Details
Founded: 1445Category: Castles and fortifications in France
Historical period: Valois Dynasty and Hundred Year's War (France)
Rating
4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)
User Reviews
Christine Mamuad (2 years ago)
What a disaster. Picture this: you're on your honeymoon, where your wonderful, patient spouse indulges your crazy desire to stay in a castle. You save money and book an expensive suite at Château du Rivau for three nights because it's a lifelong dream, once in a lifetime. You arrive late in the evening, drop off luggage in your amazing-looking room, and have dinner in the beautiful garden at the castle. After a satisfying meal, you return to the comfort of your suite, only to discover the room is not something out of a fairytale fantasy... it's a bloody nightmare. Picture this: a graveyard of dead flies surrounds you. Countless bodies of dead flies absolutely litter your entire suite. Dead flies adorn the floors, gathering in higher densities near the windows, their bodies sprinkled on the floor all around the bed. Intrepid individuals have crawled into nooks and crannies to die, including a handful under your pillows. It is far too late. You are locked in. There is no staff at night. You are exhausted and want to scream and run away, but you don't want to ruin the trip. Your amazing, infinitely patient spouse sweeps away the bodies of insects off the bed, including a live spider, and even checks under the sheets for strays. None there, mercifully. You try to sleep but can't, because there is a single, surviving fly buzzing up in the ceiling, trying desperately to escape. Go ahead and spend hours pondering that fly's pitiful, doomed existence, seeing its fate in its expired brethren scattered all over the floor. Go ahead and try not to think of crushing their bodies underfoot as you must inevitably get up and walk around the room in the long-awaited morning. Go ahead and pray that this last fly--let's call it Gerard, shall we?--will not choose to lay itself to rest somewhere over your head and fall lifelessly on to your face. Go ahead and spend six sleepless hours repressing your own despair, and perhaps use the (long, oh my god far too long) time awake to compose a wretched review such as this one. This was our reality: I had dragged my poor spouse into an insect horror show on our honeymoon. When morning arrived, I discovered the body of Gerard on the vanity upstairs; it hadn't been there the night before so I assume it was Gerard. We headed to the front desk downstairs--by the way, there are no elevators, so tough luck if you have lots of heavy luggage or are disabled. The receptionist, Mateo, was professional and understanding, but also new--no idea how this happened and escaped housekeeping's notice. He apologized and promised they would clean everything and change the sheets, so perhaps there was a chance to salvage this? We left for the day, hoping we'd get the experience we were here for. To their credit, I believe housekeeping did clean and change the sheets, but when my wonderful, infinitely patient spouse went up to our room to check after we got back that afternoon, the situation had only gotten worse. The insect graveyard was out of control. And instead of just Gerard on a death spiral, there were many more flies, Gerard II to XVI, buzzing around, awaiting the reaper. We could not stay another night. Mateo was skeptical of my spouse's assessment that the room was worse than before because he had helped to clean it himself. It wasn't until he went upstairs to help us with our luggage that the direness of the situation dawned on him. The look of utter shock on his face, along with the litany of apologies that followed, said it all. The one star from this review is reserved for Mateo. Now picture this: pay a "discounted" 300 euros for the privilege of not sleeping, and psychologically torturing yourself, in a dead bug-infested room in a castle for one night. I wanted so badly to leave it all behind that I didn't fight that room charge, but I wish I had, because they should have refunded us for the misery. Luckily, you don't have to picture any of this, because actual pictures are attached. Those black spots are not flower petals; the one by the toothbrush is Gerard. RIP.
