The density of châteaux and all their great Renaissance intrigues and associations can prove quite intimidating, but if you pick your castles selectively, rid yourself of a sense of duty to guided tours and spend days on river banks with supplies of cheese, fruit and white Loire wines, the Loire can be one of the most enjoyable of all French regions.

The Loire's central region of Touraine , known as "the heart of France", has the best wines, the most scented flowers and delicious fruit, two of the best châteaux in Chenonceau and Azay-le-Rideau , and, it's argued, the purest French accent in the land. It also takes in three of the Loire's most pleasurable tributaries: the Cher , Indre and Vienne , each with its own individual attractions. If you have just a week to spare for the region, then these are the parts to spend it in. The most imposing palaces and hunting lodges are upstream around Blois - including the Renaissance turreted fantasy of Chambord - with the wild and watery region of the Sologne to the east, good for long walks and rides, while downstream around Saumur are fascinating troglodyte dwellings carved out of the rock-faces.

As well as the select handful of châteaux, the region has a few unexpected sights, most interesting of which are the gardens at Villandry , outside Tours; the Romanesque abbey at St-Benoît-sur-Loire ; and the stunning tapestries in Angers , capital of the ancient wine-producing county of Anjou . Of the cities, Tours and Angers provide the best urban bases, Orléans has charm, and Le Mans , though some way north of the Loire valley in the topographically uninspiring département of Sarthe , is the least touristy and most authentically lively, even outside race times. Further upstream, and quite some distance south of the Loire itself, the marshy farming land of Berry contains few sights, though the magnificent cathedral and medieval town of Bourges , lying between the Loire and the Cher, is worth visiting.

The lowest - and best - stretch of the Loire flows through Touraine, languidly floating by long islands of reed and willows before it reaches its estuary. But the Loire is still the wild river of whirlpools, quicksands, shifting banks and channels, with vicious currents and a propensity to flood. Thanks to hard campaigning by conservationists, plans to control the water levels of the central stretch with dams have been dropped, despite strong interest from various businesses, including the four nuclear power stations that use the river water for their cooling systems. The longest river in France, the Loire is for the most part too unpredictable for swimming or boating, and no goods are carried along it.

In general, this is a prime tourism region, where air-conditioned cars and bus tours are the norm, and train lines run along the river towards Nantes and Brittany and up through Tours to Paris. However, if you're exploring on your own, it's a good idea to rent some means of transport , at least for occasional forays, because buses can be sparse, their schedules not geared to outsiders, and trains too limiting. Renting a bike is a good option: this is wonderful and easy cycling country, best of all on the floodbanks, or levées , of the river itself.