Orleans Walking Tour – Loire Valley, France
Take a walking tour of Orleans, France, to discover the famous city of the Loire Valley. Orleans is ideal for a city break weekend, as it is only one hour from Paris. Our walking tour is a genuine tour conducted by a certified tourist guide.
Orleans Walking Tour: Place du Martroi, Orleans main square, with its famous Joan of Arc statue. Orleans Loire Valley, France © Broaden Horizons.
Orleans Walking Tour in a nutshell
+/- 2 hours tour: 119 € for 1 to 2 people + 7 € per extra person.
+/- 3 hours tour: 149 € for 1 to 2 people + 10 € per extra person.
- Private Walking Tour in English
- Two durations: 1.5 hours or 3 hours
- Really private tour = your party only (10 people max.)
- Postgraduate (MPhil) certified French national guide
- Flexible schedule 7/7 if available
- Online booking & payment
KNOW MORE / BOOK NOW
What’s in the Orleans tour?
Roman Empire
Middle Ages
Learn about Architecture & History
Renaissance
Moderne Era
Your Private Guide in Orleans
Certified French national guide.
Centre-Loire Valley Region accreditation (VAH).
BA, Magna cum laude, Heritage Developpement & Preservation at Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers.
Postgraduate (MPhil) from Paris Dauphine-PSL University.
Why visit Orleans, France?
Orleans, France, is a famous city, and many places worldwide have been named after it, including New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
With over 2000 years of existence, Orléans is a key city in French history with a large heritage highlighted by a recent renovation of the old city center. Orleans’s rich heritage is officially recognized by being:
- part of the UNESCO World Heritage Listed Loire Valley,
- classified as « Ville d’Art et d’Histoire » (City of Art and History French heritage label).
The location of Orleans, Loire Valley, the nearest city to Paris, made its port, until the 19th century, one of the main French economic centers.
The proximity of Paris (+/72 mi or 115 km), its architectural diversity, its exceptional cathedral and Renaissance heritage, its Loire River banks, and the nature present all around make Orleans, the city of Joan of Arc, an ideal weekend destination.
Newly renovated Orleans’s old city center. A new public garden was created in front of an old street with numerous half-timbered houses. The oldest half-timbered houses are from the Middle Ages, but others are from the Renaissance, the 17th or 18th centuries. The different typologies of wood frames and colors depend on the construction period. © Broaden Horizons.
Why a Orleans Walking Tour with us?
Orleans’s rich heritage from the Roman Empire to the 20th century is worth a tour.
You will follow the tour with its creator.
Our private formula is the opportunity to ask your dedicated guide any related questions.
Our local guide is a qualified professional.
Orleans Tour Glimpse (2-hour)
The 1.5-hour Orleans Walking Tour, privately, in a small group exclusively yours, is the most efficient way to discover Orleans and its rich history. Four main themes are broached during the tour:
1. Gallo-Roman Orléans: Cenabum then Aurelianorum
- Gallo-Roman city wall remains
- Decumanus, Cardo ( Gallo-Roman main streets)
2. Medieval Orléans
- Belfry (end of Middle Ages)
- Des Créneaux House (13e et 15e centuries)
- Joan of Arc House (reconstruction)
3. The Renaissance in Orléans
- Hôtel Groslot (where King François II died)
- Des Créneaux hôtel (transition Flamboyant Gothic to Renaissance)
- Hôtel Cabu (2nd Renaissance: Henri II style)
- Campo-Santo (Former Cemetery Renaissance galleries)
4. Modern Era
- Sainte-Croix Cathedral (rayonnant, flamboyant & modern Gothic)
- Loire Quay and ancient fluvial port
- Pavillons d’Escures (17th century mansions)
- WII Post-war years reconstruction (Orleans experimentation)
The Loire river banks in Orleans. Recently renovated, the quays are the heritage of the ancient port of Orleans on the river Loire. The port of Orléans was very active until the mid-19th century. Nowadays, the quayside is a popular stroll destination © Broaden Horizons.
