Val de Loire
“The last wild river in France” is the phrase you hear most often in descriptions of the Loire.

“The last wild river in France” is the phrase you hear most often in descriptions of the Loire. Perhaps it isn’t completely wild, but absent are the hydroelectric dams, shipping locks and other water-management infrastructure found on most French rivers. The Loire flows gently in early summer and often shrinks to a mere creek by late summer. In the rainy season, on the other hand, it can rage turbulently up to the brims of its levees and one would be inclined to say it’s wild enough.

“Beautiful” is another term used to describe France’s longest river, and it fits. As the Loire wends its way north from its headwaters in the Monts du Vivarais in the Auvergne region, it flows past ancient towns and castles, set like gemstones in a richly fertile landscape.