Southern France Experts - HELP!

[artnbarb]

We'll be in France from May 1 thru May 12, coming from Carcassonne and returning to Barcelona. We want to visit the Dordogne and Lot regions. I've read past threads, bought several guidebooks and scoured websites, but I still can't figure out where to base! I really think we need 2 bases - one base will mean long drives on many days, and I'm willing to move in order to have shorter drives. Because our timing is so weird (May 1 is a Sunday and May 12 is a Thursday), I don't know if apartment rentals will be possible, but I need to settle on a few villages in each area (Dordogne and Lot) before I can proceed. The few places I have contacted are already booked, so I'm starting to panic! Please help!

 

[Kevin Widrow]

I'll preface this by saying I'm by no means an expert having visited just one time the region. And our faocus was almost entirely the Perigord, with just a day's visit to the Lot on the drive over. Ironically, I much preferred the scenery in the Lot and I'm sure we'll get back there and spend some time just visiting that area. While I enjoyed the Perigord and the number of very fascinating places to visit is huge, I don't feel drawn back at all, but that's just me.

Anyway, since our vacation as about the same length as yours will be, I thought just sketching out our trip might help give you a sense of what's doable. We are not fans of spending lots of time driving to get to our day's destination, so we tend to go for shorter stays in a few different areas - at least we did in the Perigord and it worked out quite well.

We had three bases (4 nights in each)and I'll list sites we saw from each, to give you an idea:

1) First base Brantôme - Château Puyguilhem, St. Jean de Cole, Château Bourdelles, Aubiterre and various villages around, Périgeux, Abbey Chancélade, Prieuré de Merland,

2) Lès Eyziès - Font de Gaume, Combarelles, La Roque St. Christophe, Montignac, Château Hautfort and Château Jumilhac,

3) Sarlat - Gouffre Proumeyssac, Saint Cyprian, Limeuil, Cadouin, Beynac, Roque-Gageac, Montfort, Domme, Montpazier, Castlenau, Belvès

Hope that helps a bit.

All I can say is trying to do both the PErigord and the Lot from just one base would be way too much driving for me.

- Kevin

 

[artnbarb]

thanks Kevin. Perhaps you can explain to m how the Perigord differs from the Dordogne? Are they the same? Is the Perigord simply one area of the Dordogne?

I think I'll make a Google map and mark the sites and villages we want to visit, and maybe that will help me define the general area we want to see, as well as helping me decide on one or two bases. With just 12 days I prefer to move only once.

 

[Kevin Widrow]

The Périgord is just the original name for the region. During the French revolution, the départment of the Dordogne was created and it geographically more or less matches the Périgord. So I guess you could say they are pretty much interchangeable. Though at least amongst French friends, I've rarely ever heard anyone say they are going to visit the Dordogne. They invariably say the Périgord. The Périgord is divided further into four subregions - Vert, Blanc, Noir et Poupre. Honestly didn't really see much of a difference (or at least much which had anything to do with the colors).

- Kevin

 

[phirhon]

Kevin has given good advice if you are looking at shorter stays. For example , we visited Brantome etc from our base near Hautefort in 2008. I have also replied on slowtrav and you will know that we prefer to stay in one spot. This is , for us, an economic reason because a week long rental is much cheaper than single nights in hotels and B&Bs and meals out. Our gite was 300 euro per week in 2014 [ early May ] and because we stayed two weeks, it was discounted to 250 per week.

What we do is look at everything we would like to be able to do and then we try to find a central place that will allow us to do the most. Obviously some will miss out. So we did not try to visit Brantome from our base in Cenac [ 2014 ] Or go across to St Cirq Lapopie or Rocamadour from our base in Tourtoirac [ 2008]. I know it sounds obvious, but sometimes it is difficult to choose what you are going to cross off the list.

The Lot is a large region and if you choose to base yourself there as well, you still will not be able to see the whole region in the time you have.

Hope you can solve your problem. I wish it was my problem!!

 

[phirhon]

I will add that we just look at what we can do from the base we have chosen. So on our last stay around this region, we visited the Dordogne, the Lot and the Correze. What region we were in at any given time was not relevant. All were wonderful. As were the places we visited in 2008 from our base in Tourtoirac and the places we visited from our base near Fajoles in 2006.

Wherever you choose, you will have no difficulty filling 12 days. Just do what suits you best. If that is two places, do it. If it is one, you may find paying for two weeks in a rental, even if you do not stay the full time, is still less expensive than those nights in hotels . We are starting to think about another trip to France, maybe 2016, and we would happily go back to our very comfortable gite in Cenac and still have plenty to see.

Bon voyage.

 

[artnbarb]

 

[artnbarb]

Above I posted the map with starred locations for places we'd like to visit. It looks more suited to Kevin's suggestion of 3 locations, but I might need more than 4 nights in the area surrounding Sarlat. Here's my idea, please tell me if it makes any sense: since we'll be driving from Carcassonne, make our first stop the area east of the A20 for maybe 3 nights, then stay in the area west of the A20, basing in or near Sarlat for 4-5 nights, then head south for the remaining nights. After that we'll drive back to Barcelona for our return flight. Am I making any progress??

 

[artnbarb]

I know the map is small, and for those not familiar with France the stars marking the towns will only give you an idea of where a central location might be. @Kathy , where are you?

 

[Chris]

Your stars do fall naturally into three groups, don't they? I haven't contributed to this because my only experience in this area was one week based in Sarlat, so I'm hardly an expert.

