Loire Valley suggestions please!

Suggestions please. We are planning a three-night stay in the Loire Valley. We will be driving into the Loire Valley from Mont St Michel and I%26#39;m wondering where our first night should be spent, Angers perhaps or further east? We%26#39;ll be travelling west to east on our way back to Paris. I%26#39;m interested to know what other recent travelers to this region found to be the %26quot;must-see%26quot; places so we can plan our tight schedule. I expect we%26#39;ll be visiting the Chateaus Chamord and Chenonceau. How long do you need to spend at each to do them justice? All suggestions, including moderate-priced accommodation tips, are welcome.

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As well as Chambord and Chenonceau, Amboise is often recommended, particularly for its Da Vinci connections. For contrast, Angers has wonderful tapestries, Villandry has superb gardens, Azay-le-Rideau is dreamy from the outside, and Chinon is a genuine ruined fortress (where Joan of Arc met the French king). Hard to say how long you need for each - I think we stayed longest at Villandry, (because I like gardens) and Clos Lucé at Amboise (engineers in the family :-( ), but I doubt if that%26#39;s tyical!

Depending on time of year, you could attend a %26#39;son et lumière%26#39; evening performance. Several chateaux do them, particularly Le Lude, which is on your way from Mont St Michel - this could influence where you choose to stay.

Another suggestion, as you%26#39;ll be driving through vineyards, would be to visit a cave, somewhere like Vouvray?

No recommendations for accommodation - if no-one else has any ideas, try http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/index.htm for individual hotels, or somewhere like www.accorhotels.com/accorhotels/index.html

or https://www.envergure.fr/envergureen.html

for a variety of chain hotels at a range of prices.