The International Garden Festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire
What the festival is, when it runs, how much time to give it, and how it fits with the château and art season.
Most people come to Chaumont-sur-Loire for one thing: the International Garden Festival, running since 1992 and still the most influential garden show in Europe. Each year around thirty designers build temporary gardens on a single theme across a wooded parkland setting, and the festival changes enough year to year that regulars return every season. But the estate is more than the festival — there's the furnished château, the 32-hectare historic park, the contemporary Saison d'Art and the stables, all on one ticket. This guide covers when the festival runs, how much time to give the estate, whether the day ticket or the two-day pass makes sense, and how to reach it without a car.