MARKETS

Make sure you get to the town’s charming main market, which happens every single Thursday (8am-1pm) come rain or shine, whatever the time of year.

**There is a list at the bottom of the page listing the daily food markets within the region, should you not be visiting us on a Thursday, Saturday or Sunday.

A Guide to Chinon’s Thursday Market

Fortify yourself with a coffee and a croissant at Le Bistrot du Marché (right next door to Hotel Plantagenêt) with its outside tables and good view of the hustle and bustle. Chinon’s market has a wealth of predominantly local produce - regardless of the time of year - and it grows slowly over the summer months, when you can sometimes also spot the odd stall selling brightly coloured pottery from Provence.

There are several regular linen stalls, of varying quality, that are sometimes worth a look, as well as a man selling pashminas (note, not the same as the cotton scarf stall). Rummage and be rewarded!

For lunch, or a post-market glass of wine, we love Hotel de La Treille where you can sit outside under a vine trellis. It comes alive on market day. Booking recommended.

Say Cheese

For excellent cheese, make sure you hunt out the van from Rodolphe Le Meunier who is a permanent fixture in Les Halles de Tours (a buzzing, indoor food market in our nearest big city: Tours) but on Thursdays only, she comes to Chinon. Thursday’s market also has an excellent choice of seafood.

Chinon also has a very small Saturday Morning Market just outside the Marie/Café des Arts as well as a slightly larger Sunday Market (also just by the Marie) selling seafood, cheese, fruit and veg (open 9am-1pm). There is usually a great atmosphere in town; go local and have a coffee on the square before slipping down a side street for an €8 platter of oysters, washed down with a chilled glass of white. The place you are looking for is Le XV (15 Rue Rabelais).

Note that on Sunday, the focus is on the heart of the town. L’Eclerc, (see SUPERMARKETS) and all the other shops outside the centre, are shut; they re-open on Monday. However, the small, in-town Carrefour, the butchers, the bakers and so on, all remain open on Sunday until around 1pm.

As a general rule, anything that is open on a Sunday, will be closed on a Monday, and visa versa (except La Tour des Pains which manages to stay open regardless of the day - see BOULANGERIES).

Don’t forget that most independent shops will shut for lunch - as well as some chains too (timings vary from shop-to-shop, but things usually close 12.30pm-2pm, daily).

Markets within the Region:

Monday - Doué la Fontaine, Les Rosiers-dur-Loire

Tuesday - Gennes, Montreuil Bellay, Loudun & Bourgeuil

Wednesday - Azay-le-Rideau, Fontevraud l’Abbaye, Beaufort-en-Vallée & Tours

Thursday - Chinon (a must) & Longué

Friday - Richelieu, Thours & Amboise

Saturday - Saumur (recommended), Chinon (very small), Azay-le-Rideau

Sunday - Montsoreau (recommended), Langeais, Chinon (small but recommended) & Amboise

If you want a list, by department or region, for all conceivable (food) markets in France - useful for any onward trips - then this website provides it.