Tours City in France: A Complete Travel Guide

Last Updated on June 7, 2024 by Roslin Dwivedi

Tours is a charming city in France that offers a delightful mix of historical charm, cultural richness, culinary delights and natural beauty. It’s a perfect French experience destination.

Right from its history to its present beauty, the city of Tours (France) has so much to offer. Tours history, dating back to Roman times. The city played a significant role during the medieval period and the Renaissance.

Cathedral of Saint Gatien is a masterpiece with stunning stained glass windows and impressive architecture.

The old town, with its half-timbered houses and narrow streets are a charming peek into medieval life.

Tours is also known for its vibrant cultural scene. Musee des Beaux-Art houses an extensive collection of paintings and sculptures. Where as, Château de Tours, a historic castle that hosts various exhibitions and cultural events.

Tours often called the “Garden of France,” renowned for its food and wine, the city offers traditional French dishes, markets, and fine dining. Loire Valley’s Vouvray and Chinon wines are some of the best in the world, so don’t loose the chance to taste them.

Tours is ideally located in the centre of Loire Valley and a gateway to explore the chateaux de Loire Valley. The Loire Valley offers scenic cycling routes and river activities such as boating and kayaking.

Major universities makes Tours a youthful and dynamic city. Having a great connectivity by train and road, makes it easily accessible. TGV, High-speed trains connect Tours to Paris in about an hour, that’s a great opportunity for a convenient day trip or a longer stay.

The city hosts numerous festivals and events throughout the year.

Tours sur Loire, featuring concerts, entertainment, and activities along the banks of the Loire River.

Christmas Market: A festive holiday market that attracts visitors with its charming stalls and holiday cheer.

On our Tours city exploration something amazing happened, As we walked and admired the city we stumbled upon a crowded place. Our luck brought us to this grandeur wine tasting festival, called Viti Loire in Tours, France. We didn’t get a chance to go for one of those wine tasting tours on our Paris trip and here we were enjoying the local wines from Loire region.

finally, Tours and its surroundings are known for their picturesque landscapes.

And these are the reasons why you should visit the city of Tours in France.

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Things to do in Tours, France in one day

Jardin de la Préfecture

The festival was held in the Jardin de la Préfecture (in easy words Préfecture Garden). Opposite the train station. A beautiful, elegant garden with plane trees, chestnut trees, and a small lake. Also has a statue of writer Anatole France. You can spend some time over here if you like to see the Gardens.

The city of Tours is not huge, but you can walk and visit the place. Because we had a baby, we decided to go directly to these tourist attractions and have a look. 

Cathédrale Saint-Gatien

In our search for Tours attractions, we found a Church. It is called Cathedral: St Gatien de Tours. Built between 1170 to 1547 (when it was completed). The cathedral was established to honour the first canonized bishop of Tours, Saint Gatien. The outside of the cathedral is as remarkable as the interior, with its Gothic windows, facade with Renaissance pinnacles and flying buttresses. The architecture is imposing. The cathedral has been a classified monument Historique (a national heritage site) since 1862.

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours

Near to the cathedral you can visit the museum. The former archbishop’s palace is now an art museum. It exhibits magnificent collections. We couldn’t visit inside of the museum, it was late by the time we reached over there. But definitely, a beautiful place to see some terrific arts from renowned artists from their times and history of tours. 

Château de Tours

The Château de Tours was the residence of the Lords of France. Built-in the 11th century, the castle featured an architecture of the Carolingian period. The Royal Castle of Tours used as an aquarium where about 1,500 fish of 200 different species could be seen. It also served as Grévin museum. We saw the castle from outside. As it was closed by the time we reached. You can also have a glimpse of it from the road. 

Pont de Fil or Pont de Saint Symphorien

Pont de Fil or Pont de Saint Symphorien is a calm pedestrian and bike bridge on the river Loire. We reached this bridge while evening stroll, which provided a picturesque view of the river, bridge and town.

Rue Colbert street

Rue Colbert street full of gastronomy. Being a foodie, I wanted to taste and try in all the restaurants, but my husband’s choice won, and we ate Indian food. The restaurant Le Palais du Rajah (Rajasthan) is probably good for the people living in Tours or other foreigners. Indian restaurants out of India, prepare Indian food extra spicy as soon as they see Indian customers. 

