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Montsoreau
Maine-et-Loire
Montsoreau, a Renaissance gem in the Loire Valley, on the banks of the Loire
Fancy a getaway combining history, nature and local delicacies?
Montsoreau welcomes you with its Renaissance château, made famous by Alexandre Dumas’s novel La Dame de Monsoreau, which overlooks the Loire. Its white tuffeau stone houses with slate roofs line the village’s flower-filled streets.
Take a stroll along the Loire, enjoy the trails of the Loire-Anjou-Touraine Regional Nature Park and explore the Saumur vineyards.Fancy a getaway combining history, nature and local delicacies?
The Loire as a mirror
Living heritage, contemporary art, cave dwellers and flea markets… In Montsoreau, every visit holds its own share of surprises.
Les Plus Beaux Villages de France
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Benoît Martin
Word of Mouth
It’s impossible to take in Montsoreau at a single glance, nestled between the hillsides and the Loire. To admire it in its entirety, you have two options: by boat or from the hamlet known as ‘Le Port’.
Your experiences to live in Montsoreau
©Y. Buron – Montsoreau Town Hall
Bargain hunting at the Montsoreau Flea Market
If you love beautiful objects and treasure hunts, this unmissable event is for you! Every second Sunday of the month, the banks of the Loire come to life from the early hours of the morning as antique dealers and other second-hand traders set up their stalls; the quality of the goods on offer has earned the event the ‘France Europe Antiquité’ label.
Follow the introductory tour of the “Loire Wine Market”
Saumur, Saumur-Champigny, Crémant de Loire... To find out everything there is to know about these local appellations, step inside the “Marché des Vins de Loire” in the cave-dwellings and meet some passionate winegrowers. Subtle aromas, expertise and traditions passed down with pride, for tastings brimming with authenticity… and always in moderation!
Get into the spirit of Les Musicales de Montsoreau
Every summer, the village comes alive with the sound of classical music. Concerts in the château or the church, international artists, an enchanting setting: a summer event not to be missed!
Discover the game of boule de fort
To immerse yourself fully in the local culture, head to “L’Union”, in the heart of the village, where people play boule de fort, a game classified as part of the Loire region’s cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture. On a sort of curved track, players – who must wear slippers – roll balls 13 cm in diameter with flattened sides, aiming to get them as close as possible to the ‘maître’, a smaller ball placed in the centre of the playing area!
Ideas for everyone, all the time
From Jan. 1, 2026 to Dec. 31, 2026 from 8 a.m.
Marché de Montsoreau
Sunday mornings from 8am to 1pm on the Place du Mail in Montsoreau. 15 to 20 producers and retailers offer fresh, seasonal produce and local specialities.
In summer and winter alike, take advantage of the Sunday market to enjoy a break on a terrace overlooking the Loire at Montsoreau. All the village's shops are open on Sunday mornings, a busy time for the market, which completes the range of shops on offer: ? fruit and vegetables, cured meats and dried fruit, ? the cheese maker, ? the fishmonger, ? the oyster and seafood bench, ? local and regional producers of mushrooms, honey and gingerbread, poultry and foie gras, goat's cheese, flowers and plants. From spring onwards, a number of "transient" merchants complete the offer. OPENING HOURS : From 01/01 to 31/12/2026 Sundays from 8am to 1pm.
Next dates:
- From 01/01/2026 to 12/31/2026
Open every day
From Feb. 13, 2026 to Dec. 31, 2026
Installation modulable de Zhuo Qi
Each year, the museum bookshop invites a contemporary artist to take up residence in one of its display windows.
In 2026, Zhuo Qi presented a modular installation entitled "J?ai mangé une assiette" (2015?2018). This is a series produced in Jingdezhen, China, in which Zhuo Qi interrupts the traditional ceramic process with a direct bodily intervention. While the clay is still raw and rotating on the wheel, the artist imprints her dental marks on it, transforming the teeth into a tracing tool not held by the hand. These impressions, evocative of a form of writing without writing, are later fixed by firing and enhanced with gold leaf. Far from being a simple ornament, gold acts as a gesture of covering and signalling, creating a tension between repair and revelation. TIME PRECISIONS : From 02/13 to 12/31/2026. Exhibition open during Château/Musée opening hours.
