DESPITE axing a number of flights to France Ryanair has announced it will be returning to a lovely French city for spring 2026.
Tours is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire where you’ll find a Renaissance-style old town filled with restaurant, bars and wine tours.
Budget airline Ryanair has announced it will be restarting its route from London Stansted to Tours.
It was one of the services axed last winter along with Tours to Strasbourg, Brive and Bergerac – which have also recently restarted.
Flights will run between March 29 and October 21 on Wednesdays and Sundays and tickets are available to book now.
One-way tickets start from £41 and the journey time is just one hour 25 minutes.
Tours is known as the gateway for exploring the Loire Valley region known for huge castles and historic towns sitting around the Loire River.
Tours Val de Loire Airport is just 17-minutes from the city centre where you’ll find plenty to do.
First, there’s the pretty Old Town called Place Plumereau which has towering half-timbered buildings – some dating back to the 15th century.
It has lots of al fresco cafes, restaurants and bars.
Lonely Planet previously named Place Plumereau as the best place in the country for an aperitif.
From here you can easily walk to the basilique Saint-Martin and le Grand-Marché.
The towering Cathédrale Saint-Gatien is a must-see with enormous stained glass windows – and it’s free to enter.
The French Gothic cathedral was built between 1170 and 1547 and is still used by the Roman Catholic Church.
On a sunny spring day, head to Le prieuré Saint-Cosme, a priory with ruins of Ronsard’s home – he was a famous French Renaissance poet.
Now it’s a peaceful spot with green spaces that one visitor described as being a “haven of peace”.
The Loire Valley in general is known for producing great wine too so while you’re there, make sure to book onto a wine tour.
You can book onto the Loire Valley Wine Tour with Get Your Guide from £126 per person.
It will take you to two vineyards and pair wines with local cheese with a minimum tasting of 10 wines.
Just outside of Tours is the very beautiful Château de Chenonceau – one of the best known in the Loire Valley.
The beautiful castle has a huge moat, well-maintained gardens and inside are rooms full of Renaissance furniture, tapestries and gallery paintings.
Entry into the castle costs €19 (£16.48) for adults and €15 (£13.01) for children between 7-18 with discounts for those over 65 years old.
The castle holds night walks on summer weekends in the gardens which are lit up during the evenings.
And of course as Tours is set around the River Loire, there are often chances to take boat trips or go canoeing to see the city from the water.
Ryanair has announced it plans on axing flights to Belgium…
Ryanair recently announced it’s set to scrap more flights across Europe which will affect more than two million passengers…
The budget airline has slammed plans to raise passenger taxes across Belgium.
In response, the airline has said that 1.1million seats will be axed across Charleroi Airport this year, followed by another 1.1million in 2027.
Currently, Ryanair carries 11.6million passengers to and from Belgium, making it the largest airline operating in the country.
This means this will drop to 10.6million in 2026, followed by 9.6million in 2027. The airline said they would only reverse this if the tax plans are scrapped.
Charleroi City Council is set to introduce a €3 per passenger tax from April 2026. And the Belgium government is set to increase the passenger tax from €2 to €10 by January 2027.
For more on French holidays, check out this resort that you can get to by ferry with a kids’ club and laid back vibes.
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