Château de Blois
The royal château of Blois holds four wings in four styles around one courtyard: medieval Gothic, the Louis XII brick-and-stone of 1500, the Renaissance wing of François I with its octagonal open staircase, and the classical wing Gaston d’Orléans added in the 1630s. Seven kings and ten queens of France stayed here, and French architecture’s whole arc stands in one square.
The short version
- The royal château of Blois holds four wings in four styles around one courtyard, from medieval Gothic to the 1630s.
- Blois is the first château on our Ultimate Loire Castle Experience, a private tour on the second morning, with two nights at Fleur de Loire across the river.
- Admission is €16, or €24 with the evening sound and light show, which runs April 4 to September 26 and October 17 to 31.
- The château opens every day except January 1 and December 25, 9:00 to 18:30 from April to September.
- Blois station is 8 minutes on foot from the courtyard, 35 to 40 minutes by train from Tours.
Murder in the King’s Chamber
On December 23, 1588, Henri III had the Duke of Guise, leader of the Catholic League and the most dangerous man in France, cut down by the royal guard in the king’s own apartments upstairs, with the king watching from behind a curtain. The rooms where it happened are on the visit, and the story is told on site without varnish.
Visiting
The château stands in the center of Blois, a ten-minute walk uphill from the station, with direct trains from Paris Austerlitz and from Tours. Current hours and prices are at chateaudeblois.fr; allow 90 minutes to two hours, and the evening sound-and-light show runs in season. Blois is the first château on the LinkParis.com five-day Ultimate Loire tour, with a private guided visit on the second morning.
Blois makes the natural rail-only château day; the top ten castles page compares it with the vehicle-only sites.
Planning the day
Blois is the château for a day without a car. Direct trains from Paris Austerlitz take about an hour and a half, the courtyard is eight minutes on foot from the station, and the old town fills the slope between the two. Chambord is 16 km east and Cheverny 15 km south, close enough for a taxi if you want one of them in the afternoon.
The sound and light show runs from April 4 to September 26 and again during the autumn holidays, October 17 to 31, starting at 22:00 in April and September, 22:30 from May to August and 19:15 in October. It lasts 45 minutes, needs no booking and goes ahead in bad weather. The combined ticket is €24.
On our five-day Ultimate Loire, Blois is home for the first two nights, at Fleur de Loire on the opposite bank, with dinner at Christophe Hay, the only two-star restaurant in the valley.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Blois architecturally important?
Its four wings span four eras in one courtyard: Gothic, Louis XII, François I Renaissance, and seventeenth-century classical. No other building shows French architecture’s evolution as compactly.
What happened to the Duke of Guise at Blois?
Henri III had him assassinated in the royal apartments on December 23, 1588, breaking the Catholic League’s grip; the king was himself assassinated eight months later.
Is Blois easy to reach without a car?
Yes, the easiest major château by rail: direct trains from Paris Austerlitz and from Tours, then a ten-minute walk from the station to the courtyard.
