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Stunning châteaux, fabulous wine and picturesque landscapes: you could say that the Loire Valley offers the very best of French culture – Annaliza Davis looks at why it could be the perfect spot for your future home
Situated south of Paris, the Loire Valley encompasses about 800km2 of vineyards, slow-flowing rivers, luscious landscapes and stately homes that vary from family manors to vast châteaux – such as Chambord, which welcomes over 700,000 visitors a year.
In 2000, Unesco classed the central Loire Valley as a World Heritage Site, signalling its cultural importance.
In terms of the French departments, what we call the Loire Valley generally includes Maine-et-Loire, Loiret, Indreet-Loire and Loir-et-Cher, and the key cities of Angers (which has 155,876 residents), Tours (137,850) and Orléans (117,026).
As for the landscapes, this is a fertile river valley, so you’ll drive through a lot of greenery, vineyards and fields of crops but the region is particularly famous for its châteaux. There are said to be between 1,000 and 3,000 depending on your definition of a château and the area concerned.
As you can imagine, these combined factors make the Loire Valley an everpopular choice for tourists – the Château de Chambourg alone welcomed well over a million visitors in 2023 – and, naturally, for househunters.
Angers is a little over three hours from Paris; Tours and Bourges are both under three hours; and Chartres to the north is only an hour and a half from the capital. Given the easy access to this verdant haven filled with magnificent architecture, broad rivers and historic towns, its popularity is absolutely inevitable.
The good news, though, is that it is far more affordable than you might imagine, and property prices are well below the national average.
MATCH THE PLACE TO YOUR POCKET
As of March 2024, France’s average property price stood at €3,101/m2 , yet in the Loire Valley properties are significantly lower, costing an average of €1,948/m2 . If you look carefully, you’ll find that some areas are as low as €850/ m2 , which is about 26% of the averages across the country. In real terms, this means that a 50m2 apartment in France would typically cost you €155,000, while in the Loire Valley it can cost as little as €42,000. As you’d expect, property prices depend on the location, and on how exactly you intend to use your investment.
