Orléans à vélo

This Loire à Vélo stage sticks close to a great Loire meander leading to Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, a town with a museum dedicated to Loire mariners and trade. Lovely grounds planted with rare trees provide a peaceful place to stop. Continue to south-bank Jargeau via a raised levée affording lovely views across the Loire. The route is easy, on quiet roads and greenways.

The dramatic skyline of the city of Orléans can be seen from afar, shifting with the meanders in the Loire as you draw closer. The outdoor sports and recreation centre of the Ile Charlemagne offers a green lung in the city, a place to relax before exploring this intense town. The route is easy, mainly on greenways.

Gateway to the famed Loire Valley heartlands, once a capital in early medieval France, Orléans is now a lively modern city. It’s an ideal place to join the Loire à Vélo and EuroVelo 6 cycle routes. Whether heading upstream or down, it’s simple for cyclists to find the cycle paths leading to the Loire. This stage is as easy as it is enjoyable!

Once you’ve left Orléans’s suburbs behind, you reach the attractive confluence of the Loiret and Loire rivers. This stage of the Loire à Vélo and EuroVelo 6 runs in part along a raised Loire-side levée, looking over an agricultural plain used for market-gardening. Don’t miss Meung-sur-Loire et Beaugency, deeply atmospheric small historic towns.