royal city of loches

This was probably one of the most unique sites we visited while in France. A small but beautiful royal house (especially when compared to the opulent Chateau's from a couple hundred years later), a church and then the dungeon! Spectacular! The dungeon was our favorite part of the Royal City; what a unique thing to be able to tour and let your imagination run wild. A great introduction to medieval history, especially if you are heading to the Dordogne.

If you have never heard of Loches, you would do well to spend a couple of days here instead of just breaking your journey. There is a chateau and dungeon to visit, lovely quaint streets with good restaurants and bars, two weekly markets, Saturday and Wednesday, various special occasions during the year, including two evening markets in July and August which are definitely worth trying to find a parking space. Make sure you get there early and book your favourite restaurant in advance. There is also a Christmas market if you are visiting during the Winter. It can be a bit quiet here during the cooler months and only some restaurants are open on a Sunday/Monday, so please check out where you are going to eat before going into town. This is a very picturesque medieval town and should certainly be on your list of places to visit in the Loire.

A pleasant and small medieval walled town surrounded by a larger town with plenty of good bread and coffee. Go to the castle really to tour the dungeons and towers. To call the castle a chateau is a bit optimistic, but there is a royal logis full of weird paintings of Agnes Sorel and her ample chests.

I love Medieval History and Loches is the right place for it! The Donjon is amazing - even though it is totally open now. The depth of it is incredible. My friend who is scared of heights made it all the way to the top because it was so irresistible. The government rooms are also interesting with a video giving a great overview. And the Logis Royale are also delightful. You really get a sense of how the royalty lived - they moved there after there wasn't as great a need for the defenses of the donjon. We went on a Saturday when there was a market in town - also delightful. If you want to experience a donjon that still is covered and has floors and rooms, go to Chateau Vincennes - end of a metro line in Paris - easy trip. The Loire area is fabulous!

For our last day in the Loire Valley, we scoured guidebooks looking for things we might have missed in our week here. In Rick Steves, for example, he gives one paragraph to Loches. We decided since it was only 30 minutes from our lodging on the Loire, we would give it a try. We were there on a Monday and the town was deserted, but other than that, we enjoyed it immensely. The Cite Royal comprises three sites within the walls of the medieval city: the Keep at the top, the Church of St. Ours, and the Chateau. The keep is especially worth a visit, as the adjacent tower has been renovated and you can climb to the top to see the surrounding village and buildings. The guidebook is well done in several languages, and the video has English subtitles. It shows animation on the construction of the tower and is very well done. The church of St. Ours is very small but dates from the end of the 12th century, one of the older extant ones in France. Note the pre-Gothic architecture. The chateau has some nice rooms and good English translations. It is pretty spartan, but worth a walk through. Accessing the inside of the walls, where these three attractions are located, is by the City Gate, the ONLY way in. Turn right for the keep, left for the other two. If you do all three, plus the walk up from the parking areas, as well as the stairs in the keep, it's a strenuous walk--it is NOT accessible by wheel chair.

We loved walking through the city, exploring all the old buildings. Many have plaques to explain the history.

If you crave a fantastic medieval experience, visit Loches. Loches became a small medieval town around the year 1000 and you can become absorbed in its history, if you let your imagination take over. It is lovely to walk around the lovely streets outside of the medieval walls (many places to eat and unique independent shops) but step inside the walls and it is another world. I couldn't stop taking photographs - I wanted to capture every inch of it!! Obviously, as the day goes on, the the town becomes busier.The Royal City (or Logis Royal de Loches) stands on the bank of the River Indre. It is the castle of the Anjou family, surrounded by an outer wall 13 ft./4 m. thick! Oh ... and with so many places in the area, Joan of Arc visited :-) With hindsight, I wish we had paid the entrance fee and visited inside the Chateau and Donjon because (since returning home) I realise that it is very good value indeed (only € 8.50 (children under 12 free) plus 6.5 € reduced fee) and the photos online portray very interesting interiors. That said, we really enjoyed our 'free' visit around the upper town. Atop the wall on one side, you can look down on the river; the beautiful public town garden; and beyond across the wet-lands of the Indre - towards the town's smaller neighbour Beaulieu Les Loches. Additionally, there is a lovely walk at the base of the medieval wall. If we had had longer there, we would have taken a way-marked walk from Loches to Beaulieu Les Loches - it is recommended as it crosses the Indre wet-lands or 'the priaries' as they are called.It is a really beautiful place to visit .... we can THOROUGHLY recommend Loches.

