Travel bucket list idea:
Loire Valley, France
Plum pie
Many restaurants in the ‘garden of France’ make the most of the exceptional fresh local produce, including asparagus, strawberries, pears, apples and mushrooms cultivated in tufa caves.
You’ll also discover popular local dishes with freshwater fish, seasonal wild game, Geline hen and excellent Maine-Anjou beef – both rare breeds that have been recently revived.
The world-class Loire Valley Wine Region produces all types of wine, from sweet white Coteaux de Layon, dry white Savennieres and sparkling Vouvray, to hearty red Borgueil, Saumur and Chinon. Loire wines tend to exhibit a characteristic fruitiness with fresh, crisp flavours.
Look out for savoury dishes cooked in wine, such as coq au chinon (pheasant) and chaudree vendeene (fish and potato casserole). Terrines are abundant too, including pate de lapin (rabbit paté) and rillettes de tours (potted pork). Large, galipette mushrooms grown in troglodyte farms are stuffed with cheese and rillettes, then cooked in wood-fired ovens and served with Fouaces, puffy circular bread.
Dessert-wise, expect traditional delicacies like tarte tatin (the legendary caramelised apple tart invented by the Tatin sisters), pastry-topped tarte aux prunes (plum pie) and cremet d’Anjou (sweet, vanilla mousse).
Most meals start with soupe angevine, a cocktail made from local sparkling wine, lemon and Cointreau, which is produced just outside of Angers.
The region is also home to France’s best goats’ cheeses, such as Sainte-Maure, Valencay, Crottin de Chavignol and Selles-sur-Cher.
Also see Anna’s round-up of traditional French foods you must try in France.
Restaurant options vary from grand gourmet establishments in historic chateaux to simple café-brasseries, rustic bistros and ethnic restaurants.
One regional speciality is the guinguette, traditional restaurants set along the Loire River, where simple dishes are served outdoor and sometimes to live music.
There are also numerous troglodyte eateries, serving home-cooked food in the region’s white tufa caves.
Tours, Centre-Val de Loire, France
Experience
Set along the edge of the Loire River, in the shadow of the Chateau d’Amboise, this famous outdoor Sunday food market hawks local goats cheese, meats, fish and wine, plus fresh fruit and vegetables from farms around the region.
Good for age: 18+
Saumur, Pays de la Loire, France
Experience
This series of cool, dank caverns in Montsoreau is said to have once been inhabited by loups (wolves), then exploited as quarries, before being turned into a champignonnière (mushroom farm). Button, oyster and shitake mushrooms are cultivated here today.
Good for age: 13+
La Roche-Clermault, Centre de la Loire, France
Experience
Just south of Chinon, this small specialist manufacturer of goats’ cheese offers guided tours of their farm, explaining their traditional manufacturing process, followed by tastings paired with Chinon wine.
Good for age: 18+
Louresse-Rochemenier, Pays de la Loire, France
Experience
This troglodyte restaurant serves delicious traditional fouaces, circular flatbreads, filled with mushrooms and cheese, and served in caves used as refuges during the 16th-century Wars of Religion.
Good for age: 18+
Tours, Centre-Val de Loire, France
Experience
Smack bang in the middle of Tours this wonderful covered market houses 38 stalls piled high with the best of the region’s produce. You can sign up for cooking demonstrations too and learn how to make the regional classics.
Good for age: 18+
Loire Valley, France
The Loire Valley is a remarkable and vast wine region, including several wine regions situated along the Loire River.
It encompasses a mind-boggling 63 appellations (47 in the core Tours, Saumur, Anjou area) and more than 7,000 wine growers, producing all types of wine from sweet white Coteaux de Layon, dry white Savennières and sparkling Vouvray, to hearty red Borgueil, Saumur and Chinon. Loire wines tend to exhibit a characteristic fruitiness with fresh, crisp flavours.
Vineyards dominate the landscape, troglodyte wine cellars are dug into the soft tufa rock, and there are signposted routes and welcome signs to help you, making this a fascinating – and easy – wine region to explore.
Min age 18
Good for age: 18+
Bracieux, Centre-Val de Loire, France
Experience
A fabulous specialist chocolate manufacturer offering guided tours of its workshop and chocolate-making lessons, plus a bar entirely dedicated to chocolate drinks and cakes.
Good for age: 8+
The main towns of Blois, Tours, Saumur, Amboise and Angers are restaurant hubs, with everything from atmospheric bistros and brasseries to classic cafés. As the largest city, Tours is a foodie hotspot, especially along Rue Colbert, where old half-timbered buildings house a variety of restaurants.
For quirky dining, try the open-air guinguettes along the Loire River in villages like Montjean-sur-Loire and Bouzille. Or head into the cave eateries in Saumur and Montsoreau.
Or if you’re looking for nightlife, you’ll find lively bars and taverns in the larger towns of Angers and Tours, where large student populations keep things going until late.