We met a fantastic local old couple, and we had a lovely talk over dinner. I love meeting local people and talking to them to know their life at the place. I suggest you have at least one dinner over here. The location offers diverse cuisine and is buoyant in dusks.

Place Plumereau

Not far from Rue Colbert you can walk up to the Place Plumereau, another sparkling and cheerful medieval place in Vieux Tours. Where you can find half-timbered houses. This is an old town of Tours, and it’s impressive to see how they have kept it preserved.

On our half-day of Tours visit, we loved the place. And won’t mind going back. Who knows we may end up making a plan only to see the Viti Loire festival, but this time with a foolproof plan to absorb the most juice out of it. We will eat in one of the restaurants at Rue Colbert street again, probably the first one in the row. Where they were serving an enormous round platter with different food in a bowl. I wonder what those dishes would be. It would be lovely strolling at the nightfall at Place Plumereau and enjoy the nightlife a bit more.

Viti Loire Festival at the city of Tours (France)

The scene at the festival was so cheerful. People chatting and laughing with a glass of wine, some were in the action, pouring the wine to their friends and family, everyone tasting the unique wines, local made wines and some talking to the booth owners about their wines, gathering all sorts of informations.

Extended scenes were the picnic tables covered by people that were arranged around the trees and many standing at the stall enjoying some local food tasting. There were cooking demonstrations by local chefs, on how to make classic French dessert.

Exciting, isn’t it? The atmosphere so festive that no one wants to leave. We loved that and stayed to enjoy it until the place started getting slow. and people left with crates of local wines they bought from the festival.

Viti Loire wine festival is an open-air exhibition for the local wineries of the region, an opportunity to taste authentic regional food with some top chefs from the Loire region. This festival gives you a glimpse of the heritage and culture of the area. You can look for this festival, happening every year in May over here.

Approximately 150 plus winegrowers and professionals participate in this festival. Viti Loire wine festival is visited by approximately 35,000 visitors every year (Figure facts from Vitiloire website).
How lucky is that? This was a great surprise for us. We only had to pay 6 Euros each for the entry ticket in Vita Loire Festival. They provided us with a list of the local wine stalls participanted and a glass printed Viti Loire on it to taste the wines and buy it if you like.
We saw many people left with crates full of wines. And yearned to the fact that we couldn’t travel back to Seychelles with a wine full crates.

With this incident, I learnt we need to look for the festivals and exhibitions around the town prior to our visit.

However, we planned to visit the Loire valley the next day. A unique place to spend a day or two traversing all the french castles.

You can read about the adventure here : Travel tips for Loire Valley and our one day trip to Loire Valley .  

How to reach the city of Tours from Paris (France)

Tours is a centre of France and an easy drive to the Loire Valley chateaux.
Tours is easily accessible from Paris. The city is around an hour away by train and about two hours by car.
Train connections from Paris are numerous and quick. You can take the TGV (high-speed train) from Montparnasse train station in Paris direct to Tours.
If you are travelling by a car from Paris, take the A10 motorway towards Bordeaux.

Where to stay in the city of Tours (France) 

Tours was our next stop after Paris, to visit Loire Valley the next day, as I mentioned earlier its a traditional gateway for Loire Valley.

The plan was to catch an early morning train to Paris to change and catch another train for Geneva from Paris.

We booked 2 nights in the Novotel Hotel Tours centre Gare next to the railway station Gare de Tours came out to be a great decision.

The hotel is a convenient place for exploring the city of Tours as it’s in the city’s centre. 

Our room was not that big but spacious enough for 2 Adults and 1 child (baby). Though the crawling space for our 10 months old wasn’t sufficient, he always found some.

The room included a wall-mounted TV, a writing table and a chair, a 2 seater Sofa, a luggage rack attached with a side table and had tea/coffee set up and also a mini-fridge. Those paper cups were a let down, It felt strange as the hotel claims the 4-star category for itself. Not forgetting to mention the wall to wall, huge glass windows opened to a lovely city view.

We had a pleasant stay at the hotel except they don’t replenish your tea/coffee set up once it’s used for the day.

Good facts about hotel are:

1. Their buffet breakfast buffet is basic but nice.
2. The hotel has its own free car parking second reason to choose this hotel. Not many hotels in Europe provide free parking. And it can get expensive if you have to pay everywhere you go for parking. So be aware of this fact too while choosing the car option.