We are a 30-something couple who stayed in Loches for 2 days in August, 2014.We actually picked Loches for our B&B and its location but found the medieval city to be a hidden gem. Although there are many places in France to find 18th century historical sites and a few with Roman ruins, this is a wonderful medieval city. The royal city includes a Palais as well as the Donjon.The palais was not as grand as the chateaus that are not far away but provided some perspective of the advancements from the 1200s to 1700s. The palais is well preserved with beautiful views and active excavation. The best part - to our surprise - was the Donjon or keep. The Donjon has literally dozens of rooms in several towers and a few dungeons to boot. Some parts of it date to the 900s AD but most from the 1200s, around the same time as the palais. I should mention that there are many stairs - the benefit is climbing up to the top of the towers to see the beautiful views of the valley - but not easy for those with stair limitations or small children. There is plenty to wander through - we actually expected to spend about 45min total on both but took almost 2hrs given the extent. It was a nice change of pace from the opulence of the chateaus and gave a great perspective on life a few hundred years before.

Loches is a typically beautiful and picturesque town of this region. Make sure you visit the Caravaggio museum in the church.

Loches offers beautiful architecture, some substantial and imposing ancient and medieval buildings, and well-tended public gardens. History buffs will find plenty to interest them, and children with a good imagination (and a head for heights) should enjoy ascending the mighty castle keep and visiting the dungeons. We found parking near the centre was easy and the Royal city quite accessible on foot, although there were some steep footpaths. There is a charge to visit the Royal Lodge and Keep, but there is also plenty of historical architecture and scenery to appreciate at no cost. We felt that there was a good range of small shops and places to eat,(had a very nice salad at Brasserie La Pendule) and we are told that the market is well worth a visit.

Fly up and down the N10 en route to somewhere else and it's easy to miss so much in France. Next time, follow the signs to Loches and be blown away by over a thousand years of history. Others more eloquent than I have extolled the virtues of the Cite Royale. Suffice it to say, visiting the imposing Donjon and Chateau have fired my curiosity about the tangled web of French/English history going back to the 11th century. On the cobbled streets on the way up or down from the Royal City, don't miss the museum filled with works of art by the 19th century landscape painter Emmanuel Lansyer: it's free and his work was beautiful.

We spent many hours walking around this lovely city. The Castle is amazing and there are some lovely views from it's terraces. Don't bother going to Chateroux...just go here!

We visited Loches on market day during a very hot July. The sightseeing was fantastic, lots to see, lots to do, lots of places to do the 'French' thing, drink coffee in one of the many cafés and restaurants. The views from the medieval city are amazing. We came upon a lovely looking restaurant, Le Presbytere, which sadly we didn't have time to experience, but definitely will during our next visit.

We visited the Royal City of Loches on Wed (Market Day) and had a great visit. The market was interesting, and we were able to buy some take-away Paella and a Chicken/Potatoes dish for lunch which we ate up near the Chateau. The visit to the Chateau, the unique 12th century Church, and Donjon up on the hilltop were really interesting, the kids particularly enjoyed exploring the dungeon, towers, and rooms of the Donjon (ok, I did too!). Not being French, the costume displays were just okay as we were not familiar with any of the films but the clothing was interesting as a historical interpretation of the clothes worn there back in the day. Highly recommend spending a half-day in Loches, a bit older than the other Chateau of the Loire and with a bit more history (Joan of Arc and the 100 years war).

The old town and the Donjon / Royal villa is definitely worth a visit. The medieval town is amazingly preserved and, with restricted traffic, astonishingly quiet. Very evocative