The morning sun started to light up Château de Chambord as I peeked out the window. I got ready first and then went to wake up the kids, no time to waste as our reservation at Château de Chenonceau was at 9 AM! Breakfast was included as we are Hilton Gold members, the spread wasn’t impressive but the croissants were amazing!

I had like 3 croissants, they were crunchy outside, chewy inside, and so buttery!

There were crepes but no toppings!

After the quick breakfast, we drove to Château de Chenonceau and passed Blois town where I took a few quick pics from inside the car.

A castle-themed gate in the middle of nowhere!

When we arrived at Château de Chenonceau, the parking lot already started to fill up so we had to park further out. We walked to the entrance, the lady scanned our tickets and took some quick photos outside the castle courtyard before going inside. I told my daughter the story about the 1000-piece puzzle of Chenonceau that I had in my childhood and that I hung it on my bedroom wall without knowing it’s an actual place! The first time I visited the Loire Valley over a decade ago, it was like a dream come true seeing Chenonceau in person so it has a special meaning to me. I was so excited to show my daughter this special castle!

The kids were quite good with photos this morning 😀

Right after the entrance to the castle, there was the little chapel with colorful stained glass windows.

One of the bedrooms; the bed back in the days was extra short:

Paintings filled the room:

Château de Chenonceau is known as the “lady’s castle”, the castle is decorated with fresh flowers so the first thing I noticed when entering (different than other chateaus) was the flowery smell throughout the castle!

The long corridor and underneath it is the river.

The kitchen:

The well that pumps water right from the river underneath?

More photos of the kitchen:

Paintings and beautiful flower arrangement:

Photo at one of the balconies next to the long corridor for the view of the river underneath:

We headed back inside to tour the rooms:

From the window, you can see the geometric gardens on each side of the castle:

More bedrooms:

My daughter loves the drapes of the bed, she said it made it look extra fancy haha!

More photos at the balcony:

The garden on the other side:

Another beautiful flower arrangement:

This room has many chateau’s artifacts on display:

How the chateau evolved over time to what it looks like today:

The stairway:

The chateau did a good job with timed entry so it doesn’t feel crowded inside. After touring the interior of the chateau, it was time to take photos outside! The exterior and its gardens were more extraordinary in my opinion!

The best views of the chateau are from the gardens!

Although Chenonceau is not as big as Chambord, I think Chenonceau looked more like a fairytale castle than Chambord.

Additionally, it has prettier gardens, and with the chateau as the backdrop, every photo is postcard perfect!

The pink and purple flowering bushes/trees are color-coordinated with the flowering plants.

The other garden has a water fountain:

People were kayaking on the river:

The sun was behind the castle from this side so not great for photos in the morning:

On our way out of the castle, there is a maze that my kids really enjoyed on this trip!

We spent around 2.5 hours in Chenonceau and headed back to Blois town for lunch. There were plenty of parking spots along the riverbank but they quickly filled up during lunchtime. We circled two times before we got a spot and paid at the machine for 1.5 hr. The parking spot was very close to the restaurant – Le Madras, an Indian restaurant.

The street was very quiet as it was a Sunday and as you know it in Europe, everything closed except for some restaurants!

They don’t even have an English menu so I relied on my Google Translate app to translate. Thankfully, I downloaded French because there was no data inside the restaurant! We ordered garlic naan, it was tasty:

And a few curry dishes that were super small portions urg!

Lunch was $55.15 for the small dishes so not expensive and adequate for a quick lunch. Afterward, we walked into the town but as expected, nothing is open!

Blois’ chateau is located on the top of the hill but it was not on my list to visit after reviewing photos; we have limited time, and there are a lot of chateaus in the Loire Valley so I had to narrow down! The tower in the background is Blois Cathedral which also located up on the hill.

