Chateau de Pray

We stayed here from December 19-21, 2023. This is a beautiful hotel, well, really a castle! The grounds are very nice and there is even a Michelin rated restaurant located on the grounds. The rooms are big and well appointed. The staff are very helpful and friendly. This location is great as a base while exploring the nearby castles and chateaus, of which there are many. There is parking on the grounds, and also nearby places to dine and drink. One of the more unique locations we have stayed on our journeys.

A beautiful little château with clean and comfortable rooms. However, there are certainly more impressive and charming châteaux to stay in. Our experience with the staff was very mixed. One member of staff was friendly and welcoming, while another was unfortunately extremely unfriendly, arrogant and unpleasant to deal with. For me, the way guests are treated is even more important than the quality of the rooms, so this had a major impact on our overall impression. The entrance to the property is quite small, and the parking area is also rather limited and cramped, which can be inconvenient. The property itself is nice, but because of the disappointing service experience, I would probably choose a different château next time.

Let me begin by noting that the restaurant is closed on Monday and Tuesday nights, so if you’re hoping to eat dinner at the Château on those nights, you’re going to be disappointed. Overall, the experience was pleasant, and it was nice to be nestled in rural areas, even though you have to drive past rather ugly commercial areas to arrive. The positives are easy parking, good Internet service, being able to order drinks and have them delivered to the garden (for a price), and the lovely sitting room that you can avail yourself of. The pool is also a bonus. How could they up their game? First of all, the breakfast is fairly well appointed and has eggs and sausage. However, many of the items are individually wrapped such as the granola, the honey, yogurt, even the sugar cubes, giving it a little bit less of a château like experience. The coffee is a help yourself machine, rather than ordered from the kitchen as you get in some up scale lodgings. It would be nice if there was more than one sitting room in which to lounge, but unfortunately there are only two public rooms on the first floor and one is the breakfast space. That sitting room has a piano, but it is perhaps intentionally muted to not disturb other guests, so if you actually enjoy playing the piano you will not enjoy playing this one. It’s nice to have a garden and a pool, but the landscape seemed uninspired. Granted, we were there in October when a lot of the plants are going dormant, but even the layout did not invite you to explore the lower gardens. The decor was nice even if they had some kitschy things like a sedan chair and armor on the stairs. The room was very nice, the bathroom especially modernized, although they could use hand towels for the shower since the soap is liquid. The view over the gardens and into the distance was lovely. I had read that the staff could be rather stuffy, and we did not find that at all. They were actually lovely, in particular Laura who is a delight and suggested that we have dinner in Tours one night and we loved that.

This hotel is a gem!!!! We thoroughly enjoyed out stay here at Chateau De Pray. The staff are so helpful and what an amazing place with so much history!!! It is so beautiful and our room was very large with two bathrooms. It was our first time staying in a Chateau and we are so glad we found this place. It helped to make our trip to France unforgettable.

Chateau De Pray is the perfect place to stay in the Loire Valley. It's location, staff and property made our stay very special. The patio and outside atmosphere/grounds of the Chateau were very inviting. The summer weather was perfect for our afternoon visits to the pool. Laura and her staff were very gracious to all the guests. This is one property not to miss on your trip to the Loire Valley.

The staff were outstanding. We had a short stay and needed to leave before check-out time. They accommodated us with no hesitation. They also surprised us with a room upgrade - a very nice touch. The Chateau is absolutely beautiful and refreshing delight.

Beautiful room, excellent shower facilities, helpful staff. Good breakfast. Pool lovely to relax after walking around in the heat