Hi all,

We will be visiting the dordogne region (coming from Paris after spending 6 nights there) and spending 1 week in a rental near Domme in may next year. As the rental we have chosen only do saturday-to-saturday weekly rentals, we are left with three free nights between Paris and the dordogne.

May 8 - May 10 - Somewhere

May 11- 18 - rental near Domme

May 18 - drive to Perpignan, drop off car at station and train to Barcelona (the car has to be dropped off on this date)

We are hoping that someone might be able to suggest a place to stay near dordogne for the 3 nights in question (may 8 - may10). As we are already planning to spend six nights in Paris in what will be our second trip to the city (we spent a week there on our first visit), we are reluctant to spend more time there.

Before we had to adjust our travel plan due to the sat-sat rental, we planned to spend the extra three nights after the dordogne touring the area on the way to Perpignan, especially Carcasonne. But now we have resigned to the fact that we might only be able to see it from a distance on our drive to Perpignan.

We have came up with two options:

1. Train to Toulouse from Paris, pick up car and tour the region around Toulouse (e.g. Albi, Carcasonne) before heading north to our rental near Domme - not sure if this is worthwhile as we are essentially doubling up our tracks as we will have to go through the same region on the way to Perpignan. So my question is whether this region is really worthwhile or should we skip it for somewhere else?

2. Train to either Brive or Libourne from paris, pick up car and spend three nights in the northern part of Dordogne (I have found a B&B in a town west of Perigeaux called St. Aquilin) http://www.lamaisondesdimes.com/

We thought that it might be a good idea to tour a less frequented area of dordogne. We can do trips to Perigeaux, Brantome, St Pierre de cole etc.) We have read that one week is not enough for exploring the dordogne, so it might be a good idea to squeeze in an extra three nights somewhere. Has anyone been to Perigord vert and what are your recommendations?

I am leaning towards option 2 but looking forward to your feedbacks. Feel free to make other suggestions!

Last question, we will be picking up our car on may 8 2013, which will be a public holiday (Victory day). Would I be right in assuming that car rental places will still be open in rural towns like Brive or Libourne?

Thanks!