An Exceptional Architectural Heritage of a Great Diversity
The route of the Orleans Walking Tour will allow you to discover for sure the rich Renaissance heritage of Orleans but also some unexpected aspects of the city, for example, the diversity of its architecture:
- Half-timbered houses
- Art Deco District
- Art Nouveau building
- Classical
- Neoclassical
We will also discuss Modern Gothic, which is neither Flamboyant Gothic nor neo-Gothic, an architectural exception to be discovered during your Orleans Walking Tour.
View from the place de l’Étape of the Orleans Cathedral, a unique monument: a gothic cathedral built in the modern era. © Broaden Horizons
Orleans Walking Tour Extended (3-hour)
Extra Content
The 3-hour Orleans Walking Tour is based on the 1.5-hour tour. Nevertheless, the tour itinerary is notably enlarged, allowing the discovery of some extra points of interest in the city, like, for example, two prestigious Renaissance Mansions:
- La Vieille Intendance, also called the « Logis du Roi » (King house) ;
- Jeannot le Bouteiller (King François I’s sommelier) Mansion.
The Art Nouveau and Eclectic buildings of Republic Street and the « Palais de Justice» (Law Court), Orleans’s most prominent neoclassical building, are some of the other monuments we will discover in this extended version of the tour.
The 3-hour tour usually also allows a short visit to Hôtel Groslot.
More Comfort and Flexibility
Globally, this long tour option gives more time to do everything comfortably and see a larger area of Orleans’s city center.
Moreover, the Orleans Walking Tour route has been optimized to show you as many places as possible. We have designed the tours to be dissimilar, so don’t be afraid to follow our « Orleans Joan of Arc tour » and « Orleans Cathedral tour.»
Nevertheless, flexibility is the magic word of the three-hour private Orleans Walking Tour.
So, if you want the extra part of the tour to focus more on Joan of Arc and/or on the Orleans Cathedral, we will be happy to adjust the tour content as you requested, if possible.
The Vieille Intendance mansion and garden, also called « Logis du roi » (King’s house), was built at the beginning of the 16th century under the reign of King Louis XII of France, former Duc of Orleans.© Broaden Horizons.
Loire River’s photo: the cathedral and the George V Bridge. It was constructed to replace the medieval bridge, which was part of Orléans’ main Battle between the English and the French with Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War.
Know more about Orleans before your Tour
Orléans today
A Newly Restored Recognized Heritage
Nowadays, Orleans is the capital city of the «Région Centre-Val de Loire » (Loire Valley region), the core city of an urban area of 281,899 inhabitants.
Since the beginning of 2000, Orleans’s old city center has been systematically restored. The result is impressive!
A Green City
With many green zones and easy access to the Loire and Loiret river banks, Orléans is an ideal place for nice, relaxing strolls.
A City Very Easily Accessible from Paris
At only one hour by intercity train from Paris, Orléans is the closest point of the Loire Valley from the French capital. So drop in for an easy day trip and a nice Orléans city tour with us!
Key vocabulary of the Orleans Walking Tour
Here bellow is a bit of vocabulary you will need to make the most of your Orleans Walking tour:
Gothic-related vocabulary includes pointed arch, gable, finial, niche, canopy, dripstone, turret, etc.
Renaissance-related vocabulary: capital, pilar, pilaster, column, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite, scallop, dentil, etc.
Orléans Walking Tour Artists & Architects
- J.A. Houdon, works of the sculptor on the cathedral facade
- P. Belmondo, sculptor, father of actor Jean-Paul Belmondo
- Marie d’Orleans, sculptor, King Louis-Philippe’s daughter
- Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, Renaissance architect
- François-Narcisse Pagot, 19th-century Neoclassical architect
- Pol Abraham: WW II Orleans reconstruction architect
Street Art is also visible if you know where to look!
Hôtel Groslot‘s 19th-century romantic gardens (in which are the vestiges of the Saint James Chapelle) are one of the numerous green spaces of the city. Hôtel Groslot was probably built following plans by the famous Renaissance Architect J. Androuet du Cerceau. In the courtyard is a romantic sculpture of Joan of Arc by Princess Marie d’Orleans. © Broaden Horizons.
