Amboise

Amboise needs 2 days: touring the Château d'Amboise, the royal residence where Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519, on one, and visiting the Château du Clos Lucé, Da Vinci's own last home, with full-size replicas of his mechanical inventions, on the other. April-June and September-October bring the mildest weather. It's mid-priced for France. King Francis I invited him to settle here in 1516, just 500 meters from the royal castle, and an underground tunnel connected both residences so the king could visit him unseen, according to local tradition.