JUNE 2026

Chateau de Chaumont is known as the castle in the Loire that has an extensive garden and hosts the International Garden Festival. The way it is marketed it sounds like a must visit for garden lovers. Though I liked my visit, I didn’t love it as much as I expected. The gardens at times felt a bit gimmicky and I missed cohesiveness. However I did discover that the art exhibitions at Chateau de Chaumont were magical. In this blogpost I will explain what to expect, how to plan your day and will give you an impression of the gardens and artworks.

Practical information

Chateau de Chaumont is located in the Loire region of France. The premises have two entrances, one in the village of Chaumont-sur-Loire and one at the back of the gardens. The one at the back has a large free parking area, so I recommend using this one. The parking is indicated on google maps. Visit as early as possible in the day, as the park is so large and takes a lot of time to explore. Generally the park opens at 10AM, if you buy your tickets online you don’t have to queue at the ticket office. The Chateau has several restaurant options. We had lunch at L’Estaminet, near the gardens. As the International Garden Show was pretty crowded, this restaurant was quite busy. They have several lunch options which were already prepared. We would have loved a glass of wine on the terrace, but no wine was sold. I think Le Comptoir des Tilleuls would have been a better option, they serve a set lunch on an atmospheric terrace.

International Garden Festival

One of the reasons Chateau de Chaumont is a popular visit in the Loire is the International Garden Festival. Each year there are new show gardens added to the garden. In 2026 the theme was movies (“the star of the show”) and most gardens were inspired by a movie. These show gardens are pretty small and feature different flowers and objects to show the link with the movie. Even though it was fun to walk around these gardens, they didn’t give me real inspiration as it felt slightly gimmicky. I personally found it more an art project, than a garden. I definitely preferred the permanent gardens to the themed gardens, but these also did not feel completely coherent. They switched between English style gardens and Asian styles. Because of the set-up it didn’t feel organic to me. Hugo definitely did love the International Garden Show, it is surprisingly kid-friendly. Despite the heatwave he was super enthusiastic to find all the “numbers” and explore the gardens. Of course he loved the gimmicks and we even found a Peter Rabbit. Lots of people seemed to want to tick off the box to see all the gardens, which gave off a “to-do-list” instead of an “enjoy” vibe. I also had this feeling when visiting Keukenhof gardens in the Netherlands.

Other gardens

Besides the International Garden Festival Chateau de Chaumont has several other garden areas. The area that is called “permanent gardens” also has small gardens, in the style of the Festival, but they don’t change yearly. This is where you can find the English style gardens with climbing roses and lots of beautiful ponds. My favorite garden area was near the back entrance, where you could find a serene vegetable garden and a beautiful archway covered in roses. We visited these first and I must admit I found the International Garden Festival a bit of a letdown, after preferring those. Our visit was at the end of May and nothing was in bloom near the castle itself. It seemed like they were planting some seasonal flowers, so you might be in luck when you visit later in the garden season.

The buildings

Of course you are going to visit the castle itself, but don’t skip the other buildings. On the premises you will also find an area with stables and a model farm. You can visit most buildings and some of them have spectacular art. At the ticket office you receive a leaflet that explains where to find all of the art. I definitely scanned this, to pick a few artworks that I really wanted to see. There honestly is so much to do that it takes a bit of preparation to have an enjoyable day and make sure you will see what you want to see.

In the castle itself there are some areas that are decorated historically. But the rooms for which they had no historic furniture, were also used in a clever way. Lots of the castle itself also featured art exhibits. I specifically loved the chapel that was decorated with a flower installation. The attic of the castle featured a digital flower experience and we saw a really interesting artwork with glass books in the old library.

I think you should visit Chateau de Chaumont mainly for the art. I was super impressed by the number and the quality of the artworks displayed. So I made a bit of a misjudgment by expecting to feel inspired by the gardens, but I left feeling very inspired by the art.