DianeD

We will be spending 3 night in the Dordogne in July. I am a Rick Steve's reader as well as spending much time searching this sight. I am considering staying at Hotel Belle Etoile in La Roque-Gageac vs a B&B (Chateau Nineyrol) in Vezac vs somewhere in Sarlat. We will have spent time in larger cities prior and after this stop on our trip- But will the areas outside of Sarlat be too quiet? We would prefer to not drive after dinner so we can enjoy some wine with our meal. I see several good restaurants mentioned on this sight in what appears to be walking distance from both- other than Hotel Belle Etoile itself.
We hope to visit the caves, canoe, perhaps hike and see the market in Sarlat during our few days in this region.
Any comments or suggestions?

rex

Hi there, newcomer! I'm a little bit surprised to see that your question has gone this many hours without answers - - and there are others better than myself to provide answers based on first hand experience,

But I have done a lot of research of places in the past three weeks, and we are headed to Limeuil (at the confluence of the Vezere and Dordogne, near Le Bugue and Les Eyzies), and I have started two or three threads you might wish to read. They show a bit of the process we used to select our one night stop in the Dordogne (at Les Terrasses de Beauregard).

I started with this fairly general question (least useful to you)...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34613800

and narrowed in with these two...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34616836

and

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34617715

But these scarcely hold a candle to the numerous detailed threads on Hotel Belle Etoile and countless other places that are likely to be on your candidate list. Easy to find - - a search of "Gageac" here on this forum produces a highly "concentrated" list of direct relevance.

I went through listings on www.logisdefrance.com and www.gitesdefrance.com quite exhaustively. No telling how many places made me think... "oh! this one!" or "no! better this one!"

You have a lot of good options to choose from.

Best wishes,

Rex Bickers
Floyds Knobs, Indiana

StuDudley

Click on my name and you will find lots of past threads about the Dordogne.

Roque Gageac is an excellent base. Plume d'Oie in town, is one of my favorite restaurants in the Dordogne. La Treille and Jardin d'Epicure are easy 15 min drives from Roque Gageac.

Best advice is to book soon - July is a busy month, and I suspect most vacationers have already booked their hotels by now.

Stu Dudley

hopingtotravel

We recently stayed at Belle-Etoile and enjoyed the location. While we didn't have a lot of time it seemed you could go to several areas from that location. We also enjoyed good meals there but they did not have an ala carte menu. They were a Logis de France and were one of the cheaper rooms on our trip but were more than adequate. The staff was friendly which always helps.

DianeD

Thanks for the suggestions. I have checked many of the comments on this sight concerning Hotel Belle Etoile. I currently have a reservation at Chateau Nineyrol and the possibility of one at Hotel Belle Etoile...thus the dillema. I wondered if anyone at Fodor's had every stayed at the former. Obviously i need to choose fast.
Rex-I am having a problem picking up the threads you post. I click on them and my computer just keeps trying to find them with no luck. Is there a trick to this I'm missing?
StuDudley- I have enjoyed reading your many comments on this region and Provence-which we will also visit on this trip. We hope to try several of the restaurants you mention.

eri

Hello Diane,
We stayed at La Belle Etoile. It was inexpensive. Small rooms, very clean, fluffy wonderful blankets. If I remember correctly, no TV in the rooms. The Etoile has one of the best restaurants I ever ate. The meal was more expensive than the hotel. We thought that was rather funny. But not outrageously expensive. The only drawbacks were:
1. They didn't speak a word in English (or any other language other than French). The menus are also in French. Be sure to have a small dictionary handy for the meals - not only there.
2. The rooms facing the road are noisy. This didn't bother us, but I can see that it might cause a problem. The view was great!
We loved it!

rex

Hmmm... I can't imagine why you would have a problem clicking on these URL's. PC or Mac? Assuming Windows, try right click and "Open a new window" - - and then, additionally, perhaps "refresh" (F5).

ira

Hey Rex,

>....our one night stop in the Dordogne (at Les Terrasses de Beauregard).

Nice place. When you get back, tell us about the "duck steack".

rex

<<When you get back, tell us about the "duck steack".>>

Sure...

...but I hadn't noticed...

I was planning on having the <i>magrets de canard</i>...

hopingtotravel

While realizing that different staff work different shifts and different days, we did encounter English-speaking staff at Belle-Etoile. They also had an English translation of the menu but I think you had to ask for it. I had a booklet menu translator with me, but it didn't always help. We had a small TV in our room but never turned it on.

DianeD

Thanks Rex- That did the trick. I think my connection was just too slow when I first tried. It worked just fine this time.

rex

In case you are still making your choices, Diane... we were entirely satisfied with the above-cited Logis de France (Les Terrasses de Beauregard) in Limeuil...

...<b>however</b> - - we were mightily impressde by how cool the town of Domme would be to use as a &quot;base&quot;. I cannot comment on specific choices of places to stay, since we only sorta passed through (more details to follow - - as I make progress on outr trip report) - - on our way to www.air-chateaux.com

Our <i>circuit</i> (in a Cessna 172), with air-chateaux was absolutely one of the most awesome experiences I have had traveling anywhere in Europe or otherwise!