Next dates:
- From 02/13/2026 to 12/31/2026
From April 8, 2026 to Jan. 4, 2027
More Morellet
2026: Centenary of the birth of François Morellet. The Château de Montsoreau ? musée d?Art contemporain pays tribute to François Morellet, an iconoclastic figure in contemporary art.
In the museum lobby, the emblematic work Répartition aléatoire de 40000 carrés suivant les chiffres pairs et impairs d?un annuaire de téléphone, 50% blue, 50% red, 1960 transforms the pages of a Maine-et-Loire telephone directory into a vast geometric game. Monumental and playful, this piece combines mathematical rigor with discreet humor, embodying Morellet?s inventive spirit and the influence he still exerts on several generations of artists. An event organized by the Estate Morellet and the Centre Pompidou to mark the centenary of François Morellet?s birth SHOW TIMES : From 08/04/2026 to 04/01/2027. Exhibition open during Château/Musée opening hours.
Next dates:
- From 04/08/2026 to 01/04/2027
From July 10, 2026 to Nov. 4, 2026 from 10 a.m.
Babi Badalov – My Name is Art
Check out the new exhibition at the Château de Montsoreau—Museum of Contemporary Art—from July 10 to November 4, 2026.
The Château de Montsoreau—Museum of Contemporary Art presents *My Name is Art*, a solo exhibition by Babi Badalov, curated by Azad Asifovich. The exhibition brings together a collection of works exploring the relationships between language, identity, migration, and creation. From July 10 to November 4, 2026, the artist will take over Level 2 of the museum with a selection of drawings, paintings, textiles, installations, and writings that reflect more than three decades of research into linguistic shifts and visual poetry. Born in Lerik (Azerbaijan) in 1959, Babi Badalov has been a naturalized French citizen since 2018 and lives and works in Paris. For over thirty years, he has been developing a unique artistic practice at the intersection of visual poetry, drawing, and installation. His work transforms languages into plastic matter. In his work, words shift, distort, and intersect, inventing new ways of reading. Through linguistic shifts, deliberate errors, hybridizations of alphabets, and typographic play, Badalov turns language into a space of resistance, freedom, and creation. Presented at the Château de Montsoreau— Museum of Contemporary Art, the exhibition resonates with the history of the venue and with the Philippe Méaille Collection, the world’s largest collection of works by Art & Language. It fosters a dialogue between two major approaches to the relationship between art and language: one rooted in the history of conceptual art, the other based on the experience of exile, multilingualism, and the politics of translation. %AB Every language produces a world order. It classifies, names, hierarchizes, and assigns places. What happens when an individual lives simultaneously within multiple languages, multiple alphabets, and multiple systems of meaning? This question runs through Babi Badalov’s entire body of work. Since the 1990s, the artist has been developing a practice rooted in linguistic shifts. Her drawings, paintings, textiles, and writings function as traces of a thought in motion, traversed by languages that never perfectly coincide with one another. Where normative museum institutions seek stability of meaning, Badalov explores its fissures. Where language claims clarity, he reveals its ambiguities, contradictions, and gray areas. %BB ? Azad Asifovich, curator of the exhibition. With *My Name is Art*, Babi Badalov continues an exploration in which language ceases to be a mere tool of communication and becomes a living substance, interwoven with individual stories, political boundaries, and the experiences of translation. The exhibition invites visitors to discover a deeply poetic and political body of work, in which every word becomes an image, every error becomes an invention, and every language opens up the possibility of a different perspective on the world. OPENING HOURS: From July 10 to November 4, 2026, daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The exhibition is open during the site’s regular hours.
Next dates:
- From 07/10/2026 to 11/04/2026
Open every day
From Sept. 7, 2026 to Nov. 16, 2026 from 8:30 p.m.
Les lundis des champignons
Any doubts about what you've picked? Bring your mushrooms and let's try to identify them together.
That way, you'll know whether they're edible or not. Here's a tip: bring them in a basket for better preservation. TIME DETAILS : From 07/09 to 16/11/2026 Mondays, 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm. Subject to snow conditions.
Next dates:
- From 09/07/2026 to 11/16/2026
Open every day
The Sept. 11, 2026
Conférence – Il était une fois un camp américain
The Art et Découverte de Montsoreau association is pleased to invite you to its upcoming lecture titled "Once Upon a Time, There Was an American Camp," presented by Christianne Pelletier.
