bcsa

Any suggestions for really good English speaking guides in the Dordogne area to take us inside some of the most interesting caves and to other significant sites and give us informative commentary?

tower

bcsa:

IMHO...Dordogne region doesn't require guides. It is one of the easiest places to get around (with a car)...easy driving...sites are well identified throughout. It lends itself to DIY. You can get all the information, history, directions from The Rough Guide, Lonely Planet, Green Guide, eyc. Take a few hours, go to your local library and you'll learn what's ncessary. I have traveled the world for six decades in this way, only rarely succumbing to "guides" to get us thorugh the rabbit warrens of the Moroccan medinas and the such.

Remember, please, this is one man's opinion. In the end, it's your decision. Enjoy your trip...the Dordogne is beautiful abnd interesting.

I'll share some pics below to give you an idea of the surroundings.

tower

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...eAndLotRegion#

CJT0427

There is an English tour of Lacaux 2 - check their website for the time. Even though this is a reproduction, I thought it had wow factor lacking from the other caves I visited. All you really need to tour the Dordogne is a car, a guidebook, and a good map.

Michael

Lascaux, make reservations in the morning for an afternoon entry, and Rouffignac, no reservations, are the two caves that I would recommend. The latter cave is not a reproduction, one takes an electric mine train for 1 km. into the cave, rent headphones for the English version of explanation.

FrenchMystiqueTours

Try these sites:

http://www.perigord-welcome.com/les-...-lang.php?id=2

http://pro.tourisme-aquitaine.fr/fr/..._73EE3720.html

http://www.sightseeinginfrance.com/tours/dordogne

http://www.dordogne-tours.com/

http://www.sarlat-tourisme.com/en/ophorus-2

If you google "guide chauffeur dordogne" you'll probably get more results. Or try googling in English.

bcsa

Many thanks for the information and suggestions!

aliced

The standard by which all others are measured are Cadogan guides -- you can order it online. Ours is the "Dordogne, Lot & Bordeaux" version. We prefer to do our own research on those subjects of most interest. I am far more a visual than oratory learner!

BTW Font de Gaume tours are also available in English (we have ours reserved for September). Lascaux is closed on Mondays and we're not sure if we want to do caves on a second day as we're going to Pech Merle later in week.

prmbrown

aliced,

I must have gotten some bad information but I thought Font de Gaume did not take reservations and had now limited daily visitations to 80 people. I also heard it was a 'must see" by a friend so would you mind sharing you reservation site if you have it handy?

kja

I think most of the caves require that you join a tour, so a private guide would be an unnecessary expense. I could be wrong....

aliced

The reservation policy seems to change frequently. Got our reservations in January and paid via Visa (7.50E pp) using:
[email protected]

Good luck!

StuDudley

>>t Font de Gaume........I also heard it was a 'must see" by a friend<<<<<


Our two favorite caves in the Dordogne/Lot region are Lascaux & Pech Merle. We've been to both of them at least twice & Fond de Gaume twice.

Stu Dudley

Kay_P

I also used the address posted above to secure reservations at Font de Gaume for May 18. This was done in late January. I also plan to visit Pech Merle and probably Lascaux. Leave 4 weeks from today for our 5 week trip to France.

prmbrown

Thanks for the correction on reservations at Font Gaume.

How confined are Font de Gaume and Pech-Merle? Some in my party have expressed concerns about claustrophobia and I promised to make an inquiry.

kja

A recent thread on the caves and claustrophobia. I think there was another one; use the search feature if you want to find it.

FrenchMystiqueTours

Pech-Merle is a large, open cavernous space and no one would feel claustrophobia inside it, even if they suffered from that problem.

prmbrown

Found the threads, thanks. Pech Merle it is.

kja

Sorry -- I meant to post a link! Glad you found them, but just in case:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...oric-sites.cfm

La_Tour_de_Cause

This year (2015) Font de Gaume reservations WERE available online. They began accepting email requests on Jan. 1, for a limited amounted of pre-sale tickets (I believe 24 per day); all other tickets were held out for first-come first-served on each day. By mid-April, when I arrived here for our annual six-month stay, all pre-sale tickets were sold out through the summer and into early September. By early May, all pre-sale tickets were sold out through October.
Don't know if they'll use the same system next year.
Also, to get tickets in the morning, they now will only sell 1 ticket per person in line, so if you think you'll go early on behalf of your group of 2 or 4 or 6, it won't work. Every person in your group has to be there to buy a ticket. And you may not all be able to be in the same tour. This was done to avoid tour group leaders from going early in the morning to be first in line, then snatching up blocks of tickets for their groups, leaving the rest of the people in line emptyhanded.

La_Tour_de_Cause

As far as personal guides go, most of the caves require you to use the guides provided on the tours, not your own guide. I can't think of an art cave that allows people to just go in and walk around on their own.
However, if you don't want to drive around on your own, and you don't mind spending a little money for the service, there are at least several private guides near Les Eyzies and Sarlat who can take you to some of the sites and give you information before you go into the caves.
Christoph (TaxiALaCarte) can drive you around all day and help you organize your itinerary for maximum enjoyment; he speaks perfect English, is intelligent and educated and raised in the Dordogne so has a wealth of knowledge about history and prehistory.
Beatrice (Dordogne Fellow Traveller) is also smart and charming and English-speaking, and can custom-design a tour for you and also offer background information on the various sites, including history and legends. She can lead you on hiking/biking/canoe excursions custom tailored to your interests, and knows a lot about the native plants and geography.