Strainu onLine

Versiunea română aici.

Transport
Map
The road from Paris to Tours is quite good. The downside there are many route changes and the itinerary has some toll portions. It will probably take you about 2 hours to get there.

We have chosen to get there by TGV. The trip takes little over an hour from Paris Montparnasse and 59 minutes from Massy. Unfortunately there are only a few trains that go in the Tours main station. Most of them stop in a small station on the outskirts of the city, and from there you have to take a regional train. Besides, the trains are a little old. It’s not particularly pleasant to hear the outer shell strongly vibrate at 300km/h.

Be careful, in the weekends the city transport sucks (the Sunday mornings no bus works).

[rating:4/5]

Food
Like everywhere in France, you can find numerous small restaurants with excellent food and wine. If you are on a budget, you can order the „Menu du jour” (Menu of the day), which can cost you from 9 to 20 Euros (depending on the location). Service is included in most restaurants.

Do keep in mind that on weekends most of them will be closed. In fact, like in all small French cities, most of the shops will be closed on Sunday. We found a small „Brasserie” in Place de la Victoire which had a fabulous service and reasonable food.

[rating:4/5]

Sightseeing
There is not much to see in Tours. Although the city is on the world famous Loire Valley, it’s castle is pretty much disappointing. It’s currently a sort of modern art museum, opened from 2 P.M.

The cathedral is very big (compared with other similar constructions), very well lit and overall quite impressive. It reminded me of the cathedral of Bruges rather than a french cathedral.

Other tourist attractions include the Loire River, the Art Museum and the City Zoo.

[rating:2.5/5]

Alternatives

Other cities within an hour of TGV from Paris are: Lens, Le Mans, Dunkerque, Dijon, Valenciennes and even Bruxelles.

[rating:overall]

Links

Sorry, no links available. Use google. 🙂