Canoe on the Loir | Office de Tourisme de Vendôme

Discover the Loir river from a canoe!

For a few hours or an entire weekend, enjoy an ideal, exciting activity shared with your family or friends.

The Loir is a quiet river so you will be able to contemplate as you glide downstream.

Paddling down the river in a kayak or canoe at dawn is a magical moment!

As you row and follow the current, your efforts are rewarded by a beautiful landscape full of birds on every side… A real pleasure!

If you go from Les Roches-l’Évêque to Montoire-sur-le-Loir, we strongly recommend a stop at Lavardin (classified “plus beaux village de France”) where there is a picnic area with a view over the medieval fortress overlooking the river.

Don’t hesitate to contact the “Canoës sur le Loir” association.

The Loir river

The Loir river is not a tributary of the Loire river.

The Loir river originates in Eure-et-Loir in Saint-Eman, and flows through 97 towns, 4 departments (Eure-et-Loir, Loir-et-Cher, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire) and 2 regions (Centre-Val de Loire, Pays de la Loire).

It is 316.6 km long (with 95 km in Vendômois area) and merges into the Sarthe river upstream from Angers.

The Loir river and the Vendômois region

From Vendôme to la Chartre-sur-le-Loir, along a 50 km stretch, are located the most beautiful churches that the Loir region offers, replete with frescoes and wall paintings (from the 12th to the 16th century) The frescos adorn small medieval churches located along the river on one of the paths to Compostela.

The feudal ruins of Fréteval, Vendôme, Lavardin, Montoire and Trôo overlook the river. This valley is central to the deep identity of the inhabitants on either side of the river, to the Vendômois area, originally a county from the 9th and 10th century.

Pierre de Ronsard left his imprint most especially in his birthplace, the manor-house of la Possonnière in Couture-sur-Loir.