Clos Lucé: Leonardo da Vinci's Last Home in Amboise

Hours, Access and Tickets at a Glance

The figures in this table come from the Clos Lucé site and the Amboise tourist office. The château sits about 500 metres from the royal château and about 300 metres from the centre of Amboise and near the train station. Amboise is 1.5 hours from Paris by train and 2.5 hours by road.

The Ticket, Discounts and When to Go

This site sells the dated entry ticket for Clos Lucé, so the official price table is not repeated here. You book the entry ticket further down the page and the price table is added there automatically. The ticket covers the château, the park and the galleries in one, with no park-only option, so a short stop still pays the full rate.

On discounts, the château's own rules are narrow. Job seekers and tour guides pay a reduced rate with proof. There is no reduction for seniors, teachers or Carte Culture holders. Clos Lucé lists approved online resellers for its tickets.

For timing, July and August give you the longest day, with a 20:00 close, so an afternoon visit still leaves hours. Winter opening in January starts at 10:00, which suits a morning train from Paris. The site had about 500,000 visitors in 2019, 30 percent above a normal year, for the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death, so expect company in high season. If you want to combine it with the royal château up the hill, Amboise offers a combined ticket with Clos Lucé, and the Amboise City Pass also covers both. The town side of things, markets and restaurants, is on the Amboise France page, and the royal château itself is on the Château d'Amboise page.

Leonardo's Bedchamber

The bedchamber is where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years and where he died on 2 May 1519, three years after arriving at Clos Lucé in 1516. He came at the invitation of Francis I, who named him First Painter, Engineer and Architect to the King. He brought three paintings with him, and one of them was the Mona Lisa.

The Oratory

Charles VIII bought the Clos Lucé in 1490 and had this oratory built for Anne of Brittany, long before Leonardo arrived. Today it holds an Annunciation fresco painted by Leonardo's pupils, which is one of the named highlights of the residence. The brick and tuffeau house itself is older than the famous resident: Louis XI gave the estate to Étienne le Loup in 1471, and the Château du Cloux, as it was then called, dates from that gift, complete with its dovecote.

The Workshop

The workshop shows the working side of Leonardo's stay at Clos Lucé. It pairs with the galleries that display 40 models of his machines, built by IBM. A hologram reconstructs the 1517 visit of Cardinal Louis of Aragon.

The château lists this room and the hologram among its highlights, and they link the man to the machines you will meet again in the park outside.

The Passage to the Royal Château

At the entrance you can see the start of the legendary underground passage said to link Clos Lucé to the royal Château d'Amboise, 500 metres away. The Clos Lucé itself presents the entrance to this passage to visitors. Treat it as part of the site's storytelling rather than a walkable tunnel, because only the entrance can be seen.

It still explains why the two monuments work as a pair on a day out.

The Leonardo da Vinci Park

The wooded park walk carries 20 life-size models built from Leonardo's drawings, including an assault tank and an aerial screw. There are also replicas of his bridges, among them the self-supporting bridge and the Golden Horn Bridge, and a six-stop audio tour guides you round.

Leonardo's Garden

Leonardo's Garden is planted with the pines, cypresses and rocks that appear in his paintings. It sits inside the same park ticket as the machine models. Practical points from the château: pushchairs must be left outside and babies go in carriers for the residence visit, dogs are allowed on a lead in the park but carried indoors, and there is a shaded picnic area.

Three restaurants serve the site, La Terrasse Renaissance, La Table du Moulin and L'Auberge du Prieuré.

From Royal Gift to Royal Purchase

The story starts in 1471, when Louis XI gave the Clos Lucé estate to Étienne le Loup, who built the brick and tuffeau Château du Cloux and its dovecote. In 1490 Charles VIII bought the property and had an oratory built for Anne of Brittany. The house has stood about 500 metres from the royal château ever since, and the two were linked by an underground passage whose entrance you can still see today.

The house's famous resident arrived in 1516. Leonardo da Vinci came at the invitation of Francis I with three paintings in his baggage, one of them the Mona Lisa, and was named First Painter, Engineer and Architect to the King. He lived at Clos Lucé until his death there on 2 May 1519. His bedchamber, the oratory with an Annunciation fresco by his pupils and his workshop are among the rooms shown today.

