Saumur: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Saumur is a handsome town of white tufa between the Loire and its château. It was a Protestant stronghold in the 17th century, then the home of the French cavalry, and it still lives with horses. This walk climbs from the oldest church up to the château, then drops to the old square, the bridge and the cavalry quarter. End in the east at the domed church under the cliff.
A short history of Saumur
The white château of Saumur, on the cliff above the Loire, was built in the 14th century and appears in the Duke of Berry's Book of Hours. In 1599 the Protestant governor Duplessis-Mornay founded a Protestant academy that drew students from all over Europe, until it was closed in 1685. In the 19th century the cavalry school was established here, home to the Cadre Noir. In June 1940 the school's cadets held the Loire bridges against the German army for two days. In 1883 Coco Chanel was born in Saumur. The town is surrounded by tufa caves in which sparkling wine is aged.
The ten best sights in Saumur
1Château de SaumurThe white château on the hill; the ramparts give the widest view of the Loire
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2Le Cadre Noir de Saumur
The national riding school west of town; book a gala or a morning training session
3Musée des BlindésA vast tank museum; some of the vehicles still run on show days
4Musée de la CavalerieThe story of the French cavalry, in the old riding school stables
5Église Notre-Dame de NantillyThe oldest church in Saumur, hung with old tapestries
6Église Notre-Dame des ArdilliersA pilgrimage church under a great dome, at the foot of the cliff
7Église Saint-PierreOn the old-town square of half-timbered houses
8Abbaye royale de FontevraudThe great abbey of the Plantagenets, 12 km south-east
9Château de MontsoreauA château standing on the Loire bank, now a contemporary art museum
10Château de BrézéA château with a whole underground fortress dug beneath it
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Saumur →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Saumur:
Free walking tours in Saumur
Saumur on foot
Saumur is a handsome town of white tufa between the Loire and its château. It was a Protestant stronghold in the 17th century, then the home of the French cavalry, and it still lives with horses. This walk climbs from the oldest church up to the château, then drops to the old square, the bridge and the cavalry quarter. End in the east at the domed church under the cliff.
- Église Notre-Dame de Nantilly · Nantilly is the oldest church in Saumur, with a Romanesque nave of the 12th century. Louis XI added a side chapel, and the walls are hung with tapestries from the 16th and 17th centuries.
- Château de Saumur · The château appears in the September page of the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry, painted in the early 15th century with gilded weathervanes on its towers. It later served as a prison and an arms depot before becoming a museum.
- Église Saint-Pierre · Saint-Pierre is a Gothic church whose classical west front was added in the 17th century. The square around it keeps the half-timbered houses that survived from the medieval town.
- Pont Cessart · In June 1940 the cadets of the Saumur cavalry school, a few hundred young officers, held the Loire crossings here against the advancing German army for two days. They fought after the government had already asked for an armistice.
- Musée de la Cavalerie · The cavalry school was set up in Saumur in the 18th century, and the town became the centre of French military riding. The museum follows the horsemen from the age of armour to the tank regiments that replaced them.
- Église Notre-Dame des Ardilliers · Pilgrims came here from the 15th century to a statue of the Virgin found, the story says, by a farmer in a spring. The huge dome was built in the 17th century, when the Catholic church wanted a show of strength in a Protestant town.
Horses, tanks and bubbles
West and south of the town lie Saumur's three great passions. The national riding school trains its black-uniformed horsemen at Saint-Hilaire-Saint-Florent, where the hillside is also full of sparkling-wine cellars and mushroom caves dug in the tufa. The route ends at a giant dolmen and the tank museum. With children, the tanks and the caves are the hits.
- Le Cadre Noir de Saumur · The Cadre Noir are the riding instructors of the French national school, named for their black uniforms. Their horses perform 'airs above the ground', leaps such as the croupade and the cabriole, and their tradition of riding is on UNESCO's list of intangible heritage.
- Bouvet-Ladubay · Étienne Bouvet founded the house in 1851 and dug its cellars into the hillside, kilometres of galleries in the tufa. Saumur makes more sparkling wine than anywhere in France outside Champagne.
- Pierre et Lumière · Inside a tufa quarry, sculptors have carved small-scale models of the great monuments of the Loire valley straight out of the rock wall. The same white stone built the real ones.
- Musée du Champignon · When the quarrying stopped, the caves around Saumur turned to growing the button mushroom, the champignon de Paris, which needs steady cool and damp. For much of the 20th century the region produced most of France's cultivated mushrooms.
- Grand Dolmen de Bagneux · The dolmen, about 5,000 years old, is some 20 metres long and roofed with four huge slabs, the largest weighing around 80 tonnes. It stands in the garden of a café, which charges a small entry fee.
