The Loire Valley in 4 days

Francis I's dream in stone holds 426 rooms beneath a forest of turrets, around a double-helix staircase attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.

Four centuries of architecture around one courtyard, with Francis I's open spiral staircase and the rooms where the Duke of Guise was murdered in 1588.

The pink-brick manor where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last three years, with his rooms, his workshops and models of his inventions.

A royal residence high above the Loire with one of the valley's widest views; its Gothic Chapel of Saint-Hubert holds Leonardo da Vinci's tomb.

Some 900 km of signed routes past châteaux and vineyards; the flat Blois to Chambord and Amboise to Chenonceau stretches suit a day out.

The château spans the Cher on a 60-metre gallery, shaped by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de' Medici, its rooms filled with fresh flowers.

Renaissance ornamental kitchen gardens replanted twice a year, with box-hedge patterns, a water garden and a maze laid out below the belvedere.

An early Renaissance château on an island in the Indre, reflected in its water; Balzac called it a faceted diamond.