My husband and I are planning a trip to Bordeaux and the Dordogne area for late June. We will spend the first few nights in Bordeaux and then planned to rent a small house outside of Sarlat. We thought this would afford us both a lovely home base as well as a good location for seeing the area. Then, someone suggested that we also go to Lot and stay at the R&C Chateau de Mercues. We have a limited amount of time, so my question is: should we change our itinerary from 3 nights in Bordeaux and 7 outside of Sarlat to 3 nights in Bordeaux, 3 nights near Sarlat (or Brantome or where?) and 3 nights in Lot. I am leaning toward the house/cottage over the hotels, but would love to hear thoughts pro and con. Thanks,
Catherine

Well, a nice little house in the Périgord outside Sarlat could not be more different from the Château de Mercuès, and the countryside of the Périgord Noir is very different from that of the Lot, so it's really down to what kind of vacation you want to have.

One thing to keep in mind is that it's going to be very difficult to rent a house/cottage for 3 nights anywhere around here. It's almost always 7 days, usually Saturday to Saturday. And you'd best get a move on with that rental, if that's what you decide. Places here are often pretty booked up already.

You may wish to visit Brantôme (and Bourdeilles and Hautefort and other things "up north"), but that area just isn't as pretty or interesting as the Périgord Noir.

Thank you, StCirq. I was expecting a response along these lines. I understand how these two vacations/experiences would be very different. I would also imagine both could be pretty fun. I tend to like both ends of the spectrum. But with that being said and with what you and others have said here and in other threads, I think the cottage in the Perigord is the vacation I am imagining. (Hopefully, my husband is too.)
Thank you for your advice about rentals. I think I have identified a couple of good options and will move forward with booking one of them.
Finally, do you have any favorite experiences you'd like to share?
Thank you.

<<Finally, do you have any favorite experiences you'd like to share?>>

LOL. I live here and have had a house here for 24 years, so yes, I've got hundreds and hundreds of favorite experiences. Anything in particular you're interested in? The Fête de la Truffe in Sarlat last weekend was certainly special!

We've vacationed in Gites/houses for 10 weeks in the Dordogne near Cenac, and 2 weeks on the Lot near Mercues (Puy l'Eveque). We dined at the Mercues one night - fabulous.

I agree with St Cirq - stay in the Dordogne. You won't even scratch the surface in 1 week there. We've taken many day-trips from our Gite near Cenac to the Lot & Quercy Blanc - so breaking up your "stays" really doesn't accomplish much. You can drive to Mercues easily from the Sarlat area. Also, I expect you would pay the same for 1 night at Ch Mercues as you would pay for an entire week in a gite in the Dordogne (we're paying 490E/week for our 2 bedroom Gite near Cenac this coming Sept - it's "fully booked" for 2016).

Do you have my 20+ page Dordogne itinerary?? I see that you are a newcomer to Fodors. I've sent my various itineraries to over 5,000 people on Fodors. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail. Specify that you want the Dordogne itinerary - I have others too.

Stu Dudley

As I like sweet wine, I was very much impressed by the Sauternes region. I strongly recommend to visit it and to taste local wines. They are sweet, expensive and smell with honey.

I like the second itinerary better than the first. A nice place to stay near in the vicinity of Sarlat is La Villa Romaine, Saint-Rome, 24200 Carsac-Aillac. It provides good access to Sarlat as well as the lovely villages along the Dordogne. You should also be able to fly into Bordeaux and out of Toulouse to avoid backtracking.

In the Lot, consider Cahors as a good base from which to see the area.