- Musée des Blindés · The museum holds one of the largest collections of armoured vehicles in the world, with hundreds of tanks from the First World War to today. Among them is a German Tiger tank still in running order.
Troglodytes and the abbey
East of Saumur the road follows the Loire under a cliff of tufa riddled with caves, where people lived, worked and dried fruit for centuries. The route runs through the troglodyte villages to Montsoreau and the abbey of Fontevraud, then turns south to two châteaux. The underground is cool even in August. This is also the south bank of the Loire à Vélo.
- Pommes Tapées · In the 19th century the caves of Turquant dried apples in ovens and then flattened them with a mallet: the 'pommes tapées'. Light and long-lasting, they were shipped to Paris and abroad, and sailors took them on long voyages.
- Château de Montsoreau · Montsoreau was built in the 15th century with its feet in the Loire, before the river was moved back by a road. Alexandre Dumas made it famous in his novel La Dame de Monsoreau.
- Le Saut aux Loups · This cave farm grows mushrooms in the tufa and cooks galipettes, big mushroom caps stuffed and baked in a wood oven. The name galipette, a somersault, comes from the way the large caps tip over as they grow.
- Abbaye royale de Fontevraud · Fontevraud's Romanesque kitchen is an octagonal building crowned with many small chimneys, rare to survive. In the church lie Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart and Isabella of Angoulême.
- Château de Brézé · Under the Renaissance château lies a fortress cut into the rock, with kitchens, stables and a bakery. Its dry moat, about 18 metres deep, is said to be the deepest in Europe.
- Château de Montreuil-Bellay · During the Second World War the French authorities ran an internment camp for Romani and Traveller families at Montreuil-Bellay, from 1941 to 1945. A memorial on the site, outside the town, recalls them.
Getting to Saumur and getting around
- Gare de Saumur · On the north bank across the bridges; trains to Tours, Angers and Nantes
- Gare Routière Pôle Balzac · Regional buses south of the centre, including lines to Fontevraud and Doué
Cheap eats in Saumur
Saumur is in Anjou now, not Touraine, and the change shows on the plate. The caves give mushrooms and the old fouées, bread puffs baked in wood ovens; the river gives pike-perch with beurre blanc, the butter sauce born on the lower Loire. To drink there is Saumur-Champigny, a red of Cabernet Franc, and the sparkling Saumur brut. The old square of Saint-Pierre is the place for a quick lunch.
- Le Fournil St Pierre · Bakery on the old square; sandwich about €4-6
- Gouzy · Pâtisserie and bakery, about €2-6
- Maison Gaspard · Coffee and cake by Saint-Pierre, about €5-8
- Café de la ville · Coffee on the square, about €2
- La Quichenotte · Quick local plates, about €10-15
- Le Saut aux Loups · Galipettes from the wood oven in a cave, about €12-18
Museums in Saumur
- Château de Saumur · Decorative arts and the horse museum
- Musée de la Cavalerie · Uniforms, sabres and the 1940 cadets
- Musée des Blindés · Allow two hours; check the show days
- Château de Montsoreau · Conceptual art in a Renaissance château
- Château de Brézé · Go underground: the rock fortress is the highlight
Things to do in Saumur with kids
- Bioparc - Zoo de Doué · Animals in old quarries and caves
- Musée des Blindés · Tanks to walk around and under
- Pierre et Lumière · The Loire's monuments in miniature, carved in a cave
- Musée du Champignon · A cool cave walk among growing mushrooms
- Le Cadre Noir de Saumur · Watch the horses train in the morning
Holy places in Saumur
- Église Notre-Dame des Ardilliers · Stand under the dome
- Église Notre-Dame de Nantilly · Tapestries and a Romanesque nave
- Église Saint-Pierre · Carved choir stalls inside
- Abbaye royale de Fontevraud · The Plantagenet effigies
- Château de Saumur · Saumur was once a Protestant stronghold
Where to eat in Saumur
- Auberge Saint-Pierre · Anjou cooking on the old square
- Le Bistrot de la Place · Terrace bistro on Place Saint-Pierre
- Sur les Quais · Dinner facing the Loire
- L'Essentielle · Modern French below the château
- Gratien & Meyer · Aperitif bubbles over the river before dinner
Frequently asked questions about Saumur
What is there to see in Saumur?
The top sights in Saumur are Château de Saumur, Le Cadre Noir de Saumur and Musée des Blindés. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Saumur?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Saumur without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Saumur?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Saumur, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Saumur on foot.
How do you get to Saumur and get around?
The main ways are Gare de Saumur and Gare Routière Pôle Balzac. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Saumur, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Saumur that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Saumur for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.