. Thank you very much.