"The American camp at Villebernier was established in April 1918, one year after the United States entered World War I. It was a railroad camp intended to maintain the railway equipment unloaded at the Atlantic ports and destined for the Eastern Front in the American sector. The camp housed approximately 2,000 soldiers in 36 barracks along the railroad tracks in the marshy lands of Villebernier. Water, electricity, and telephones in the camp at a time when locals were still using kerosene lamps: a cultural clash between two worlds, sometimes brought together through marriages. General Pershing on a visit: “This is the most beautiful of all the camps I have inspected.” Today, few traces remain on site, but documents are preserved in the archives.” SCHEDULE DETAILS: Friday, September 11, 2026, starting at 5:00 p.m.
Next dates:
- 09/11/2026
From Sept. 19, 2026 to Sept. 20, 2026 from 10 a.m.
Champignonnière Le Saut aux Loups
Discover this artisanal mushroom farm by immersing yourself underground in an exceptional geological site carved out of tufa rock.
You can explore the shiitake, button, and oyster mushroom farms. A gift shop and a restaurant where you can sample galipettes round out the site (reservations recommended). SCHEDULE DETAILS: Saturday, September 19, through Sunday, September 20, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Next dates:
- From 09/19/2026 to 09/20/2026
Open every day
From Sept. 19, 2026 to Sept. 20, 2026 from 10 a.m.
Château de Montsoreau, Musée d'Art Contemporain
Built into the riverbed, this is the most modern of the Loire châteaux, and one of the first Renaissance-style châteaux in France. It bears witness to the emergence of new artistic and architectural languages.
For two days, museum docents will guide visitors as they explore the monument, providing insights to help them easily understand contemporary art. %C0 10:30 a.m., 3:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m.: a 20-minute tour of the site’s history. %C0 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.: an in-depth tour of the castle, the museum’s permanent contemporary art collection, and the temporary exhibition. SCHEDULE DETAILS: From Saturday, September 19, to Sunday, September 20, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Next dates:
- From 09/19/2026 to 09/20/2026
Open every day
The Sept. 19, 2026 from 9 a.m.
Mairie de Montsoreau
Discover this 18th-century building, originally designed to accommodate travelers. During your visit, you’ll have the chance to meet local officials and learn about this hub of civic life, its history, and its role at the heart of the village.
Free admission (limited capacity). SCHEDULE DETAILS: Saturday, September 19, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Next dates:
- 09/19/2026
Open every day
From Sept. 19, 2026 to Sept. 20, 2026
Maison du Parc
A must in Montsoreau, the Maison du Parc invites you to relax and discover, with free exhibitions, family events, a redesigned store and a reception shared with the tourist office.
Be sure to visit the two exhibitions on display at the Maison: Large Mammals: Guardians of the Regional Nature Parks: Welcome to the heart of the Regional Nature Parks, where deer, wolves, otters, dolphins, and humans share the same living world. Through this photographic exhibition, immerse yourself in the world of the large mammals of the metropolitan and overseas parks and be amazed by the stunning sculptures. Come in, take a look… nature has so much to tell. Exhibition of photographs and sculptures. In the heart of the forest: forests cover 28% of our territory. Whether as a recreational space or an economic resource, they also provide shelter and sustenance for a multitude of animals. Set out on a forest walk to meet its inhabitants through amateur snapshots accompanied by photographs by Louis-Marie Préau, a professional wildlife photographer. SCHEDULE DETAILS: Saturday, September 19, through Sunday, September 20, 2026, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Next dates:
- From 09/19/2026 to 09/20/2026
From Sept. 19, 2026 to Sept. 20, 2026 from 10 a.m.
Église Saint-Pierre-de-Rest
This church in the Loire Valley, saved from the floodwaters, was dedicated to Saint Peter, the patron saint of fishermen. It was built at the end of the 13th century and has been designated a “Céglises Accueillantes” in Anjou.
Welcome by the Sauvegarde de Montsoreau association. Guided tour of the church interior (sacristy open by special arrangement) and the old cemetery. Treasure hunt: Flood markers and stained-glass windows. SCHEDULE DETAILS: From Saturday, September 19, to Sunday, September 20, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Next dates:
- From 09/19/2026 to 09/20/2026
Open every day
The Oct. 16, 2026
Vignobles en scène – Un vigneron, un musicien - duo de solistes
Vignobles en scène - creative animation. From the vineyard to the cellar, the estate's winemaker and a musician invite you to enjoy a unique tasting experience, in which music and wine create a harmonious blend.
