London Eye, South Bank, London

A gleaming white bicycle wheel rising high above the south bank of the Thames, the London Eye is a magnet for tourists and everything that entails. Coming towards the Eye from the east you pass a dozen or more statuesque street entertainers painted as kings, sinners, chameleons and other imaginative characters. Up close, you can check out the handful of slim cables preventing this vast structure from crashing into the river. Although there are a lot of people milling around the base, you can generally board quite quickly, particularly if you bought a ticket in advance. Stewards ensure you move fast enough to step into the continuously moving glass pods, which hold about 20 people each. Your pod, with a central seating area and just enough space to avoid alarming the claustrophobic, then rises slowly into the sky. On a clear day at the top, you can see right to the suburban edge of south London. There are also fine views of the Victorian-Gothic spires of the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the more distant Buckingham Palace surrounded by trees and other greenery. Vertigo-sufferers will want to avoid looking straight down on to the array of boats on the river or the tiny people strolling along the South Bank. As you descend, cameras automatically take photographs of pod passengers, which you can buy at the base. Book online (£13.95 for adults and £6.95 for children) for the best value tickets and make sure you go on a bright sunny day 8/10

P&O Ferries, Dover to Calais

Not the fastest way to cross the English Channel, but can be fun. Check-in, passport control and security are faster than at Heathrow, but still take at least half an hour. On board, you are compensated on a sunny day with great views of the striking White Cliffs of Dover as you chug out of the harbour and miles of golden sand as you arrive in Calais. Below deck, you can jostle with the motley assortment of backpackers, lorry drivers, coach passengers and families for something to eat or somewhere to sit. For £22 you can get two adults and two children a main course and a desert in the canteen, but don't expect a lot of meat in the chicken curry or much in the way of vitamins. Alternatively, you can wind away the 90-minute crossing by browsing through the shop, drinking Costa coffee, watching cartoons in the kids' lounge or playing arcade games, but try to avoid using the sometimes filthy toilets. Remember to purchase all the paraphernalia you need for driving on the continent, such as a first aid kit and red warning triangle, if you haven't got it already. Assuming you aren't in a hurry, P&O is good value at about £100 return for a family and a car. 6/10

Hostellerie La Croix Blanche, place des Plantagenets, Fontevraud L'Abbaye, Vallee de la Loire

With an enviable position opposite the majestic Abbaye de la Fontevraud, La Croix Blanche is well-placed to lure in tourists to its hotel and trio of eateries. While the facade, with its attractive cobbled archway, is enticing, the modern extensions behind have less character. In one wing, refurbished in 2008, there are ultra-modern and rather sterile white en-suite rooms (100 euros a night) with splashes of colour, small flat-screen televisions, very contemporary fittings and solid pine, featureless furniture. The old battered beams and reclaimed fireplace in the hall aren't sufficient to capture the historical ambiance of the surrounding village. The double rooms are quite tight and a more spacious family suite is available for 130 euros a night, while half-board costs an additional 36.50 euros a day for adults and 19.50 euros for children. The buffet breakfast is set up in the slightly-staid Plantagenet restaurant recently refurbished in matching tones of red and gold. On offer is a selection of good quality cold meats, cheeses, bread, walnuts, croissants, fruit juices, a couple of cereals and plenty of coffee.

The Gardens of Château de la Chatonnière, Azay le Rideau, Vallee de la Loire

Nestling in a secluded valley, this charming chateau and its aging outbuildings are surrounded by beautiful and charismatic gardens. You don't need to know the labels to appreciate the neat, symmetrical patterns of the formal 'L'Intelligence' garden, the curvaceous beds of lettuces in 'L'Abondance', the circular maze of 'Les Romances' or the parade of roses in 'Les Fragrances'. All four are surpassed by 'L'Exuberance' - rolling meadows of blue, red and pink wild flowers spreading up the hillsides around the chateau. You can peer over a high stone wall down into a large enclosed courtyard - 'Le Silence', which, ironically, is patrolled by four boisterous German Shepherd dogs. From there you can climb up through some trees and follow a path down to the main gates where there is lovely view across a luscious green basin back to the conical slate roofs of the towers and creamy stonework of the chateau. Admission to the gardens, which stay open until 7pm, is 6 euros for an adult. With just a handful of visitors on a sunny afternoon in late May, the Château de la Chatonnière is a magical place. 9/10

Chateau de Villandry, Vallee de la Loire

The substantial Renaissance Chateau de Villandry serves primarily as a handsome backdrop for the imaginative, but meticulous and highly-regimented gardens. Just beyond the chateau's moat, are a series of large squares marked out with boxed hedges, low-level uniform flower beds and small trees trimmed to precision, each symbolising a kind of love from tender to romantic to passionate. Vibrant shades of green are laced with splashes of colour. Nearby is an aromatic and bountiful kitchen garden, while another large section is given over to topiary with rows of ice-cream shaped-trees each spliced into horizontal sections. Children will find the maze, with its central viewing platform, great fun and will also want to linger in the fine wooden playground. Circling the chateau, you pass a peaceful lake lined by a row of trees broken only by a stone bridge positioned dead-centre. Climbing up a steep bank takes you into a small wood with good views through the trees of the gardens and the venerable village church beyond.

Saumur, Vallee de la Loire

Standing haughtily on a hill on the south bank of a very broad stretch of the Loire, the pointed turrets of Saumur's chateau make this well-heeled town a beacon for tourists. It is quite a steep climb through Saumur's lanes up to the grassy dry moat surrounding the chateau, which looks disappointingly worn and weather-beaten up close. Cross a couple of drawbridges for a view over the vineyards and handsome town houses lining both sides of the river. Below the chateau, are some attractive streets and small cobbled squares with fountains, smart shops, cafes and excellent boulangeries selling particularly delicious baguette sandwiches and extravagant cakes. Home of the refined École Nationale d'Équitation and a large tank museum reflecting its longstanding connections with the French cavalry, Saumur is a swish, yet smug, town. 7/10

Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, Valle de la Loire

Made out of the sumptuous creamy stone typical of the Loire valley, the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud is an extensive, pristine and well-preserved monastery founded in 1101 and the resting place of Richard the Lionheart and Henry II of England. You enter the complex (7.90 euros for adults and free for children) via a grand gateway and a distinguished eighteenth century courtyard. Beyond the ticket office is a 34-acre site containing a series of remarkably coherent medieval buildings, topped with steeply sloping slate roofs and enclosed by a high stonewall. You come first to the church with its attractive bell tower. Inside, there are four recumbent statues of dead Plantagenet kings and queens - the main feature of the austere and elegant nave.

Old Town, Le Mans, Pays de la Loire,

Renown for its turbo-charged 24-hour car race, Le Mans is also a hotbed of history. You can reach the elevated heart of the city by crossing the Sarthe river and climbing the steps over the extraordinary Roman city walls with their moasic-style brickwork. Up here is an atmospheric maze of cobbled medieval lanes lined by a mixture of four-storey timber-framed and Renaissance stone houses complete with wrought iron street lamps and balconies. Particularly handsome is the stately and solid cardinal's residence with its elegant and intricately-carved stone turrets. It faces Le Mans' ginormous Cathedrale St-Julien, which was built over several hundred years. The cavernous interior is remarkable for the series of ornate and sometimes beautiful chapels that buttress one end of this hulking cathedral. Despite its age and beauty, the old quarter of Le Mans is quiet and mostly free of tourist tat, opting instead for stylish restaurants and chic boutiques selling art and antiques. 8/10