chateau de breze

Chateau de Breze prior to the 15th century was entirely underground. The part above ground today is beautiful but exploring this "chateau beneath a chateau" was fascinating! I highly recommend it if you have "tween" age children as I think that age would really enjoy the exploration. Have a look at the photos I took: http://www.france-travel-info.com/chateau-de-breze/

Everything is lovely about Chateu de Breze. Let's list it:1. Plenty of parking and very easy to find (you should have a car of course)2. Beautiful grounds - the flowers and the lawns were spectacular in May3. Very nice interior, not as striking as the most famous Chateaux of the Loire Valley have, but it has its intimate aura of a house where the owners still live. 4. What makes it different is the Underground tour (not good for those with claustrophobia syndrome). You can see the kitchens, the wine making presses, the medieval bridge - fascinating! In total, it is 1km of underground passages. 5. Special treat: we have visited during the Velo D'Anjou and Chateau de Breze was a lunch stop for the participants. It was real fun to watch people who came from all corners of France for the bike race, many of them dressed in the costumes of their region. We had a blast listening to the orchestra and eating lunch on the lawn with the locals. We also tried local vines and bought souvenirs to remember this amazing day. Everybody was so nice and friendly!

This is a very interesting place to visit, some people lived upstairs and some people lived downstairs, or in the walls!The moat was stunningly deep - 18m I think, most of the castle was a troglodyte site, which was really very interesting. The chateau itself was lovely but we could only visit one wing.The underground was a maze of tunnels, and had some interesting history, worth a visit seeing all the rooms built under the castle or into the walls, and the learning the function of the rooms, a few had a lot to do with wine storage. Food is available just out side the chateau, where there is a little visitor centre.

A real must visit for its quirky structure and history. Not for those unable to cope with stairs and tunnels or for claustrophobics. The underground structure and life of this "castle" is easy to imagine as one travels from cave to cave, from bakery to wine production. The above ground is small but that is much of its charm. It is easy to believe that real people lived there.Lots of parking but possibly not a place for a busy August day

Chateau de Breze, very impressive building and well kept, one part is unable to be explored as lords / ladys still live there.Your able to explore the one wing which has a few rooms and large gallery to view, dungeons and the underground tunnels and bakery, wine cellars underground, worth a visit lots to see.not suitable for disabled unless you just want to see the one level but not much to see in that case

This chateau has an underground area that makes it very different to the average chateau. Only comment is the tunnels are sometimes small and it's reasonable amount of walking up and down stairs and through caves. I really enjoyed the visit and would recommend it.

Much as we like the appearance of all of the chateau of the Loire, it's often tricky to know which ones will be the best to visit, especially with teenagers in tow. We had previously been to Clos De Luce with its Da Vinci 'extras', and at this chateau, it was the underground parts which caught our interest.There are the above ground parts with the classic decoration etc, but if you (or your kids) like to explore, then head below ground and mind your head in the caves, corridors, chambers and the bottom of the dry moat. (OK so there is plenty of headroom in the moat!).There are plenty of opportunities to bang your head, slip, fall over, trip up etc, so flip flops are not ideal - we all had at least one slip, and all those stairs and slopes are the most exercise we had all holiday. It is of course cooler underground too.Well worth a visit, and there is on site wine tasting to help you recover from the exertions....

A fantastic place to explore. Lots of troglodyte tunnels and interesting facts. I loved the bakery with the fire actually lit.

this chateau really stands out as bigger part of it is underground which was built deeper and deeper through the centuries - real city with living chambres and livestock, kitchens, silk production, horse stables and much more!! small part is opened to public now but the tour will take you not less then an hour. be prepared for colder air underground. chateau itself is nothing special but the underground part is a unique experience.

Forget dusty chateaus with nothing in them, this Chateau is a great adventure, from troglodyte caves, to ancient prisons, keeps and gorgeous chateau rooms it has something for everyone. Oh and I forgot the wine caves, ice house and the largest dry moat in Europe! I recommend reasonable trainers or sturdy shoes as the surfaces in the caves can be uneven. If you have mobility issues then parts of the visit may be difficult.Once you visit this chateau you can then get discounts on Chateau montreuil-Bellay, Biparc de doue la Fountaine, Chateau do Montsoreau and Abbaye de Fontevraud.

This was our first visit to a château and we weren't disappointed. We chose this one to visit because our Son also wanted to see some troglodyte caves - this had some underneath the château! Upon arriving I think the girl on the ticket desk could tell we were English and was helpful, she gave us a leaflet in English to follow as we wandered around. We started off in the dried moat and into the caves - if you suffer from claustrophobia the caves aren't for you, it's very dark and some of the passageways are narrow. The château was delightful and interesting. There was a shop, but it was closed on Mondays! Well worth a visit if you're in the area!

We started with the underground tour of the caves and the moat and this was fascinating, following the written English guide book. There were plenty of areas to explore and the scale of the caves were amazing. The chateaux itself has interesting rooms to view with beautiful artwork and period rooms. This was a really interesting chateaux and preferable to seeing saumur.

This Chateau is pretty as you arrive at the front of it but you are unaware that 50% of it is underneath you in the Trogladyte caves. We spent a wonderful few hours exploring all the areas through all the different historical periods. Well worth a visit

This is a fascinating place to visit. It really is 'a chateau under a chateau' and claims to be the largest underground fortress in Europe. The troglodyte dwellings under the more modern chateau were interesting, though lots of imagination had to be used, and the dry moat and surrounding caves were interesting. More information about each area would have been useful. The steps were rather worn in some places and the sloping paths down under the chateau were quite steep and uneven (and dark) which would have made it difficult for some. We loved it though!

A wonderful and very different Chateau with another Chateau underneath it. Travel the underground kingdom and marvel at the fortifications as you walk around the dry moat