Tours eats better than cities twice its size. This is rillettes and rillons country, where Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine goat cheese carries a straw through its middle and Vouvray's chenin blanc is aged in caves cut into the tuffeau cliffs.
The 1980 covered market on Place Gaston Paillhou holds around 40 stalls: charcutiers selling rillettes de Tours and rillons, fromagers with Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine, fishmongers with Loire pike. Open Tue–Sat 07:00–19:30, Sun 07:00–13:00.
The medieval street running west from Place Plumereau is lined with charcuteries, cavistes and small traiteurs. Grab a baguette stuffed with rillons and a glass of Touraine Amboise at one of the counter-only spots between numbers 30 and 70.
Tours' historic confiseur since 1913, known for pruneaux fourrés (Agen prunes stuffed with almond paste) and nougat de Tours — the local tart of apricot jam, candied fruit and macaroon. Boxes of the house chocolates start around €12.
A tuffeau-cellar wine bar in a 15th-century timber-framed house near Place Plumereau, pouring Vouvray sec, Montlouis-sur-Loire and Chinon reds by the glass alongside charcuterie boards from local producers.
Ten kilometres east of Tours, growers cut cellars straight into the limestone cliffs. Houses along the Vallée Coquette pour still, pétillant and moelleux chenin blanc; tastings usually run 10:00–18:00 with cellar tours on the hour.
South of Tours, the AOP zone produces the ash-coated goat log with a rye straw running through it. Farm shops sell it at four stages of ageing, from fresh and lemony to dry and crumbling, with bread and Touraine sauvignon.
A small Tours dining room where the kitchen works Loire produce into a fixed multi-course menu that changes weekly — pike, asparagus from Sologne, local goat cheese. Reservation essential; lunch menus start around €30.
Across the Loire in the Tranchée quarter, a neighbourhood bistrot serving the Touraine classics: rillons, andouillette, beurre blanc with river fish, and prunes stewed in Vouvray for dessert.
On Wednesday and Saturday mornings the square outside the covered halls fills with producer stalls: growers from the Loire plain, honey from the Touraine forests, oysters trucked up from the Atlantic. Runs 07:00 to roughly 13:30.
Rue de la Rôtisserie and Rue du Change hold galette houses serving buckwheat crêpes with andouille and Sainte-Maure, washed down with bowls of cider. Lunch formules with galette, sweet crêpe and cider run around €15.
The long street east of the cathedral is Tours' drinking spine: craft beer taps, natural-wine bars and terrace bistros running from the Place Foire-le-Roi end. Pints from €5, glasses of Loire natural wine from €5.50.
A seasonal open-air bar on the Loire sandbank below the Pont Wilson, running roughly May to September with food trucks, local wine, live music and deckchairs on the gravel. Free entry, drinks from €4.