Compare Tours campervan hire prices with Compare & Choose UK, but whats in and around Tours you may ask yourself. Well! located in central France and the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department, the city of Tours lays on the lower reaches of the River Loire. The city is home to just over 138,000 people, and the city only consumes just over 34 square kilometres. The greater metropolitan are is home to over half a million people. It is located some 233 kilometres by road to the south west of Paris.
The region surrounding Tours is known as Touraine is espoused for its high quality and world renowned wines. The city is also well known for the Battle of Tours which occurred in 732 and it is also the final destination for the Paris to Tours cycle race.
Tours has a strong fine history as a centre of learning since back in the middle ages, and this is carried through to today by the university.
It is an extremely accessible city which is facilitated by the tramway, which will provide a great low cost way of seeing not only the city, but its historic landmarks. A great area to visit for great cafes, bars and restaurants is Place Plumereau. This wonderfully restored are has everything you could desire, and is a great place just to sit and people watch.
For those of you that love a good shop, Tours has many new and modern shopping centres such as Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. But if it's inquisitive and quirky you seek, the head down to the old quarter precinct of Tours especially around Rue Colbert and Rue du Commerce. Also in close proximity to the Tours railway station you will find a range of tempting shops that sell leather goods, jewellery and clothing.
Also in place de la Resistance on the first and third of every month you will find a brilliant market with a huge range of wares being peddled. Just be aware the markets are from 4pm in the afternoon, until about 10pm at night. These markets are certainly abuzz, and you will also find a good variety of other retail shops located around the vicinity of the markets.
The city of Tours is twinned with Mulheim an der Ruhr in Germany, Segovia in Spain, Parma in Italy, Luoyang in China, Springfield and Minneapolis in the USA, Trois-Rivieres in Canada, Takamatsu in Japan and Brasov in Romania.
There are a good variety of museums and monuments throughout the city. Take the time out to visit the Cathedrale St-Gatien, the Sainte Radegonde garden, the Botanical Gardens, the Musee des Beaux-arts, the Palais des Archeveques, Jardin botanique de Tours, Jardin des Prebendes, the ile Simon Park, Place Jean Jaures Basilique de St-Martin and the Hotel Gouin.
One last lovely finishing touch, is the Ferris wheel located on the banks of the River Loire, which is in operation from June through til September, then in December and January.