Loir-et-Cher · UNESCO World Heritage
Château de Chambord: tickets, hours and how to get there
A Renaissance château begun in 1519 by Francis I, with a double-helix staircase and a walled estate of about 5,440 hectares. Official prices and 2026 hours.
Today
Opening hours for every month are on the Opening hours page.
Checked against the official website on October 22, 2026 · Official source
In short
- In 2026 the official site charges 21 € for citizens and residents of the European Economic Area (EEA) and 31 € for everyone else, valid to 31 December 2026. The UK and Switzerland are not in the EEA, so they pay 31 €. Tiqets shows the 21 € EEA rate, so check the total at checkout.
- Hours in 2026: 9:00 to 18:00 from 28 March to 25 October, 9:00 to 17:00 the rest of the year. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing. Closed on 1 January and 25 December, and on Mondays in low season outside school holidays. The official site had not published hours beyond 2 January 2027.
- Allow about 3 hours for the château and the gardens (our estimate). The HistoPad interactive guide costs 6.50 € extra.
- By train: Blois-Chambord station, then the Rémi line 2 bus, about 35 minutes (3.40 €, paid to the driver). By car: 25 minutes from Blois and under 2 hours from Paris, says the official site. Parking costs 8 € a day.
The double-helix staircase
At the centre of the keep, two spiral ramps wind around the same axis, so two people can go up and down without meeting. The staircase rises to the terraces, where the lantern tower crowns the roofline.
The official site says the staircase was inspired by sketches of Leonardo da Vinci. The attribution to Leonardo is a tradition, not a proven fact. Henry James, writing in 1884, thought the staircase a piece of majestic humour.
Towers, chimneys and the roofline
The keep has a Greek-cross plan, and its roof is a skyline of its own: turrets, dormer windows, carved chimneys and the lantern. The terraces are part of the visit. James compared the roofline to the spires of a town rather than to the features of a single building.
Inside, the official site counts over 60 rooms open to visitors and 4,500 works of art. On the second floor, the vaults of the cross-shaped hall are decorated with salamanders and the F of Francis I.
Gardens, canal and the estate
The restored French gardens are included in the ticket and close 30 minutes before the château. The estate is a walled park of about 5,440 hectares with a wall 32 km long, open every day of the year.
In 2026 the official site lists a horse show in the stables of the Marshal of Saxe (4 April to 27 September and 17 October to 1 November), and an exhibition, Calder in the Heart of France, in the French gardens from 15 October 2026 to 29 August 2027. Bikes, electric cars (45 minutes for 25 €) and boats (30 minutes for 19 €) can be rented on site without booking.
A château that was never a home
Francis I ordered the building in 1519 in the marshy Sologne. According to the official site it was a symbol of power rather than a permanent residence, and he stayed only a few weeks in total. It was completed under Louis XIV, and Molière’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme was first performed there on 14 October 1670.
The state has owned Chambord since 1930, and the estate has been a public body since 2005. During the Second World War it housed works from the Louvre, including the Mona Lisa. The official site says the château has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.
The official home page also lists exceptional room closures and a campaign to save the François I wing. We could not check which rooms are affected, so look at the official site before you go.
