Ainay-le-Château (French pronunciation: [ɛnɛ l(ə) ʃɑto]) is a commune in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France.

Access to the commune is by D951 road from Thaumiers in the north which passes through the town and continues south to Cérilly.

On the left bank, the suburb of Mandais is covers both sides of the road from Bourges and the border with the department of Cher passes within 300 metres (980 ft) of the bridge.

[5] The former parish and commune of Saint-Benin was reunited with Ainay-le-Château in 1842 and is today a village east of the town.

Because of this particular, the town has been featured on TF1 in the program Sept à huit (Seven to Eight) on 31 January 2010 (retransmitted on 21 April 2013), as well as in the program la Fabrique de l'Histoire (Fabric of History) on France Culture on 7 December 2010.

The commune has two sites that are registered as historical monuments: In autumn 2005 Ainay-le-Château was the location of many of the scenes in Michou d'Auber, a film by Thomas Gilou released in 2007, with Gérard Depardieu, Nathalie Baye, and Mathieu Amalric acting.