Amboise
The gardens have been adapted to provide easy access for people with reduced mobility (wheelchair users must be accompanied by an attendant) and families with small children in strollers.
Visually impaired visitors and their companions can also enjoy the tour with the help of a thermo-inflated booklet.
Visually impaired visitors
Visitors with visual impairments must be accompanied by an able-bodied person, due to the presence of the ramparts and the slope of the gardens.
On arrival at the ticket office: ask for the audioguide, which offers an adapted tour in French and English with audio descriptions. This tour has been developed in partnership with the Valentin Haüy association. Keyboard with Braille markers.
Thermo-inflated boards presenting the monument are available free of charge to individual visitors, on request from the ticket office. Adapted audio tour included in château admission.
Visit the Logis Royal :
– New: A tactile model of the current state of the château and a map of the Renaissance château are available in the guardroom of the logis (first room).
– Visitors with this disability are exceptionally allowed to touch collection pieces and decorations that are not fragile.
– The safety ropes can be opened on request to the supervisory staff.
– Staircases have fixed ramps on the right-hand side. Thresholds and covered passageways are illuminated.
– Adapted guided tours “dans tous les sens” for groups, by prior arrangement.
Motor disabilities
Visitors with motor disabilities can use vehicles to access the château’s terraces, which provide access to the Logis Royal, the Chapelle Saint-Hubert (Leonardo da Vinci’s tomb) and the gardens. Access to the first floor of the Logis is on the courtyard side, while access to the 1st floor is on the garden side (entresol) via a straight staircase with a few steps and a retractable ramp. Due to the spiral staircase, access to the 2nd floor (19th century) is not possible for wheelchair users. Visitors must be accompanied by an able-bodied person (whose presence is imperative when negotiating slopes and gravelled paths in the gardens).
To avoid difficult access through the ticket office when entering the terraces with your vehicle:
– Purchase your admission ticket online: (the access map to the château’s private entrance is automatically emailed to you) or buy your ticket at the Amboise Tourist Office counter in the town center (the access map to the château’s private entrance is given to you).
– Toilets still unsuitable for people with motor disabilities.
When you arrive on site: Call our reception staff on the intercom at the private entrance (they will indicate where to drop off and park your vehicle). The guide goes to the ticket office to pick up the tour leaflet and the handicapped-friendly audio-video guided tour material (included in the service).
Tour of the Logis Royal :
A video is available on the 1st floor, showing the inaccessible parts of the dwelling (Chapelle Saint-Hubert, 2nd floor and Tour des Minimes). Audio and video guided tour (2nd floor) in French and English.
Supervisory staff are on hand to guide visitors through the building.
For the mentally handicapped
Different ways to visit available:
– Illustrated guide “How the kings and queens of France grew up” in French and English.
– Audio-guide “junior tour” in French and English, in your choice of languages (included in the “disabled visitor” entrance fee).
Adapted audio-guide tour included in château entrance fee.
Hearing impaired
When you arrive at the ticket office, you can communicate easily with reception staff using the magnetic communication loop.
An explanatory leaflet is available in 16 languages.
Video-guided tour in French sign language or (optionally) text commentary in French and English. Induction loop available on request.
Adapted audio-guided tour included in château entrance fee.
Guided tour in French Sign Language for groups, by reservation.
Clos Lucé
The park is fully wheelchair-accessible, and the paths are pleasant. As for the residence, only the ground floor is accessible, but narrow. 1st floor inaccessible.
Montpoupon
Partial disabled access via ground floor.
Beaugency
Parking in the château courtyard. Limited access to the Salle des Gardes with consultation station for a virtual visit.
Villandry
– For the mentally handicapped, adapted garden tours are available. A simplified version of the audio guide also explains the history of the château and details of the gardens.
– Visually impaired: guided tours of the château and gardens are available, with an emphasis on touch, smell and hearing.
– Hearing impaired: guided tours of the château and gardens are available, with lip-reading.
Good to know: all these tours for disabled groups are by prior arrangement.
– A 4-space parking lot for PRMs is available in the parking lot immediately adjacent to the site entrance.
– Toilets suitable for PRMs are also available. They are located on the right, once you have passed the ticket office.
PRM in the gardens
When you arrive, ask for advice at the ticket office and reception desk: if you wish, you can be given a detailed garden guide, which clearly indicates the most suitable route, in exchange for proof of identity. This will enable you to avoid the stairs and generally all the difficult passages, while offering you a complete tour of the gardens: you won’t miss a thing of these 6 magnificent gardens.
Good to know: however, if you’re in a wheelchair, for your own well-being, we advise you to bring someone with you who can push you up the estate’s slopes.
PRM access to the château
Free access to the first floor of the château.
Good to know: a film presenting and commenting on the rooms on the first and second floors is available. On request, it can be shown in the digital room on the first floor. The film is subtitled in French for the hearing-impaired, and in English for foreign visitors.
The château has also commissioned a tactile model of the site. This allows visitors to grasp the main shapes and reliefs that characterize the château and its gardens. The model is accessible from the first floor of the château, and is also visible to the general public.
Valençay
Site accessibility
There are parking spaces reserved for people with reduced mobility in the outdoor parking lots.
A ramp is available at the château entrance for visits to the first floor, and at the Theatre for guided tours and access to shows.
Visitors with disabilities benefit from a reduced rate.
Visitor comfort
Seating is available in every room of the château during the tour, as well as in the gardens and grounds.
Adapted sanitary facilities are available for visitors.
Dogs accompanying disabled visitors are allowed inside the château.
Self-guided tours
Audio guides in 6 languages and written material are available free of charge for tours of the château.
For visits to the park, a free document available in 5 languages is handed out at the ticket office. French-language signs can be seen inside the site.
A forestry circuit allows visitors to explore the Forêt des Princes. It is available on foot or by electric buggy at a cost of €13.00 for 4 people.
French, English and Spanish language information desks are available for visitors to the collections.
Chenonceau
– The Château has a parking lot near the ticket office reserved for disabled visitors with reduced mobility. (Remember to affix your badge before leaving your vehicle).
– Five wheelchairs are available free of charge at the ticket office for people with reduced mobility (you’ll need to leave your ID card with the ticket office).
– The gardens and first floor of the monument are equipped with disabled access.
– The Musée de Cires is accessible to wheelchair users.
– Men’s and women’s toilets at the entrance to the ticket office. Inside the Domaine, there are toilets with washbasins accessible to disabled people and wheelchair users.
