There are castles in the Loire Valley that tell one, clean and uniform story (for example Chambord CastleThe Château de Blois has four—and all four face each other, in the exact same courtyard.
Most palaces in the valley were built slowly over generations, but in most cases, subsequent rulers bothered to “fix” and unify what came before them. In Blois, this simply did not happen. Each ruler built a completely new wing for himself, almost without touching what already stood there. The result is a courtyard where you will see, in a 180-degree turn: the remains of a 13th-century fortress, a fiery Gothic wing, a magnificent Renaissance wing, and a classical wing. Four architectural styles, four eras, and a host of completely different royal personalities who filled these rooms with intrigue, poetry, and blood.
If you’re here to plan a trip to Blois — continue to the next section. If you’re here for the juicy historical stories (and there are plenty of them) — skip straight to “Four Wings, Four Personalities.”
And just one last thing before we continue, the last time I was at Blois Castle and took pictures was in 2014. Unfortunately, a large part of the pictures I took were lost, so, unlike my other articles, you will find relatively few pictures here. However, to make up for it, I found a lovely 7-minute video that will show you Blois Castle in all its glory. Take a few minutes, watch the video, and then continue reading.
Blois Castle – Visitor Information
Hours and prices (2026)
Palace entrance hours
- January 1 – February 28: 10:00 – 17:00
- March 1 – March 31: 10:00 – 17:30
- April 1 – September 30: 09:00 – 18:30
- October 1 – October 16: 09:00 – 18:00
- October 17 – November 1: 09:00 – 18:30
- November 2 – December 18: 10:00 – 17:00
- December 19 – January 3: 10:00 – 18:00
Tickets and prices
Adults: 16 euros (as of 2026). Children 6–17: 8 euros. Under 6: free. As this is a very popular castle during the tourist season, it is highly recommended to book tickets in advance using the following links:
- Booking castle entrance tickets
- Booking tickets for the audio-visual show (active between April and November)
- Book your Loire Valley Châteaux Pass (Especially worthwhile if you decide to visit several castles)
How to get there
There are several convenient ways to get to Blois Castle from Paris. Here are the main options available to you:
Guided tour from Paris
If you decide to leave Paris for just one day to visit the Loire Valley, I highly recommend that you don't rent a car, but simply take an organized tour. This will allow you to see more than one castle in a day and save you a lot of headaches (and after all, if you consider the cost of the car rental, gas, tolls, and entrance tickets – it's really worth it).
If you decide to take my advice, here are some great tours that include Blois Castle and depart directly from Paris:
Arrival by train
You can get to Blois by direct train from Paris-Austerlitz station to Blois-Chambord station (journey time is about 15 to 2 hours), and from there it is a leisurely 10–15 minute walk to the castle. If you are looking for a recommended website for booking train tickets, my constant recommendation is Rail europeIf you want to find more good sites for booking trips, You are welcome to enter my toolbox..
Rented vehicle
If you have decided Rent a car in Paris And to travel to Blois Castle independently, the fastest way is to drive south via the A10 toll road. The route includes connecting to the A10 at the exit from Paris, and finally getting off at exit 16 (Mer) to continue on the local roads D205 and D112 directly to the city of Blois.
As I said before, I really don't recommend driving from Paris to Blois for just one day. However, if you decide to make Blois a convenient base from which to discover the rest of the castles of Loire valleyYou can find some really recommended hotels in the article dedicated to the topic. Accommodation in Blois and the surrounding area.
How much time to devote to the visit?
Full day – if you want to see the castle at your leisure and also stroll through the old city. Half day – if you are on your way to other castles in the area (such as What was tried? or Chambord) and incorporate Blois as part of a busy itinerary.
What should not be missed at the castle?
- The courtyard itself: stand in the center before you enter the rooms and let the four wings close in on you. This is the moment you realize that something here is completely unusual.
- The Spiral Staircase of François I
- The bloody assassination room of the Duke of Guise
- The summer audio-visual show — which tells all this history in colors and lights on the facades themselves. You can book a ticket for the show via This link.
Recommended season
Spring and fall — mainly for the sound-and-light show (running from April to September) and for the blossoms in the Loire Valley in general. September is probably considered the most perfect month: less crowded with tourists, the greenery is still bright around, and the afternoon light on the white stones of the castle is simply worth every photo.
To live in Blois
Before we begin telling the fascinating story of Blois Castle, I must say that the city of Blois is a great base for trips throughout the Loire Valley because there are quite a few castles nearby. Furthermore, if you decide to live in Blois, you will also enjoy a charming old town and you will not have to travel far in the evening after you have finished watching the light and sound show at the castle.