What a disaster. Picture this: you're on your honeymoon, where your wonderful, patient spouse indulges your crazy desire to stay in a castle. You save money and book an expensive suite at Château du Rivau for three nights because it's a lifelong dream, once in a lifetime. You arrive late in the evening, drop off luggage in your amazing-looking room, and have dinner in the beautiful garden at the castle. After a satisfying meal, you return to the comfort of your suite, only to discover the room is not something out of a fairytale fantasy... it's a bloody nightmare. Picture this: a graveyard of dead flies surrounds you. Countless bodies of dead flies absolutely litter your entire suite. Dead flies adorn the floors, gathering in higher densities near the windows, their bodies sprinkled on the floor all around the bed. Intrepid individuals have crawled into nooks and crannies to die, including a handful under your pillows. It is far too late. You are locked in. There is no staff at night. You are exhausted and want to scream and run away, but you don't want to ruin the trip. Your amazing, infinitely patient spouse sweeps away the bodies of insects off the bed, including a live spider, and even checks under the sheets for strays. None there, mercifully. You try to sleep but can't, because there is a single, surviving fly buzzing up in the ceiling, trying desperately to escape. Go ahead and spend hours pondering that fly's pitiful, doomed existence, seeing its fate in its expired brethren scattered all over the floor. Go ahead and try not to think of crushing their bodies underfoot as you must inevitably get up and walk around the room in the long-awaited morning. Go ahead and pray that this last fly--let's call it Gerard, shall we?--will not choose to lay itself to rest somewhere over your head and fall lifelessly on to your face. Go ahead and spend six sleepless hours repressing your own despair, and perhaps use the (long, oh my god far too long) time awake to compose a wretched review such as this one. This was our reality: I had dragged my poor spouse into an insect horror show on our honeymoon. When morning arrived, I discovered the body of Gerard on the vanity upstairs; it hadn't been there the night before so I assume it was Gerard. We headed to the front desk downstairs--by the way, there are no elevators, so tough luck if you have lots of heavy luggage or are disabled. The receptionist, Mateo, was professional and understanding, but also new--no idea how this happened and escaped housekeeping's notice. He apologized and promised they would clean everything and change the sheets, so perhaps there was a chance to salvage this? We left for the day, hoping we'd get the experience we were here for. To their credit, I believe housekeeping did clean and change the sheets, but when my wonderful, infinitely patient spouse went up to our room to check after we got back that afternoon, the situation had only gotten worse. The insect graveyard was out of control. And instead of just Gerard on a death spiral, there were many more flies, Gerard II to XVI, buzzing around, awaiting the reaper. We could not stay another night. Mateo was skeptical of my spouse's assessment that the room was worse than before because he had helped to clean it himself. It wasn't until he went upstairs to help us with our luggage that the direness of the situation dawned on him. The look of utter shock on his face, along with the litany of apologies that followed, said it all. The one star from this review is reserved for Mateo. Now picture this: pay a "discounted" 300 euros for the privilege of not sleeping, and psychologically torturing yourself, in a dead bug-infested room in a castle for one night. I wanted so badly to leave it all behind that I didn't fight that room charge, but I wish I had, because they should have refunded us for the misery. Luckily, you don't have to picture any of this, because actual pictures are attached. Those black spots are not flower petals; the one by the toothbrush is Gerard. RIP.
Pete Jackman (2 years ago)
Beautiful building and gardens impregnated with magical and fantasy oddity, which left us wondering what we'd just witnessed and what chemicals the creators were on... also the lack of welcome we felt on asking for audio tour that was cancelled as there was a coach tour booked and they were prioritised to use it, also when we just wanted to buy a coffee but having to book a table for 15 minutes time in the sit down restaurant. We went elsewhere, ie left the chateau. To top it off, the place was not that busy...
Beautiful building and gardens impregnated with magical and fantasy oddity, which left us wondering what we'd just witnessed and what chemicals the creators were on... also the lack of welcome we felt on asking for audio tour that was cancelled as there was a coach tour booked and they were prioritised to use it, also when we just wanted to buy a coffee but having to book a table for 15 minutes time in the sit down restaurant. We went elsewhere, ie left the chateau. To top it off, the place was not that busy...
Lindsey Reece-Smith (2 years ago)
We went to this Chateau with family, including an assortment of young grandchildren. The gardens were lovely, I especially appreciated the music around some areas which was very relaxing. We sat on picnic benches to eat our lunch in the shade and all worked well. Careful of the hammocks as one child fell out! 5 rooms in the castle. One is a shrine yo Joan of Arc and the others have art, not quite to our taste, but all in all a good day out
We went to this Chateau with family, including an assortment of young grandchildren. The gardens were lovely, I especially appreciated the music around some areas which was very relaxing. We sat on picnic benches to eat our lunch in the shade and all worked well. Careful of the hammocks as one child fell out! 5 rooms in the castle. One is a shrine yo Joan of Arc and the others have art, not quite to our taste, but all in all a good day out
Richard Fysh (2 years ago)
Very disappointing! The Chateau claims to have wheelchair accessible gardens but in fact the poor surface of the carpark, the path to the gate and the medieval cobbles inside the courtyard are really not negotiable comfortably in a wheelchair. Nor are they negotiable safely by anyone using walking sticks. There is a short stretch of smooth path round one side of the courtyard but nothing that makes the gardens truiy accessible. If you know them both I compare Rivau (wrong) to the Abbey L'Epau (right).
Very disappointing! The Chateau claims to have wheelchair accessible gardens but in fact the poor surface of the carpark, the path to the gate and the medieval cobbles inside the courtyard are really not negotiable comfortably in a wheelchair. Nor are they negotiable safely by anyone using walking sticks. There is a short stretch of smooth path round one side of the courtyard but nothing that makes the gardens truiy accessible. If you know them both I compare Rivau (wrong) to the Abbey L'Epau (right).
Krista MacKinlay (2 years ago)
A quirky, artsy, fun. A must see for everyone. Dogs on leash in garden are allowed. Food on site. Great gift store. Woods and gardens are enjoyable to visit.
A quirky, artsy, fun. A must see for everyone. Dogs on leash in garden are allowed. Food on site. Great gift store. Woods and gardens are enjoyable to visit.
