Overview
Four days in Saumur, the white tuffeau-stone town on the Loire — and the pick of the wider search. This is the only one of our twelve destinations with a genuinely purpose-built cycle path: La Loire à Vélo runs right through town, flat, surfaced, waymarked and almost entirely traffic-free. You cannot get lost, and you will barely meet a car.
The cellars here are theatrical. Saumur's sparkling houses are cut into the limestone cliff along the river — kilometres of galleries hollowed out over centuries, lit, cool, and set up for visitors with scheduled daily tours. They are commercial operations, so they will be open and staffed in late October whatever the harvest has done. That was the whole problem with the festival weekends, and Saumur solves it.
Getting There
| Outbound | Friday 23 October — easyJet, Gatwick → Nantes (NTE), ~1h20, daily, from ~£35–55 |
| Return | Monday 26 October — Nantes → Gatwick, evening, from ~£40–60 |
| Airport → Saumur | Tram/shuttle into Nantes, then TER Nantes–Saumur, ~1h45. Bikes travel free on TER. About 4½ hours door to door |
| Alternative | Fly to Paris and take the TGV to Angers (1h30), then 20 minutes onward to Saumur — smoother if flight times suit |
Day by Day
Friday 23 October — Arrive & the cliff cellars
- Morning easyJet to Nantes; TER along the Loire into Saumur by mid-afternoon. Check in, collect bikes.
- Late afternoon: Bouvet-Ladubay, a short pedal downstream in Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Florent — 8km of galleries under the cliff, and they run tours on their own vintage bicycles, made in-house.
- Evening: dinner in the old town below the château. Fouées — hollow bread puffs baked in tuffeau ovens and split at table to be stuffed with rillettes and goat cheese.
Saturday 24 October — Downstream on the Loire à Vélo
- The big flat day. West along the river towards Gennes and Chênehutte, past river islands, sandbanks and troglodyte villages carved into the rock.
- Turn at Gennes or press on towards Angers — 30–50km, entirely flat, and you choose the distance at the halfway point rather than committing at breakfast.
- Lunch at a riverside guinguette; the Loire in autumn is wide, shallow and empty.
- Back in Saumur for the evening; dinner at Le Gambetta (Michelin-starred, and gentle by London standards) — book ahead.
Sunday 25 October — Saumur-Champigny vineyards
- Clocks go back overnight — an hour's lie-in, then south into the Saumur-Champigny vineyards.
- A 25–30km loop through Chacé, Varrains and Souzay-Champigny on quiet lanes with gentle rises — the only real gradients of the weekend.
- Tastings at Domaine Filliatreau and Château du Hureau, both used to visitors and both with cellars cut into the rock.
- Return bikes. Last night: Loire pike with beurre blanc, and a bottle of dry Chenin from the Coteaux de Saumur.
Monday 26 October — Home
- Slow morning: the château on its bluff, the Cadre Noir riding school, the covered market.
- Early afternoon TER back to Nantes; evening flight to Gatwick.
Festivals & Local Events
Late October is deliberately quiet here
Saumur's flagship food-and-wine event, Les Grandes Tablées du Saumur-Champigny — thousands of diners at long tables through the streets — is an early-August fixture, not an autumn one. That is precisely why late October works: the town belongs to itself again, the rooms are available, and the cellars have time for you.
Cadre Noir autumn galas
The Cadre Noir, France's national riding school, is based in Saumur and stages public galas and presentations through the autumn. Dates vary each year — worth checking the Saumur tourist office agenda when you book, as it is a genuinely spectacular hour.
Village vendange fêtes
Small harvest celebrations pop up across Anjou and Saumur through late September and October; they are announced locally rather than scheduled far ahead. Ask at the hotel on arrival.
Journées du Patrimoine
If a September weekend ever tempts you instead, the heritage weekend (third weekend of September) opens private troglodyte properties not otherwise visitable.
The Region in Brief
A little history
Saumur has been quarried as much as it has been built: the white tuffeau limestone that makes the château and the town so luminous was cut from beneath it, leaving hundreds of kilometres of galleries now used for wine, mushrooms and the odd underground restaurant. The château appears in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, painted around 1412. The town has been France's cavalry school since 1763, and in June 1940 its cadets held the Loire bridges against a far larger German force for three days — an act still commemorated locally.
October weather
Mild and often bright: typically 8–17°C in late October, with the Loire's own microclimate keeping frost away. The river valley is one of the drier parts of western France in autumn.
The wines
Chenin Blanc in every register — bone-dry Saumur Blanc, off-dry Coteaux de Saumur, and the great sweet wines of Bonnezeaux and Quarts de Chaume further downstream. Cabernet Franc makes Saumur-Champigny: light, cool, graphite-and-raspberry reds meant to be drunk young and slightly chilled. And Crémant de Loire, made by the traditional method in those cliff cellars.
The food
Fouées, rillettes de Tours, goat cheeses (Sainte-Maure, Selles-sur-Cher), Loire pike and sandre with beurre blanc, and button mushrooms — grown commercially in the very same caves, which supply a large share of France's crop.
Where to Stay
Château de Verrières
A short walk from the centre, with a garden that runs down towards the château. The most characterful bed in town.
Hôtel Anne d'Anjou
18th-century townhouse with a listed staircase; ask for a Loire-facing room.
Le Bussy
Simple, well-priced, and the view back across the Loire to the floodlit château at night is the best in Saumur.
The Wineries
Bouvet-Ladubay
8km of galleries cut into the cliff, a contemporary art foundation in the cellars, and guided tours by bicycle. Scheduled daily tours, book online.
Domaine Filliatreau
The estate that made Saumur-Champigny's modern reputation; cellars in the rock and reds that repay a cool glass. Book ahead.
Château du Hureau
Cabernet Franc and dry Chenin from a Renaissance manor with troglodyte cellars beneath. Receives visitors reliably.
Langlois-Château
Crémant de Loire specialist owned by Bollinger; polished, scheduled tours if the group wants a second sparkling house.
Eat & Drink
| Friday | Fouées and rillettes in the old town |
| Saturday | Riverside lunch at Gennes; dinner Le Gambetta (book) |
| Sunday | Vineyard lunch in Chacé; Loire pike and Chenin in town |
| Monday | Market breakfast, then the train |
Useful Links
- La Loire à Vélo — official route site — the waymarked route, stage by stage, with bike-friendly hosts
- Saumur Loire Valley Tourism — official tourist office — cellars, events agenda, bike hire
- Interloire — Loire Valley wines — the official wine board for the Loire appellations
- France Vélo Tourisme — Saumur to Angers — the 60km section we would ride on Saturday
Practical Notes
- Why this is the pick of the seven: flat dedicated cycle path, cellars that are commercial visitor operations open all week, rooms available in late October, and the cheapest eating of the twelve.
- Bike hire: several outfits in Saumur and at the campsite on the île d'Offard; Détours de Loire has a Saumur branch and allows one-way hire along the valley. Book Friday–Sunday.
- Bikes on trains: free on TER services; reserve a space where the booking system offers it.
- Clocks change overnight on Saturday 24–Sunday 25 October — an extra hour in bed, but dark by about 18:00 on the Sunday.
- The wines are lighter than Barolo or Rioja. If the group wants big reds, Saint-Émilion or Haro will suit better.