The next chateau that we visited was Château de Cheverny known for its lavishly furnished interior. I was expecting the chateau to be in the woods/middle of nowhere but it wasn’t the case, it was in the middle of a town. Their parking lot was so busy and luckily we got a spot when we arrived in the afternoon. Then, it was a short walk to the ticket office and then to the chateau.

A plant/flower representation of the chateau right at the entrance:

The chateau’s architectural style is quite different than Chenonceau or Chambord, it looked more like a mansion. It looked “plain” on the outside but the inside is totally the opposite!

As soon as we entered the chateau, the first thing I noticed was the ropes that separated the direction of traffic and I never encountered so many people inside a chateau as this one! People were almost shoulder to shoulder walking along the hallways to get a glimpse of the rooms in the chateaus!

In the dining room, the ceiling beams were painted!

The nursery; my daughter was excited to see the baby bed back in the days:

One of the children’s rooms fully furnished with toys on display:

My daughter loved the girl’s room with the beautiful dresses and gowns:

The marine-themed tree filled with ornaments looked like a playroom but with a dining table hum…

An office:

I remembered we had one of those old sewing machines at home:

The living room:

There was a carriage in the living room!

As like the dining room, the ceiling beams were painted:

The most lavish room was the master bedroom; it looked like a king’s bedroom!

The whole room was covered with paintings and gold-plated frames! My lens was not wide enough to show you the scale of the grand furnishing of this room!

As with many chateaus, there is a chapel inside on the top floor:

And a huge LEGO miniature of the chateau:

We got back downstairs and continued with the visiting route to more rooms:

An antique piano:

A library room:

We finally got out of the chateau (I felt relieved from the crowds) and walked toward its garden. The garden has a water fountain with art displays:

A green tunnel that provided shades during the hot summer!

More flowery themed art displays:

All the way back of the garden is a restaurant/cafe with excellent gelatos:

It was really a treat for the kids after a long day of walking and exploring the chateaus 🙂

My kids quickly associated chateau with maze LOL! This one was more challenging that we need to get in with them to find the way out!

We made it out and the kids want to do it again :O After two times in the maze, we need to go. At the end of our visit, we had a photo at the picture frame:

The kids had fun at both the chateaus, each has a maze haha!

After walking more than 10,000 steps, we treated ourselves to a Chinese buffet….I couldn’t believe that when I was searching for Asian restaurants in/near Blois, I found a Chinese buffet restaurant called Wokasie. It is located outside of town and has its own parking lot so no need to worry about parking. I had low expectations when it comes to buffet, especially in a small town in France. The moment we stepped inside, we were wow’ed by its interior and shocked to see its HUGE spread of food!

Their food stations span across the long room from bbq meats:

Deep-fried appetizers has its own spread:

Ham, steak, roast beef, spare ribs, you name it!

A huge selection of shellfish!!!

A full station of steamed dim sum!!! Although frozen, but better than the $$$ steak at the hotel!

What a huge selection of sushi rolls!!!

More seafood…..even lobster! We preferred the Chinese-style scallion and ginger stir-fried, the boiled kind was our least favorite.

MORE seafood!!!!

Raw marinated meat that the staff can grill for you fresh!

I never see logan available in buffet, however, it wasn’t fresh 🙁

Dragon fruit also:

Lastly, the dessert spread:

I thought I was done browsing through the tables of food, on the back there was yogurt, creme brulee, and bobas!

I tried to avoid this counter with my kids LOL!

And not in the picture, a chocolate fondue!!! That was how extensive this buffet restaurant is! Now the price, it was only 25 Euros for adult and 11 Euros for kids! It was an amazing deal, easily cost 2X for a buffet like this in the US! We were so full!!!

Overall, we managed to visit 2 chateaus today as I planned it since we were traveling with our kids so everything had to be on their pace. Chenonceau was picture-perfect and always held a special spot in my heart. Cheverny was grand inside but very crowded. Both were a good mix of different styles of chateaus and my kids enjoyed both as they both have a maze 🙂