Château de Chambord Map: Parking, Paths and Where the Tours Meet
A château in a 5,440-hectare park, with the car parks half a kilometre out, a village square between you and the door, and tours that meet anywhere from a Paris pavement to a Loire tourist office. Here is how the estate fits together, and where the Chambord day trips from Paris actually start.
How the estate is laid out
Picture the château at the centre with the Cosson canal in front of it. The French formal gardens sit on the far side of the building from the village, and the stables of the Maréchal de Saxe, where the horse show runs, are close by. Around all of it stretches the park, inside a wall 32 kilometres long.
You arrive on the village side. The car parks lie to the west, the reception hall and ticket office sit between them and the château, and Place Saint-Louis is the square of shops and restaurants you cross on the way.
Where you park, and how far you walk
| Car park | For | Walk to the château | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| P0 | Cars and motorbikes under 2.10 m | 600 m | €8 a day |
| P1 | Coaches and minibuses | 600 m | €100 / €15, free with enough château tickets |
| P2 | Cars, campervans, vehicles over 2.10 m | 750 m | €8 a day, €15 for 24 h |
| P3 | Cars only | 850 m | €8 a day |
Pay at the terminals as soon as you arrive. They take cards at any hour; cash is only taken at the reception hall in the daytime. You can stay overnight in P2, but it is not a campsite.
From the car parks you walk through the reception hall, where the ticket office is, and out onto Place Saint-Louis. Its restaurants, wine shop and biscuit shop stay open all year, and the tourist information office stands on the square. From there the château is a short walk across the forecourt.
Keep your ticket handy and use the free lockers at the château entrance for anything larger than 55 by 35 by 20 centimetres.
Where the tours actually meet
Most tours listed here start a long way from Chambord, and the meeting point is the single most useful line on each listing. Here is every one, grouped by place.
| Meeting point | Tours that start there |
|---|---|
| 3 Avenue du Roi, Chambord | Guided visit of the Château de Chambord |
| Amboise tourist office, Quai du Général de Gaulle | From Amboise : Full-Day Chambord & Chenonceau Chateaux |
| At the château de Chambord | Chambord: Entry Ticket to the Castle |
| Catacombs of Paris entrance, Denfert-Rochereau | Loire Valley Castles Day Trip from Paris with Complementary Wine |
| Hotel pickup in Paris | Loire Castles Chenonceau, Chambord & 2 Wineries Private Trip Loire Valley Wine & Castle Tour from Paris With Tasting & Pickup |
| La Flamme, 6 Avenue de Wagram, Paris | Loire Valley Wine and Castles Small-Group Day Trip from Paris |
| Paris - the private car collects you | Day Trip to Loire Castles – Private & Customizable from Paris |
| Place Saint-Louis, Chambord, outside the tourist information office | Chambord Castle: Private Guided Walking Tour |
| Pullman Paris Centre Bercy | From Paris: Full-Day Loire Valley Chateaux Tour |
| Pullman Paris Centre Bercy, 1 Rue de Libourne | Guided Loire Valley Day Trip with Chambord, Chenonceau & Cheverny |
| Tours tourist office at 9:00, or Amboise tourist office at 9:30 | Loire Valley Day Tour Chambord and Chenonceau plus Lunch at a Private Castle Day Tour of Chateaux of Chenonceau & Chambord from Tours/Amboise Loire Valley Tour Chambord and Chenonceau from Tours or Amboise Day Tour of Chateaux of Chenonceau, Chambord & Caves Ambacia from Tours/Amboise |
| Tours tourist office, 78 Rue Bernard Palissy | Day Tour to Chenonceau and Chambord Castles |
The two meeting points at Chambord itself are the tourist office on Place Saint-Louis, for the private walking tour, and 3 Avenue du Roi, for the small-group guided visit. The Loire minivans pick up outside the tourist offices in Tours at 9:00 and Amboise at 9:30.
By train: Blois and the Rémi shuttle
Trains from Paris reach Blois-Chambord station in about 80 minutes. From the station, the Rémi line 2 shuttle runs to the château for €3.30 each way, paid to the driver, and stops on the François 1er road at the end of the P1 car park. It can carry six bikes if you book by 17:00 the day before.
A taxi from Blois takes about 25 minutes and runs round the clock. Book your return before you set off, and keep your train ticket: it gets you the reduced château rate the same day.
The paths beyond the gardens, and where to stand
From the château you can walk straight into the park. The four-kilometre canal circuit starts by the water, and the Grande Promenade runs more than twenty kilometres through the forest, including the Avenue du Roi to the south facade. The jetty, where you hire punts, bikes and electric cars, sits on the canal near the château.
The reception desk hands out a trail map in French and English, and the estate publishes it online.
The picture everyone knows is the château reflected in the canal, taken from the water’s edge on the village side. For the whole pattern of the gardens, go up to the roof terraces and look down. For the long view, walk out along one of the avenues and turn round. The photo spots post sets out the best times of day.
Where to check these figures
Every figure above comes from the Domaine national de Chambord’s own published pages, listed below. Hours and rates move, so check yours before you travel.
Tickets and hours are on visiting Chambord, the park itself on the park page, and every meeting point again on each card at Château de Chambord Tours.