My husband and I are planning a trip to the Dordogne for the last week in September, 2015. We have 9 days to travel before returning to Paris for 4 nights. My plan is to spend a week in a gite in the Dordogne. Can't decide where to spend those extra two nights. My thoughts are: St. Emilion, Carcasonne or the Loire Valley or just stay the extra days in the Dordogne.

I would really appreciate everyone's input!

Full disclosure: I have lived in the Dordogne since June 2012 and am very happy to be here. Your next days depend very much on the location of your Gite. But, I would not, in any event, spend two days in St. Emilion. If you have been in the north, go east to Sarlat and Beynac, if that is the area you have been in, go northwest to Brantome. While at the gite, consider a trip with Montgolfiers du Perigord, they are located in La Roque-Gageac. For something completely different from the Gite, spend 2 days in Bordeaux. It is faster and cheaper to fly from Bordeaux to Paris Orly than to take a train. Carcassone is a 4-5 hour drive from most of the Dorgogne,and that is a waste of time in such a short trip, IMOH.

I agree with Jef801 about St Emilion. We've spent 10 weeks in the Dordogne area - so 9 days will go by fast. For the 2 extra days, spend it near St Cere & visit Rocamadour, Gouffre de Padirac, Loubressac, Autoire, Carennac, Collonges la Rouge, Turtenne, Meyssac, Chateau Castelnau Bretenoux, and Martel from there. Or near St Cirq Lapopie & visit St Cirq, Pech Merle, Figeac, and Cahors.

Stu Dudley

Most of the wonderful places mentioned by Stu D. above, I have included in some scanned pix of one of our enjoyable visits to the Dordogne-Lot region.
stu T. (please see below)

Chutney..these should give you a familiarization "feel" for the region:

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuartto...eAndLotRegion#

We just got back from six nights in Sarlat, two in Rocamadour, two in Figeac, one in Albi. I would have loved more time for the Figeac area or Sarlat. I was worried it might be too much, and it was way too little!

Take Jeff's advice, choosing to stay longer in Sarlat than in the Brantôme area.

To whet your appetite:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...7624827253292/

Five AC is the only place in France where I have seen actual men walking around the streets wearing berets and looking like they came out of French movies of the '40's. I can't swear to their smoking Gauloise, but it wouldn't surprise me.

We stayed in a rental in the center of Sarlat for a week and could easily have stayed two.

We loved our time in The Dordogne in Sept. 2012 and could have easily spent a couple of weeks there. There was just so much to see & do within an easy drive from our base in Sarlat.

If you are interested, click on my name & scroll down to my trip report on "Toulouse, The Dordogne & Paris."

Another vote for staying in the Dordogne. There are far too many things to see and do for just one week. we've just celebrated our 20th anniversary living here full time and we're not bored yet!

'Five AC is the only place in France' No idea what this means.

If you want to see old men in berets go to northern Spain.

As usual, you are all SO INCREDIBLY HELPFUL!!!
Looks like we'll spend 9 days there. I'll research the areas you mentioned. I don't know this area at all.

I owe you all a trip report from our September trip to Normandy, Brittany and Paris.

"Five AC" is how Steve Jobs spelled "Figeac", apparently. We know that he was a fanatic about ever detail of his products, presumably including my iPad's idiosyncratic spell-checker.

Tower,
Thanks for sharing your pictures. Every village was prettier than the next. Hiking, cycling and canoeing down the river with such beautiful vistas is very appealing. Can't wait till next September!

Michael,

Your photo gallery of the perigord noir is gorgeous. I'm going to have to do some research to figure out what castles were in your pictures. I love castles��. We're there two separate gardens in your pictures?

I'm leaning towards staying in one place and taking day trips. We both hate unpacking and packing. From other posts I've read, it seems the Sarlat area is very central. Would Beynac be too out of the way? There is a lovely gite mid way up the village with spectacular views of the valley. Thought we'd enjoy relaxing on the terrace in the afternoon after touring around.

Nine days wouldn't be enough! We were there for a week and I could have stayed for much longer. We saw many of the highlights but passed signs everyday to places we would want to explore. It will be a while before we can get back to France but the Dordogne is planned for another week!

The 2 gardens that are absolutely stunning are:

http://marqueyssac.com/iphone/index-gb.html

http://www.francemostbeautifulgarden...s-eyrignac.php

Both were highlights of our trip.
We were very lucky to be at Eyrignac on the 1 day a year(always sometime in Sept.) when the owners manor house was open to view and he was there to greet you.

>> 1 day a year(always sometime in Sept.) when the owners manor house was open to view<<

That was probably Patrimonie weekend throughout France. Mid Sept.

Stu Dudley

Stu--you're right.

Patrimonie weekend is the 3rd weekend in Sept. Looks like the 18-20th for 2015.

When we were there in 2012 my birthday was on Sat. 9/15. The streets of Sarlat were lit with 10,000 candles. Quite a stunning sight to see. There were also extra activities all over the region includint the manor at Eyrignac being open.

chutney--you might want to think about moving your dates back a bit if possible. It will be well worth it.

We'll be in Nancy that weekend. Hope they have something good. We were in Dijon one year for Patrimonie (fabulous), and Rennes another year. We were in Paris this year - waiting out the AF strike.

Stu Dudley