France
Château de Chambord
A double-helix staircase spiralling inside a hunting lodge built for a king who barely visited.
The château appears across the marshland like a hallucination — too large, too ornate, too improbable to be a hunting lodge, which is precisely what it was designed to be. Château de Chambord in France is the excess of the Renaissance made solid: 440 rooms, 365 chimneys, and a double-helix staircase that may or may not have been sketched by Leonardo da Vinci. François I built it to impress and then barely visited.
Château de Chambord was commissioned by François I in 1519 and constructed over 28 years, though the king spent fewer than 50 days there in total. The double-helix staircase at the centre of the keep — two intertwined flights that allow two people to ascend and descend simultaneously without ever meeting — is widely attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, who was living at nearby Amboise at the time of the château's conception. The building has 440 rooms, 84 staircases, and a rooftop terrace of towers, chimneys, and lanterns that resembles a small city on top of a larger one. The walled estate surrounding the château covers 5,440 hectares — the same area as inner Paris — making it the largest enclosed park in Europe, still home to wild boar and red deer. The château was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 as part of the Loire Valley designation.
Couple
The double-helix staircase is designed for two people moving in parallel — ascend on separate flights and watch each other appear and disappear through the central openings. The rooftop at sunset turns the Sologne forest gold.
Family
Children count chimneys, race up the staircase, and spot deer from the rooftop. The estate is large enough for cycling, and the sheer scale of the building — a hunting lodge with 440 rooms — makes adult excess tangible to young minds.
- The double-helix staircase lets two people ascend and descend without ever meeting — attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
- 365 chimneys crown the roofline — one for each day of the year, or so the guide will tell you.
- The 5,440-hectare walled estate is the largest enclosed park in Europe — deer and boar roam the oak forest.
- François I built it as a hunting lodge and barely visited — the excess is the point.
Wild game terrine from the Sologne forests — venison, boar, and pheasant layered with pistachios.
Tarte Tatin served warm with crème fraîche at the estate's brasserie.
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