Opening time Château Chambord:
Free access to the domain and chateau open every day except January 1st, first Tuesday of February and December 25th.
From November 1 to March 25: from 9 am to 5 pm
From March 26 to October 31: from 9 am to 6 pm
Admission possible until 30 minutes before the closure of the castle
Prices Château Chambord:
Normal price: 14,50 € plus service fees and shipping (incl. VAT)
Children under 18 years of age (accompanied by a mandatory adult for children under 16 years of age) and EU citizens aged 18-25 years are free of charge.
e-tickets - the tickets will be sent as e-mail upon receipt of the payment
Tickets for the château de Chambord are not subject to the right of withdrawal. Tickets can not be returned or exchanged.
HistoPad, Audioguide (12 languages - duration 90 min - 8 €, 5 €)
Guide (7 languages - 7 €) available at the shop, tablet adapted to the disabled
Filing of ID required for the rental of HistoPad
- Animals are not allowed in the castle of Chambord
- Free toilet in the castle - toilets paying near the domain
- Possibility of catering on site (fast food or traditional)
- Visit adapted for people with disabilities
- Free luggage - large luggage is not tolerated
Parking: P0 cars / motorcycles 6 € / day - P2 car 4 € / day - Mobilhome <7,9m 11 € / day - Bus 50 € / day
Approximately 15 kilometers from the royal city of Blois, you can visit the Castle of Chambord.
The castle is clearly the most magnificent of the Loire Valley and also the world's most famous of all Loire castles.
Nevertheless, Chambord and its construction are full of secrets that have not been revealed to this day.
Why did King Francis I have to build a castle in this domain? In fact, Chambord is already a large hunting complex with its impressive forest, when the French king of kings decided in 1516 to build the largest castle in the Loire region.
Today, Chambord estate remains the largest fenced property in Europe. But the reasons for such a large construction site for a castle, which only serve as an outbuilding to the castle of Blois, can not really be explained.
From 1519 King Francis I. initiated and supervised the construction of Chambord Castle.
The castle he visited himself but only 42 days throughout his reign.
Such questions about the real intentions of the king as well as the secrets surrounding the identity of the builder aroused the imagination of many visitors seeking esoteric answers.
Many assume that behind the architect of Chambord Castle lies Leonardo Da Vinci, no other than the greatest genius of all time. The genius of the Italian Renaissance then followed the French king to his court on the Loire.
Leonardo became a kind of spiritual father for Francis I, who had already very much lost his natural father.
Chambord Castle does not care about the success of Dan Brown's novel Da Vinci Code. Chambord aroused curiosity since the Renaissance.
Like many other Loire castles, Chambord is full of these ornaments and accomodations imported from the Renaissance style of Italy to France. Nevertheless, the castle retains the characteristics of the typical feudal buildings of the past centuries.
The lantern keep now turns out to be a beautiful viewing platform for tourists and the entrance as a convenient spot to buy souvenirs of Chambord or select Histopad before or after visiting the castle. Nevertheless, the visitor must know that such walls and towers in the time of the Renaissance and the all-powerful powder cannons had no meaning.
The defensive purposes of these facilities proved to be over at the beginning of the 16th century.
What makes supportive is above all the perfect symmetry in the architecture of the castle, which is divided into four apartments, is destroyed by the inversion, the inversion of a wing. A mistake that can only be deliberate at the price of such a monument.
This reversal is, surprisingly, found in some "Salamander" and "F" (King Francis I signatures) decorating the roofs.
Whether the construction of Chambord had a further meaning in this epoch, which had a special sense of symbolism, the visitor will probably not solve or even give in his visit to the Loire Valley of this history even times.
After all, she makes something special out of Chambord Castle, which the other castles like Amboise, Chenonceau or Blois can not claim.
Chambord also has something special for tourists. It brings in the middle of the forest, in a secluded spot of the Loire region, a sensation of tranquility.
Although the castle is one of the most visited castles in the world, thanks to the size of the domain, visitors can not be disturbed even during the high season. The atmosphere is somehow rural, quiet, gastronomic and cultural.
An undeniable plus of visiting Chambord Castle is that it is furnished.
In the Middle Ages, the court followed the king when he moved from one castle to another. This of course happened very much in the face of the numerous castles in the Loire Valley; and the entourage always took their furniture with them (hence the name "furniture" = whatever moves).
Many visitors are surprised by the empty rooms in some Loire castles.
After the French Revolution and after the Napoleonic empires, the castle was inhabited by the Count of Chambord, who would later have served as King Henry V.