So, if you've decided to take my advice and make Blois your base for your trip to the Loire Valley, all you have to do is enter the article. Accommodation in Blois And discover a series of recommended hotels and vacation apartments.
Four wings, four personalities (and lots of drama)
To truly understand Blois Castle, you need to know the people who worked there. Here is a historical overview of this fascinating structure through the figures who designed it (and sometimes also found their death there):
The Counts of Blois in the Middle Ages: The Wooden Citadel, the Vikings, and the “Rogue”
Before becoming an architectural gem and a scene of royal intrigue during the Renaissance, Blois Castle began as a grim, heavily fortified military stronghold in the early Middle Ages. The first historical evidence of a fortress on the site dates back to 854, under the reign of King Charles the Bald. Back then, it was not a magnificent stone palace but a simple, strategic wooden fortress, built on a rocky cliff overlooking the Loire River. But this prime location also brought trouble: Viking warriors raided the area, attacked the fortress, and burned it to the ground.
In the 10th century, the site was restored and became a center of immense political power thanks to the powerful and wealthy Counts of Blois. Count Thibaud Ier de Blois (910-978), who earned the unflattering but witty nickname “the swindler” or “the cheater” (Le Tricheur), understood the potential of the place.
He decided to replace the vulnerable wooden beams with a watchtower and a massive stone fortress. Thebes and his descendants became one of the most influential dynasties in feudal France, so much so that they also ruled the wealthy Champagne region and posed a real and constant threat to the early Capetian kings of France.
For centuries the castle served as a tough feudal administrative center, until in 1218 Thibaut VI, the last Count of Champagne, died without leaving male heirs. Control of the district and the castle passed to the House of Châtillon. Towards the end of the 14th century, Count Guy II of Châtillon (1346-1397) was deeply in debt following prolonged wars and family disasters (including the death of his only son).
In his distress, and with no choice, he made a decision in 1391 that changed the course of French history: he sold the Countship of Blois and the château to Louis I, Duke of Orléans, the younger brother of King Charles VI, for the enormous sum of 200,000 gold notes. It was this sale that brought the royal Orléans branch to the château, and laid the foundation for Blois' transformation from a medieval feudal stronghold to a magnificent Renaissance royal palace.
The Hall of Estates (13th century) and Joan of Arc
The oldest part of the castle that remains is the 13th-century Hall of Estates (Salle des États), a remnant of the medieval fortress of the Counts of Blois. It is in fact the oldest Gothic-civil hall in all of France. And speaking of the Middle Ages – in 1429, none other than Jeanne d’Arc came here to receive the blessing of the Archbishop of Reims in the castle church, just before she set out at the head of an army to liberate the city of Orléans from the English siege.
If you enter this monumental hall, you will discover a huge space divided into two longitudinal halls by a series of central stone columns supporting a magnificent wooden ceiling (precisely and magnificently restored in the 19th century by Félix Duban). This hall was not only used for banquets for the counts of the province; it was the beating political heart of France at particularly critical moments.
During the 16th century, when the Wars of Religion threatened to tear the kingdom apart, the hall served as the site of the famous États généraux (Assembly of the Estates) in 1576 and 1588 under the reign of Henry III. Here, within these stone walls, representatives of the nobility, clergy, and people attempted to dictate terms to the king, political intrigues were openly hatched, and tension reached its peak moments before the dramatic murder that took place just one floor above them.
Charles d'Orleans: The Poet Prince
Before becoming an official royal residence, the château belonged to Charles, Duke of Orléans (1394–1465). Charles was captured by the English at the famous Battle of Agincourt (1415) and spent no less than 25 long years in a British prison, where he found solace in writing beautiful, mournful poetry. When he finally returned to France, he settled in Blois and transformed the gloomy military fortress into a vibrant cultural center. He used to hold prestigious poetry competitions here (one of which was attended by the famous poet François Villon). It was Charles’ son who would change the fate of the château forever.
Charles, who was the nephew of King Charles VI, returned from British captivity when he was already 50 years old, a very advanced age for that time (not to mention the fact that his beloved wife, Bona of Armagnac, passed away while he was imprisoned across the Channel without ever being able to say goodbye to her).
Rather than wallow in bitterness or embark on military campaigns of revenge, he chose to bring with him to Blois the refined and cultured atmosphere he had absorbed. He demolished part of the old fortress walls to let in light, built more comfortable residences, and founded a magnificent library that was one of the largest of its time.