During this experience, you will taste three wines, each accompanied by a piece of music echoing the emotions and sensations it inspires. The concert, lasting around an hour, will be punctuated by short breaks dedicated to tasting and discussing the wines presented by the estate?s winemaker. The concert will be followed by a "verre de l'amitié", a special opportunity to chat with the winemaker and the musician. At the end of the event, the wines tasted will also be available for purchase directly from the boutique. TIME DETAILS : Friday, October 16, 2026 from 6:30pm.
Next dates:
- 10/16/2026
From Oct. 24, 2026 to Oct. 25, 2026
Conférences - 5ème rencontre ufologique
The OVNI-ANJOU association, in partnership with the TUFO group, invites you to participate in the 5th UFO Conference.
The program for this event includes several presentations that will allow you to learn more about and discuss the UFO phenomenon. You’ll also have the opportunity to meet and talk with numerous speakers and presenters, including Rémy Borne, Frédéric Brochard, Joslan F. Keller, Egon Kragel, and Franck Maurin. This 5th Ufology Conference is sponsored by Jacques Vallée, astronomer and ufologist. Throughout the day, there will be exhibits dedicated to UFOs, as well as an area dedicated to the sale of specialized books and magazines. SCHEDULE DETAILS: Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, October 25, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 2:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Next dates:
- 10/24/2026
- 10/25/2026
The Loire by Bike
Hop on your bikes and set off on an adventure along one of the most beautiful stretches of this legendary route. Charming villages and spectacular views of the river punctuate this enjoyable and rejuvenating experience with friends. Among your stops, Candes-Saint-Martin and Fontevraud-l’Abbaye – both designated ‘Plus Beaux Villages de France’ – are just a short cycle away.
A boat trip
Let yourself be carried along by the peaceful waters of the Loire on a trip aboard a ‘toue’, a traditional river boat. ‘Loire Vins Aventure’ offers a range of themed trips lasting 1 or 2 hours, departing from Montsoreau, and it’s even possible to spend the night on board. Marvel at the sunset with a glass of wine in hand for an unforgettable romantic evening...
Spring walk
When the weather is fine, explore the trails that wind their way around Montsoreau. Follow the GR® 3 ‘La Loire sauvage à pied’ (8 km / 2 hours 15 minutes from Fontevraud-l’Abbaye or 16.2 km / 4 hours to Saumur) or the ‘A village and its castle between the Loire and the troglodytes’ circuit* (16 km / 3 hours 30 minutes) to discover superb views of the Loire Valley landscapes.
* Trail impassable in the event of the Loire rising or heavy rainfall.
A wellness break at the spa
Make the most of a rainy day to treat yourself to some ‘me-time’ in a wellness centre. A heated pool, massages and a hammam await you at the Spa Cinq Mondes at the La Marine de Loire hotel. Everything you need to recharge your batteries, far from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Don’t forget to book your treatments...
Our recommendations
Camping L'Isle Verte
L'Isle Verte
Enjoy the views of the Loire from a cabin on stilts or one of the 116 pitches at this four-star campsite. Even better, the village of Montsoreau is only 100 metres away!
Le P'tit bar de Mestré
This bar and brasserie is open all year round and is located near the banks of the Loire. It's the perfect place to meet up at any time of day. It's just what we love!
Benoît Martin
Champignonnière Le Saut-aux-Loups
Le Saut aux Loups is a cave-dwelling site with views of the Loire, an immersive journey into the world of mushrooms (artisanal cultivation), a cave restaurant and a shop.
Map of Montsoreau
Extend the visit to near Montsoreau
Candes-Saint-Martin
(1 km)
Fontevraud-l'Abbaye
(4 km)
Crissay-sur-Manse
(33 km)
Prepare your stay at Montsoreau
Destination Saumur Val de Loire
Accessibility
Montsoreau
# Accessible aux personnes à mobilité réduite : Accessible aux personnes à mobilité réduite et aux poussettes
# Parking : Emplacements de stationnement pour vélo
# Parking : Stationnement gratuit toute l'année
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