Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire

The architecture of the castle is very impressive, but the inside doesn’t fully live up to the expectations. There are some specific pieces of furniture inside that are unique though. Also, to be honest, the presence of contemporary art does not fit at all in some of the rooms

The gardens and the outside of the castle look great, we didn’t come in the full flower season, so I’m sure it would be beautiful. The inside of the castle is just ok, it’s not maintained nearly as well as other castles in the area and half of it was closed off for maintenance. The castle showcases a lot of exhibitions and if that’s your thing great, it wasn’t ours. For 18 euros person its underwhelming for the price being charged. It’s probably worth a visit if you have time, but it’s certainly not a repeat visit.

The chateau is ok, but the gardens are spectacular. Like a permanent display of artistic garden concepts from the temporary Chelsea Flower show in the UK.

Wonderful discovery at my third your of Loira's Castles! Don't know how I missed this gem before! The castle is not enormous and the ticket is honestly a little bit pricey, but the whole ensemble (castle, exhibitions and gardens) are really worth it! Take some time for this nice castle because the gardens are huge!

It is very small but very pretty inside. What I did not like is modern art. I loved gardens and the view. You don't really have a good cafe to sit and enjoy the coffee. We were done very quickly.

Gardens were cool to see. More creative art than Gardens. Definitely worth a visit

So beautiful, the chateau, the art collection and the gardens... very intresting and outstanding

We have to say. Wow. What a great experience. The gardens are outstanding and so diverse. The Chateau is beautiful and please do not miss out the stables visit. A long walk around the gardens is a must and well worth the effort to take it all in. We will visit again for sure

This chateau here is one of the most beautiful in the Loire Valley. Really picture perfect example of a fairytale castle. Easy to access with parking closeby. Public restrooms, restaurants, many exhibitions, a wonderful park with valley views and amazing gardens. Well worth the entrance fee of 20 Euros. There's lots to see and do. The castle was built as it is today in the late 15th / early 16th Century. But was originally founded in the 10th century. Protected as a monument historique since 1840, the château was given into state ownership in 1938 and is now open to the public. It belonged to the Amboise family for five centuries. Pierre d'Amboise unsuccessfully rebelled against King Louis XI and his property was confiscated, and the castle was dismantled on royal order in 1465. It was later rebuilt by Charles I d'Amboise from 1465 to 1475 and then finished by his son, Charles II d'Amboise de Chaumont. The chateau itself is such a wonderful sight. And despite many visitors it's easy possible to get some great views and pictures of it. The grounds are very big, so it never feels crowded. It's just a beautiful piece of art and history. Besides the chateau there is a wonderful park area with picnic spots, many options to sit down and rest to enjoy the views of the castle and the valley. Makes a lovely circular walk through the park. Then there are the gardens. An amazing place - with its many paths and ways it feels like a maze at times. Nice to just wander around and to get lost a bit. Wonderful trees, bushes, flowers and more. Some greenhouses as well. It's a lovely place to be and to walk around. This Chateau and grounds are really impressive. One of the best castle experiences we've had yet. You can spend easily a whole day here. Always something new to explore. And: Dogs are welcome as well here. Our Bulldog enjoyed. And so did we. Highly recommended.

This chateau is about 4.5 star. The visit need 4 hours. It is because the compound has several regions to visit. The area includes the castle, middle garden, herb garden, front garden and the stable. This chateau is established in early 10 century. Later it was burn down and rebuilt at 15 century. Later the chateau was bought by Catherine de Medici at mid 15 century. The castle is beautiful for the round tower make up the beauty of the chateau. Since it was own and decorated by Catherine de Medici, the interior decoration is beautiful. I like the creative tile floor with tapestry. There is room like library but the book is make from luminaire stone. There is a beautiful chapel in the castle. The stable is beautiful and comfortable for each horse. There are some art display in the stable. The herb garden is interesting. But the garden on the front is more beautiful. The compound actual has more buildings to explore.

Great chateau that has incorporated history with modern art All throughout the house and grounds, there are a variety art installations ranging from modern to classic and they have incorporated the artworks into their "everyday" displays in a pleasing way We saw the coolest geode display in the stables that held thousands of white / clear geodes and in the center was one, lone, amethyst geode. Extremely cool! The grounds are lovely and expansive. We visited the main house, the stables, and the gardens. Their wooded & river area offered bikes and paddle boats and there were black swans along the water - very awesome Their Orangerie held nice cakes and cold drinks - fantastic way to spend the afternoon!

The reason I picked this castle over the others was simply because it resembles a Disney castle, well at least from the outside. The Chateau de Chaumont was built in the 15th and 16th century primarily for defense purposes, and this is obvious from the fact that one has to access a steep road leading up to the castle. After Catherine de Medici kicked Diane de Poitiers out of Chateau de Chenonceau, she exchanged Chenonceau for Chaumont. A walk inside the Chateau de Chaumont takes you through the bedrooms of Catherine de Medici and Diane de Poitiers, the kitchen and the dining room. It leads up to the courtyard from where the beautiful views of Loire River await you. Check out the well-maintained stables in the property. If you visit the castle between April and October, you should not miss the popular Garden Festival.

I rode my rental bike here from Blois and had an excellent ride, but was quite disappointed in the château and grounds. A lot of the furniture is on loan from other châteaux or museums. I don't know if that's the case at other châteaux, but at Chaumont, I could really tell. Everything seemed out of place. Another very distracting feature of this château is that there are enormous modern art installations everywhere. I suppose that's nice if you're into photography and art, but for me, it really took away from my enjoyment of the château. For example, I wanted to poke around the kitchens and servant area, but there was a luminous crystal growth pool in one room and giant flower photography in another. I sprang for the combo ticket which included admission to the International Garden Festival, but it was *also* super artsy and hard to enjoy. Like... the plants were neat, but they were in these themed installations with little plaques in front like "Submarine allows you to experience the feeling of being in a Venus Fly Trap first-hand. Close your eyes and imagine being digested alive." Cool for art school fanatics, weird for me. And I think the large amounts of dirt or fertilizer made the grounds smell like old milk in a way that I didn't experience at any other château I visited. A lackluster experience. I wouldn't go back.

Chaumont is beautiful on the outside with an amazing park and gardens, however I was not as impressed with the inside as i was with the rest of the chateaus in the Loire Valley. This one still needs a lot of work to be restored and maintained. There are a few rooms that look great and you can see the history but then as you go up stairs, you are taken into an area that looks really creepy and almost like you are walking through a haunted house. The rooms look like there was either a fire or just destroyed with age and turned into some type of "gallery". It almost felt like I wasn't suppose to walk through there.