His castle courtyard became a magnet for artists, philosophers, and intellectuals. The most charming story is about the famous Blois poetry contest he organized in 1457: Charles gave the participants a fixed opening line (“I am dying of thirst at the spring”) and asked them to compose a poem around it. François Villon, the rebellious and brilliant poet, came to the castle, wrote an immortal ballad, and won first place. At the age of 68, Charles married for the third time, to the young Marie de Clèves (Marie de Clèves 1426-1487), and miraculously they had a little son named Louis – the one who would become King of France and change the castle’s status forever.
Louis XII: The Royal Hedgehog
Charles's son became King of France in 1498 under the name Louis XII. He and his wife, Anne of Brittany, decided to make Blois their main royal residence. The wing he built marks the architectural seam between late Gothic architecture (the “flaming” style) and the early French Renaissance. Here you will see alternating facades of red brick and white stone, decorated windows (lucrons), and a large equestrian statue of the king in a niche above the main entrance.
(If you look closely at the symbols adorning the wing, you’ll notice a hedgehog. It was the personal symbol of Louis XII, and in case you were wondering – someone at the palace probably thought it was a great idea to carve hedgehogs in every possible corner of the building!)
It is impossible to talk about the Louis XII wing without dedicating a place of honor to his influential wife, Anne of Brittany. Anne, who was a formidable political figure and Duchess of Brittany in her own right, ran a magnificent, strict, and extraordinary royal court at the Château de Blois.
She was the first queen in France to establish a personal guard of “ladies” (young noblewomen who were given a strict education and close supervision). Here in the castle she gave birth to her daughter, Claude of France (who would later marry the next king, Francis I). Anne’s life was marked by the tragedies of losing children, and on January 9, 1514, she died at the same castle in Blois, aged just 36, after suffering from kidney stones.
Her death so deeply saddened King Louis XII that he ordered an unprecedented royal funeral for her that lasted 15 days. According to her will, Anne's heart was placed in a magnificent gold casket (reliquary) and sent to her hometown of Nantes, as a sign of her eternal loyalty to the Brittany region, while her body was buried inBasilica of Saint-Denis in Paris.
François I: Salamanders and theatrical stairs
François Ier, who inherited the throne in 1515, was certainly not the type to settle for what he had. He built a magnificent Renaissance wing that includes one of the most photographed features in the entire Loire Valley: the monumental spiral staircase.
These are semi-open steps to the courtyard, intended to serve as a real theatrical stage – here members of the royal court could ascend, descend, observe and be seen in their best attire. François’ personal symbol, the salamander that “lives in fire”, adorns this entire part of the castle.
If you step outside the inner courtyard and look at the castle from the direction of the city and the valley, you will discover the amazing Façade des Loges of the François I wing. This is an extraordinary display of architectural power, inspired by Donato Bramante's famous loggias in the Vatican in Rome. François I wanted to show all the residents of Blois and the entire world that he was a modern, enlightened king connected to the Italian Renaissance. The facade is characterized by rows of open balconies, galleries and deep niches that create spectacular plays of light and shadow, and it proudly overlooks the rooftops of the old city and the Loire River flowing at its feet.
Catherine de Medici's Room of Secrets and Poisons (Studiolo)
Inside the François I wing, on the second floor, is one of the castle’s most mysterious and fascinating rooms – the “Studiolo” or study of Queen Catherine de Medici. This room boasts 237 panels of carved oak with magnificent Renaissance decorations, behind which are hidden four completely secret wall cabinets, which open with a hidden push mechanism.
According to folk legends and the “evil tongues” of the French royal court, Catherine – who earned the dark reputation of the “Queen of Poisons” – used these cupboards to hide her famous vials of poison, which she used to eliminate political opponents.
Modern historians tend to ruin the party, explaining that these cabinets were probably used to store secret political documents, valuable art objects, or rare books, but the combination of dark wood panels and hidden mechanisms still evokes a sense of mystery and dread in anyone who sets foot in the room.
5. Gaston of Orléans: The money runs out in the middle
In the 17th century, Blois was given as a wedding present to Gaston of Orléans (the younger brother and schemer of King Louis XIII). Gaston hired the great architect François Mansard to demolish the old château and build a classical, symmetrical, and restrained palace in its place. He managed to demolish about a quarter of the François I wing and begin construction, but then he simply ran out of money (and he also lost political support at court). The wing remains unfinished to this day – a kind of impressive classical puzzle piece stuck in the middle of construction, waiting to be completed.
