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Twenty kilometres upstream of Tours, AMBOISE is a prim little town trading on long-gone splendours, its one saving grace being Leonardo da Vinci's residence of Clos-Lucé and its mind-expanding exhibition on the great man's works. It is also one of Mick Jagger's favourite foreign residences - perhaps because few people recognize him here.

The one concession to twentieth-century art in Amboise is a fountain by Max Ernst of a turtle topped by a teddy bear (or ET figure), standing in front of the spot where the market takes place every Saturday and Sunday morning by the riverside. Behind, rising above the river, are the interesting remains of the Château where Charles VIII was born and died (daily 40min guided tours in French: April-June, Sept & Oct 9am-6pm; July & Aug 9am-7.30pm; Nov-March 9am-noon & 2-5pm; 40F/¬6.10). It was in the late fifteenth century that Charles VIII decided to turn the old castle of his childhood days into a vast, extravagant and luxurious palace. Not long after the work was completed, he managed to hit his head, fatally, on a door lintel. The château continued to be enlarged under Louis XII and François I, but later wars and lack of finance have left less than half the total standing.

The Tour des Minimes , the original fifteenth-century entrance, is architecturally the most exciting part of the castle, designed for the maximum number of fully armoured men on horseback to get in and out as quickly as possible. From the top you step out onto the roof, with the Loire presenting one of its best panoramas. Before you've had time to orientate yourself, the guide launches into the story of how the hooks along the battlements were once smeared with the blood and guts of rebellious Huguenots. Caught plotting to get rid of the Catholic de Guise family, the power behind young François II, they were summarily tried in the Salle des Conseils and their corpses hung around the town.

The last French king, Louis-Philippe, also stayed in the château, hence the abrupt switch from solid Gothic furnishings to 1830s post-First Empire style. People imprisoned in the castle include Louis XIV's finance minister, Fouquet, of Vaux-le-Vicomte fame , and, in the mid-nineteenth century, Abd el-Kader, an Algerian Resistance leader who spent fifteen years fighting against the French. A striking portrait of him hangs in the château.

A man of far greater renown today than any of the French kings was invited here by François I to bolster and encourage the French Renaissance: Leonardo da Vinci made his home at the Clos-Lucé , at the end of rue Victor-Hugo (daily 9am-6pm, July & Aug till 8pm; closed Jan; 38F/¬5.79), now a museum to Leonardo and his work, with some forty models of his inventions, constructed according to his detailed plans. It's wonderful to see the mechanical manifestations of his technological achievements, but even the best model - the wooden tank - does not have the same effect as Leonardo's sketch. Leonardo died here in 1519.

A contrast to Leonardo's output is the Musée de la Poste in the Hôtel Joyeuse, 6 rue Joyeuse (Tues-Sun: April-Sept 9.30am-noon & 2-6.30pm; Oct-March 10am-noon & 2-5.30pm; 20F/¬3.05), whose exhibits trace the history of the postal delivery service, from the pony express to air and sea mail.

If you take the main road south out of Amboise and turn right just before the junction with the D31, you'll come to a very unlikely building in this land of châteaux. It's an eighteenth-century pagoda that once formed part of a château. You can climb to the top for fabulous views and also explore the grounds of the surrounding park (daily: March-May & Oct 10am-noon & 2-5pm; June & Sept 10am-7pm; July & Aug 9.30am-8pm; 28F/¬4.27).

Close to the château on rue Victor-Hugo, you'll find the Caveau de Dégustation-Vente des Vins de Touraine Amboise (June-Aug daily 10am-7.30pm), a good place to try some wines if you haven't got time to visit individual vineyards. Amboise celebrates its wines in a Foire aux Vins on August 15. And if you're heading towards Chenonceaux, you'll pass a farmhouse by a crossroads and a petrol station some 4.5km out from Amboise on the D81. Here, M. Delecheneau sells his sec and demi-sec white wine and sublime demi-sec rosé across the kitchen table. He'll show you his barrels, named after cows (Dauphine, Jolie, Violette, etc), and the winepress his grandfather used.

A group of museums for children has just opened to the east of Amboise on the D751: the Mini-Châteaux, Aquarium de Touraine and Le Fou de l'Âne (daily: May-Oct 9am-7pm, July & Aug till midnight; 42F/¬6.10). Of the three, the first is the best, featuring two hectares of tiny replicas of the Loire châteaux.