Our other tours in Orleans – what else to do around
Thematic Orleans Walking Tours
We offer two more tours of Orleans in English:
Orleans Cathedral and its District Tour
Joan of Arc & Orléans Walking Tour
Orleans Museum of Fine Arts Tour
Orleans Museum of Fine Arts is one of the wealthiest outside of Paris, a Loire Valley must-seen. Don’t miss it if you visit Orléans and make the most of it with Our Orleans Museum of Fine Arts Guided Tour.
More Activities and Landmarks in the Orleans Area
Check our dedicated page, Visit Orleans France – What to Do – What to See, the Loire Valley next to Paris, where points of interest around Orleans are listed, such as Loire Valley Castle, Joan of Arc-related places, abbeys, etc.
Ariadne in Naxos by the Le Nain brothers is one of the numerous Orléans Museum of Fine Arts masterpieces. Do not miss this important landmark of the Loire Valley! The museum houses important collections of paintings from the 16th to the 20th centuries and the second 18th-century pastel collection in France after the one of the Louvre. Photo: credit Orléans Museum of Fine Arts.
Orleans Walking Tour Reviews
Walking tour with Yves
“Together with a Swedish group visiting Orléans, I had the opportunity to follow Yves on a walking tour of the city. What a pleasant few hours we had with him, very knowledgeable and lovely guy with a lot of humour in between the stories and facts! Also we all loved his good English with that tiny bit of a charming French accent. Strongly recommend Yves as your local guide ☺️”
A Personalised Tour Tailored to Clients Interests
We met at an arranged venue and Yves clarified our interests in Orleans. We opted for the wider history of Orleans rather than a narrow focus on Joan of Arc. We got an excellent commentary on both. Yves is friendly, very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and outgoing, with a passion for the history of local architecture. We had a most enjoyable tour of relevant venues with a very informative commentary. We were offered a bonus 30 minutes at no extra cost. This tour is well priced and very much worth doing.
Fantastic Tour in Orleans!
Yves with Broaden Horizons just took us on a thorough and extremely enjoyable tour on Joan of Arc and other history of Orleans. His English was great, his knowledge about the architecture, art and life of St. Joan was vast. This was my favorite tour in France thus far!
FAQ
Q: How many days for Paris is enough?
A: Three days is a minimum, with a lot of walking. Five to seven days is preferable for a more complete experience at a more reasonable pace.
Q: When is the best time of the year to visit Paris?
A: This is a difficult question. Summers in Paris are crowded, and the temperature may be high. We believe spring (especially April and May) and autumn (particularly September and October) are the best periods to visit Paris. May is very popular because of its long daytime (the summer solstice is on June 21st). Winter is to be reserved for Museum fans.
Q: Is Paris a walkable city?
A: Paris is a very old city; even if a big part of it was redesigned in the second half of the 19th century (the Haussmannien Paris), it was decades before cars. Paris was designed to walk. Nevertheless, In the 1970s, an urban highway was created alongside the Seine River to cross the city from west to east: the “Voie Express Georges Pompidou,” but it was transformed in the last years into “Parc Rives de Seine,” a place to stroll around on the banks of the River Seine. Forget about driving and see the next question.
Things to know before Booking
Meeting Point
In front of the Hôtel Groslot,
place de l’Etape, 45000 Orléans.
Access: Tram line B, station Cathédrale.
Attention Points
- The tour is on foot.
- Prices do not include transportation, food, drinks, or any other extra services.
- Neighborhood tour: we don’t enter monuments unless otherwise specified.
- Tour duration & content are purely indicative; they may vary due to contingencies.
- Weather: the tour will start on schedule, rain or shine.
Book the Orleans Walking Tour
Just follow the below 4 steps online easy process.
1. Request a date & schedule for your tour
2. Receive our answer email - if yes you have 24h to pay
3. Pay your private tour on line by credit card
4. Receive
confirmation & meeting point
Nota bene : answer to step (2) is most of the time yes.
Orleans Private Walking Tour
Standard tour (2 hours)- For 1 to 2 people + 7 € for any extra
- A group of maximum 10 people
- Group exclusively yours
Orleans Private Walking Tour Extended
Long Tour (3 hours)- For 1 to 2 people + 10 € for any extra
- A group of maximum 10 people
- Group exclusively yours