If you look closely at the Gaston Maurelien wing, you can see the genius of Mansard – the architect who gave the world the famous “mansard” roofs of Paris. Although the structure was never completed (it was originally designed to surround the entire courtyard and create a perfect classical courtyard), the part that was built displays a perfect combination of the three classical styles: Doric columns on the ground floor, Ionic columns on the first floor and Corinthian columns on the second floor.
The architectural highlight is the magnificent central staircase, topped by a unique double dome that allows natural daylight to flood the space in a heavenly way. Gaston’s financial incapacity (and the fact that he finally had a nephew – the future Louis XIV – which eliminated his chances of inheriting the French crown and winning huge budgets) left us with a silent and fascinating testimony to the clash between huge political ambitions and harsh budgetary realities.
Blood in the bedroom and smells in the middle of the night
Assassination of the Duke of Guise (1588)
Blois is not only a magnificent piece of architecture; it is also a famous murder scene. In 1588, France was torn apart by brutal religious wars. The Catholic League, led by Duke Henri I de Guise, succeeded in driving King Henry III out of his Paris. The Duke felt so confident that when his associates warned him that the king might harm him, he dismissed the matter with disdain, confidently saying, “He would not dare.”
He was very wrong.
On the snowy winter morning of December 23, 1588, the Duke was summoned to a meeting in the king’s residence. He entered the room, but instead of the king, eight of Henry III’s personal guards (a group known as “the Forty-Five”) were waiting for him. They pounced on him, stabbing him repeatedly. The attack was so sudden that the Duke—a giant of stature and a renowned warrior—did not even have time to draw his dagger, and he collapsed dead on the floor.
According to legend (which historians still disagree about), Henry III waited the entire time in the next room. He then went out to look at the body of his rival, who was approaching two meters tall, and muttered: “God, how big he is! He looks even bigger dead than alive.” The next morning, the duke’s brother, Cardinal Louis de Guise, was also brutally murdered. The bodies of the two were burned and their ashes thrown into the Loire River, to prevent their graves from becoming pilgrimage sites for angry Catholics.
On the floor below, Catherine de Médicis, the king’s mother, lay ill. When she heard what her son had done, she is said to have responded with the chilling remark: “It is well sewn up, my son, now it must be healed.” But the healing never happened. Catherine died a few days later (on January 5, 1589) in the same castle, and a few months later, the king himself was murdered by a fanatical monk who sought to avenge the deaths of the Guise brothers.
The Great Escape of Marie de Medici
If you thought that was the end of the Blois dramas, wait for the next story. In 1617, the young King Louis XIII, fed up with the absolute control of his mother, Marie de Medici, seized power by force and exiled her to the Château de Blois under strict guard. But Marie had no intention of giving up or spending the rest of her life there.
On the night of February 21-22, 1619, in a daring operation that is hard to imagine a Queen Mother carrying out herself, she escaped from the castle in the dead of night! She swung herself through a window using a rope ladder into the castle moat, from where she joined her supporters, fled to a waiting carriage, and ignited an open rebellion against her son.
Today, after all the blood and drama, you can simply come to Blois in the summer and see the exact same courtyard, the same four spectacular wings, illuminated in a sound-light show that tells this whole story without anyone having to escape out the window or die again.
Frequently Asked Questions about Blois Castle
How long does it take to visit Blois Castle?
At least an hour and a half — and up to three hours if you're someone (like me) who stops at every oil painting, looks for the hedgehogs and salamanders, and asks yourself what Gaston of Orléans was thinking when he destroyed an entire wing and then just ran out of money in the middle.
Is it possible to get to Blois from Paris in one day?
Absolutely. A train from Austerlitz, an hour and a half to two hours of leisurely travel, and you're there. It's also possible (and even advisable) to combine it with Chambord Castle — if you're the kind of person who wants to see two castles in a day and return tired but satisfied to Paris.
Is the audio-visual show worth it?
Very much so — but only if you come to it after reading about the local history. Because then, when the light falls on the assassination room and someone begins to tell the story of the Duke of Guise in a dramatic voice, it's no longer just another tourist show. It takes on a chilling and vivid context.
What is the difference between Blois Castle and the other castles in the Loire Valley?
Most of the castles in the valley are large, beautiful, and tell a single historical or architectural story. Blois tells four stories at once—and they all look out at you from the same inner courtyard. It may not be as grandiose on the outside as Chambord, but it is undoubtedly the most packed with drama, blood, and history on the inside.
Is Blois suitable for children?
Very. Children under 6 get in for free, and there's plenty to see and explore inside. Just looking for Louis XII's hedgehogs and the fantastical animals on the walls is an experience in itself, worth a visit for curious children.