There are many budget hotels around the station. The town is small but offers many good hotels to stay in.

How to get around Tours and Loire Valley

Upon reaching the station of Tours we marched straight towards the Avis car rentals, to book the car. We found out that they did have any car available at the time. But later in the day they called us to inform about arranging one for us.

We rented the car mainly to drive around Loire valley the next day. We got Peugeot 208 for around 80 USD a day.

Other way to go to Loire Valley is to take the local train.

Near the hotel, there are many interesting cafes and restaurants. But unfortunately, most of the shops and restaurants were closed. We saw a Vietnamese restaurant open and rushed to find out they do serve Chinese, but this was authentic Chinese, not the ones most Indians like. Anyway having plain Chinese was better than starving.

We wandered to some narrow roads, small shops, around the banks of the river Loire and a bridge (Pont de Fil) over it.

Walking back to our car, we found a intriguing place , a street full of various restaurants offering a variety of cuisine. 

Tips to visit the city of Tours in France

Visiting Tours can be a delightful experience with the right planning. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your visit:

1. Timing Your Visit

• Best Time to Visit: Spring (April to June) and autumn (September to October) offer pleasant weather and fewer crowds. Summer is also beautiful but can be busier with tourists.
• Festival Season: If you enjoy festivals, consider visiting during events like Tours sur Loire in the summer or the Christmas Market in December.
• Weekend Day Trip: While making plans for Tours, try to go on weekends so that you don’t have difficulty in getting parking. Most hotels in Tours have car parks in the hotel, so again no problem of paid parking.

2. Accommodation

• Location: Stay in the old town area (Vieux Tours) for charming surroundings and proximity to major attractions. Alternatively, consider staying near the train station for convenience.
• Types of Accommodation: Tours offers luxury hotels to budget-friendly hostels and charming bed-and-breakfasts.

3. Transportation

• Getting There: Tours is easily accessible by TGV (high-speed train) from Paris, taking about an hour. It’s also connected to other major French cities.
• Local Transport: The city has a good public transportation system, including buses and trams. Walking or renting a bicycle are great ways to explore the compact city center.
• Car Rental: Consider renting a car if you plan to explore the surrounding Loire Valley and its châteaux.

4. Exploring the City

• Walking Tours: Join a walking tour to get an insightful overview of the city’s history and major sights.
• Key Attractions: Don’t miss the Cathedral of Saint Gatien, the Musée des Beaux-Arts, and the historic Plumereau Square with its medieval half-timbered houses.
• Markets: Visit the local markets such as the Halles de Tours for fresh produce and regional specialties.

5. Day Trips

• Châteaux Tours: Use Tours as a base to visit nearby Loire Valley châteaux such as Château de Chenonceau, Château de Chambord, and Château de Villandry.
• Wine Tours: Take a wine tour to nearby vineyards to sample local wines like Vouvray and Chinon.

6. Dining and Cuisine

• Local Specialties: Try local dishes such as rillettes (a type of pâté), goat cheese from Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine, and Tarte Tatin (a caramelized apple tart).
• Wine: Pair your meals with local wines from the Loire Valley, renowned for their quality and variety.
• Dining Options: From Michelin-starred restaurants to cozy bistros, Tours offers a diverse dining scene. Check out the restaurants in Place Plumereau for a vibrant atmosphere.

7. Practical Tips

• Language: While French is the primary language, many people in the tourism industry speak English. Learning a few basic French phrases can enhance your experience.
• Currency: France uses the Euro. Credit cards are widely accepted, but it’s good to have some cash for small purchases and market shopping.
• Safety: Tours is generally safe, but like any city, stay aware of your surroundings and keep an eye on your belongings, especially in crowded areas.

8. Cultural Etiquette

• Greetings: Greet people with a polite “Bonjour” (Good day) or “Bonsoir” (Good evening) when entering shops or restaurants.
• Tipping: Service is typically included in restaurant bills, but leaving a small tip for good service is appreciated.

9. Stay Connected

• Wi-Fi: Many hotels, cafes, and public places offer free Wi-Fi. Consider getting a local SIM card if you need constant internet access.
• Tourist Information: Visit the local tourist office for maps, brochures, and additional information on current events and attractions.

By planning ahead and following these tips, you’ll be well-prepared to enjoy everything Tours and Loire Valley have to offer.

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