janeog

We are just beginning to plan a two week holiday in the Dordogne in September. We have Stu Dudley's guide, will probably spend a week in the Sarlat area and another week near Saint Cere - if anyone has any recommendations for gites or apartments in those areas, we would love to hear about them. We will probably take a TGV from Paris to a convenient location and pick up a rental car - thinking Angouleme or Perigeux ? Any guidance gratefully received!!

FrenchMystiqueTours

I don't have any gîte recommendations but if you're going to be in the area of Saint-Céré and you want some ideas of places to visit nearby you can have a look at my photo report about spending two weeks exploring that area (which I love):

http://tinyurl.com/q6bb5av

MaineGG

We took a morning TGV from Paris to Angoulême, picked up a car there then drove via Brantôme (where we had lunch) then Bourdeilles to our rental near Sarlat. This worked out very well.

We enjoyed our apartment at Les Granges Hautes.
http://www.les-granges-hautes.fr/en/...ages/index.htm

If you're interested, click on my username to find my trip report with more details.

janeog

What a wonderful report, only have time to read one page, will look forward to the rest. We will definitely be doing some rethinking about our itinerary.

tom_mn

"... or Perigeux" The TGV does not reach the Dordogne, aside from Angouleme on the north there is Brive-la-Gaillarde on the east, in between the 2 cities you mention.

We stayed here, it is owned by a Canadian family, really nice and a good value: https://www.flipkey.com/saintcyprien...entals/p473501, and within 30 minutes of Sarlat. Sarlat is a large town with traffic, not recommended when there are so many smaller towns that are more relaxing to stay in.

janeog

Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately the Saint Cyprien rental and Les Granges Hautes were booked but we've found another in Saint Cyprien which seems promising. Looking forward to lots more planning and I'm sure I'll be posting more questions.

tom_mn

St-Cyprien is nice because it seems more "real" than a lot of the tourist-saturated Dordongne, yet is in the middle of things. It still has some British vacation home owners, though. On Fridays in the summer the town has a fun town picnic where vendor booths sell food and everyone seems to be there. If you are looking for prehistoric cave art Grotte du Roufignac is wonderful, guided tours only in French though http://www.grottederouffignac.fr/index.php/welcome

janeog

Hmm, that might be a challenge since my husband has no French at all and mine is a bit rusty! We aren't going until September so suspect there'll be no town picnic however there seems to be so much to see in the area that I'm sure we won't be bored. We have now set our hearts on St Cyprien so hope the gite owners get back to us soon to confirm. September is obviously a very popular month for those of us d"un certain age"!

KathyWood

We stayed two weeks in St. Cyprien in July 2012 and really enjoyed the village and the location. We rented a house, right in the village, so we could easily walk to the boulangerie, restaurants and the wonderful Sunday market. (We also enjoyed the night market, tom mentioned above, but I think this is just July and August.)

Here's the house: http://www.holiday-gites-dordogne.co...n_Terme_83.htm

It's actually owned by the owners of the agency, who lived nearby. You may find some other options on their site as well.

Kathy

TPAYT

Here's my trip report on the area from Sept. 2012----one of ouur best vacations in France. So many places to see and easy driving. We liked our week in Sarlat. After driving around all day it was quite nice to be able to walk to so many restaurnts for dinner at night.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-and-paris.cfm

janeog

Thank you for the link, great photos - now I want to go to Toulouse as well! Kathy, the gite looks lovely but a little pricey for us however I am in touch with that agency, hopefully they can find something for us.