The Family and the Machines

Since 1854 the Saint Bris family has kept Clos Lucé, and restoration began in 1954. The château now displays 40 models of Leonardo's machines built by IBM, alongside the furnished rooms. The park adds 20 life-size models along a wooded walk, including an assault tank and an aerial screw, plus replicas of two of his bridges, the self-supporting bridge and the Golden Horn Bridge.

One note on accuracy: the underground passage to the royal château is presented as a legend, and the site describes the visible entrance without confirming that Leonardo used it. If you want the royal side of the story, the royal residence is covered in its own guide to Château d'Amboise, where the Saint-Hubert chapel holds the stone marking Leonardo's presumed resting place.

• 40 machine models built by IBM inside the château
• 20 life-size models in the park, including an assault tank and an aerial screw
• Bridge replicas: the self-supporting bridge and the Golden Horn Bridge
• A hologram of Cardinal Louis of Aragon's 1517 visit

By Train and on Foot

Amboise is about 1.5 hours from Paris by train, either on a regional train from Paris Austerlitz or by TGV to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, which is 20 km away. The Amboise regional station serves Paris Austerlitz, Tours and Orléans. From the station, a municipal bus links the station to the old centre, and the town's historic core is walkable, with pedestrian sections along Rue Nationale and Place Michel Debré. Because Clos Lucé is about 300 metres from the centre and near the station, the walk from either point is short.

Regional trains also connect Amboise with Chenonceau and Chinon, and all Rémi trains allow bicycles on board, which makes a two-castle day easy to plan. For the fuller picture of rail options from the capital, see the page on Paris to Loire Valley by train.

• Nearest station: Amboise, served from Paris Austerlitz, Tours and Orléans
• Paris to Amboise: about 1.5 hours by train
• Saint-Pierre-des-Corps TGV station: 20 km from Amboise
• Clos Lucé: about 300 metres from the town centre and near the station

By Bus and Bike

A regional bus links Amboise with Tours and Chenonceaux at least once a day, which covers the most common pairing of Amboise and Chenonceau without a car. Cyclists have it good too: Amboise sits on cycling routes along the river, and the ride from Tours is given by the tourist office as 27 km, about 2 hours. For route ideas on two wheels, see the page on Loire Valley bike tour options.

• Regional bus: Amboise to Tours and Chenonceaux, at least once daily
• Tours to Amboise by bike: 27 km, about 2 hours per the tourist office

By Car

Driving from Paris takes about 2.5 hours per the Amboise tourist office, via the A10, A28 and A85. Three motorway exits serve the town: A10 exit 18 at Château-Renault 15 km north, A28 exit 20 at Tours 25 km west and A85 exit 11 at Bléré 15 km south. Amboise has four large free car parks, so parking is not the problem it is in bigger towns.

Two rules to know: vehicles over 7.5 tonnes cannot cross the Pont Leclerc, and coaches must use the Pont Debré. More practical detail about the town itself is on the Amboise France page.

• Paris by road: about 2.5 hours via the A10, A28 and A85
• Four large free car parks in Amboise
• Coaches must use the Pont Debré, not the Pont Leclerc

The Private Option That Enters

The Private Loire Valley Castles Tour from Parismatic Tour is a 13-hour private day from Paris with hotel pickup, a luxury vehicle and an art historian guide, priced at $874 per person. Its listing includes Leonardo da Vinci's home and tomb at Amboise among the sites entered, alongside Chambord, Chenonceau and the Château d'Amboise. One honest caveat: castle entrance tickets are not named separately in the listing, and it states that all fees and taxes are included. If entry matters to you, confirm with the operator before booking.

No small-group day from Paris, Tours or Amboise in the comparison lists Clos Lucé as a site entered. The closest most itineraries get is free time or lunch in Amboise town. If you want to see Leonardo's house, the reliable plan is a tour that ends with time in Amboise plus your own entry ticket, or a DIY day by train.

Ticket and Price

The table lists the entry ticket for this chateau with its starting price and the rating travellers gave it on the booking page. Prices change by date and option, so the final figure shows at checkout.