 

[nola44]

We'd kill to have 12 days to do these things! We'll do as much as possible in 4 very busy days (5 nights) based in Sarlat. Yikes. We have two long drive days planned: To Rocamadour, G d Padirac, some Beaux Villages; and to Pech Merle and St Cirq La Popie and Cougnac. Everything else is closer to Sarlat. We'll see (soon) how it works out and report back.

 

[Kevin Widrow]

That plan makes a lot of sense to me. Even if it means packing and repacking a few times, you'll save much in terms of drive times getting from just one base to all the other spots you want to visit. And honestly, I didn't find the drives around the area to be especially breath-taking. Lots of it was through forests where you had little view at all. The amazing gorgeous views were plenty, don't get me wrong, but best enjoyed from outside the car.

I think the fact that the area is less dramatic than what I am used to - less open and not as mountainous colored my view about the driving. What I loved about the Perigord was the history and strolling around the villages and castles and seeing the caves, of course. What I didn't care for was driving from one spot to the next, hence my advice to keep the drive times to a minimum, if that makes sense ?

- Kevin

 

[Pauline]

If you go with 3 locations, maybe you can spend longer in one area to get a more indepth experience of it? We spent a week in the Dordogne Valley (Sarlat, the river towns, the cave art) and did not get over to the Rocamadour area (too long of a drive for us). We did spend one night in St Cirq on the way up from Toulouse airport. We arrived late, walked around the town in the morning, visited Pech Merle (fabulous!!) early afternoon, then drove on to the Dordogne.

I enjoyed our trip but the towns in the Dordogne area did not grab me. They felt a bit unreal - in perfect condition and geared to tourists. I loved the cave art and was happy we had some wet days where we visited more caves than I had originally planned.

I was confused too with the use of Dordogne and Perigord. I use Dordogne for the area around the River Dordogne, but it is in the Perigord Noir. Here is a good image showing how the Perigord department is divided into different areas by color:

 

[artnbarb]

thanks everyone. Pauline, thanks for that map. It looks like we are concentrating on the Perigord Noir area, and east of the A20 is The Lot, correct? Here is the list of towns/sites on our list, by area:

The Lot (East of the A20)

• Rocamadour
• Martel
• Carennac
• Loubressac
• Autoire

Dordogne (West of the A20)

• Grottes de Cougnac (Payrignac)
• Domme
• La Roque St Cristophe
• Gourdon
• Lascaux (Montignac)
• La Beune
• Les Eyzies de Tayac-Sireuil
• Sarlat la Caneda
• La Roque-Gageac
• Castelnaud la Chapelle

southern Dordogne (or is it???) :

• Cahors (too big? worth a visit?)
• Pech Merle Caves - definitely on our list!
• St Cirq La Popie

So - this is still a work in progress. I have no idea what towns are worth an hour, and which require more time, or the best way to see several towns in one day. Any thoughts on towns/sites to add or delete?

Coming from Carcassonne, I would drive to the area east of the A20 for 2-3 nights, move to the area west of the A20 for 5-7 nights, then lastly to the southernmost area for our final 2-3 nights.

Any suggestions for where to base for each of those 3 areas? Not being familiar with the terrain I don't know if a centrally located town might in fact be up a long and winding road, etc. Thanks again!

 

[Pauline]

In the Dordogne area
- Sarlat is central. It is the largest town of those on the list, I think.
- Kathy likes Montignac - that is where her tours base. It is a nice town with good access.
- Domme is a small town on the river. Same with Castelnaud. I might stay in the former, but not the latter (kind of a Disneyland town).
- Les Eyzies has the museum and Font de Gaume, but probably not an interesting place to stay.

I would stay in Montignac or Sarlat, or one of the river towns. We were in St Cyprien and rented from:
>> En Toutes Saisons http://www.holiday-gites-dordogne.com/ (recommended by Kathy)http://www.holiday-gites-dordogne.com
Vacation rentals in the Perigord Noir, in the Dordogne and Vézère valleys (the heart of the Dordogne). Good selection in towns and in the countryside. Agency based in St Cyprien. <<

@Chris , didn't you stay in Sarlat years ago? I remember you saying the traffic in and out was horrible (but maybe that was just on market day). I liked the small town where we stayed.

I remember someone posting here or on Facebook about staying in Beynac (on the river). I will search to see who it was.

Did you read that book set in Castelnaud?
>> A Castle in the Backyard: The Dream of a House in by Betsy Draine. This was published in 2002. An American couple buy a house in Castelnaud in the Dordogne and for 15 years spend their summers there. An interesting description of what happens as this cute town turns into a major and over-crowded tourist attraction. We visited Castelnaud last year and found their house - and the town was overrun and not really fun to visit. <<

 

[Pauline]

We stopped in Cahors for dinner on our way to St Cirq. There is a medieval bridge that we missed but I am not sure there is much else to see there.

 

[Pauline]

@Sharon J stayed in Beynac - link to thread.

 

[artnbarb]

Is it too optimistic to think that during the first 2 weeks of May the area won't be over-run with (other!) tourists?

 

[artnbarb]

Did you read that book set in Castelnaud?
>> A Castle in the Backyard: The Dream of a House in by Betsy Draine. This was published in 2002. An American couple buy a house in Castelnaud in the Dordogne and for 15 years spend their summers there. An interesting description of what happens as this cute town turns into a major and over-crowded tourist attraction. We visited Castelnaud last year and found their house - and the town was overrun and not really fun to visit. <<

No, I haven't read the book - thanks for telling me about it!

And - I thought I'd posted this but now it's gone! - is it too optimistic to think that the first 2 weeks of May will be less crowded?

 

[Pauline]

Too optimistic I think, especially after last Summer's heatwave. We have been in France several times in May and it is not tourist-free. But if you are there when there are no tourists many things are not open!