My husband and I will be staying near Sarlat for 4 nights this July; I'd like to visit Font de Gaume and the Lascaux 2 caves. What is the best way of managing this? Should we do them both in the same day or is it better to do them on 2 separate days? The latter seems preferable. Is it possible to reserve either by the internet? I've sent an email to the place we are staying, asking if they could make reservations, but I haven't heard back from the B&B yet. I know that these places can get busy in the summer, and I'd really like to see them, particularly Font de Gaume, so I want to make sure I take care of this before our trip.
Suggestions or ideas, anyone?

I have been to both, and there is really no reason to do both on the same day but it is possible. You should call to make reservations-they do speak english.
Grotte de Font du Gaume-Tél.: (+33) (0)5 53 06 86 00 request english tours

Lascaux-Tel : +33 5 53 35 50 10

useful websites:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/fr/

http://www.arachnis.asso.fr/DORDOGNE/guide0.htm

Thanks for the info.
I don't want to do both on one day, I just wondered if it made sense for any reason. But I would rather do them on separate days.

I wouldn't do them on the same day - and since you really should reserve in advance (especially if you want an English guide, of which there aren't that many), in all likelihood in July it might be impossible to book them both on the same day.

I wouldn't wait very long for the B&B to make reservations for you, either. At Font-de-Gaume the number of people let in each day is being decreased yearly. There are rumors it will soon close to the public forever. I'd fax directly to the caves. You can get all the numbers at: http://www.perigord.tm.fr/~cdt24/sit...bris_ornes.htm


Between Font-de-Gaume and Montignac is La Roque St-Christophe, one of the best prehistoric sites in the region, IMO. There is also Le Village Troglodytique de la Madeleine. If you wanted to do more than one preshistoric site in a day, those would be good additions to your day in Lascaux.

An update on making reservations...I successfully called Font de Gaume today, though the number as provided on the website doesn't quite work. From the US and using the international code for calling directly, the number is:
011-33-5-53-06-86-00.

With my mediocre French and the reservationist's English, I was able to make a reservation for July. She didn't need my credit card, either, just asked for my name.
I tried to call Lascaux, but for some reason, I couldn't connect. I then sent an email and got a response with general reservation informaion (all in French) . I did send a request for an English tour on a specific date, so now I'm waiting to hear back.

Only 5 1/2 weeks to go!
Paule

Good for you, Paule! You're going to have a wonderful visit. I just bought tickets yesterday for arrival in the Dordogne on July 27 and my heart is already a-flutterin'.

If you had to choose between the two, which one would you choose? We are leaning toward the Font de Gaume. I am glad you posted this, because I need to make reservations as well!! Very beginning of July.

Between which two, Wren? You really do need to reserve tours in English, if that is what you want, for any cave in the Dordogne, these days.

I'm an archivist and like authenticity. But Lascaux II is great, and I'm glad that they're preserving the original. L II is worthwhile.

St Cirq... I was wondering which prehistoric site to visit between Lascaux and Font de Gaume. We will probably only have time for one. It sounds like Joe above leans toward Lascaux.

I would pick Font-de-Gaume because it is authentic and it's likely to be closed forever in the near future. That's not to say Lascaux II isn't fabulous, but if you have only one chance, I'd go for the "real" cave. Also, Combarelles is right down the road from Font-de-Gaume (within walking distance), so that's another possibility.

Reservation successes! I have now reserved tours in English at both Font de Gaume and Lascaux! The first was done by phone, and the second, by email. For some reason that I couldn't figure out, I was successful in calling Font de Gaume but not Lascaux. The latter would not go through, and I couldn't see any obvious mistake in the phone number as given. Anyway, go figure! At least, I had no problem with receiving emails; my only challenge was in making enough sense of the information given to me in French. With just enough long-ago high school French to get by, I succeeded.

Everything is reserved and confirmed! Just over a month now!
Paule

Hi Progol,
What e-mail address did you use to reserve English tours? Also, we will be in the Dordogne August 28 through Sept.4, at the end of the tourist season. Do you think it is still necessary to make reservations? Do the caves close at any particular time of year? Thanks.

Richard:

Yes, you'll need to make reservations that time of year unless you get very lucky. The tourist traffic really doesn't subside until mid- to end of September.

I've just been corresponding with Lascaux about some tickets for friends of mine this past week, and the following e-mail address will get you directly connected to one of the Lascaux schedulers I assumehe/she can read English, though I've done all correspondence in French):

[email protected]

just a note of the Font de Gaume tour--I called the other day to make resos for us--the English tours end on the 15th September this year--I was going to do one as my husband's French is not quite up to a tour level.

Does anyone know how long it might take to drive to Font-de-Gaume from central Bordeaux?

ttt

Hi Kavey,

Go to www.viamichelin.com and www.mappy.com.

Choose which route you prefer.

Kavey, when I was planning my trip to the Dordogne (which is not taking place) and trying to decide whethe to pick up a care in Bordeaux or elsewhere, I think I was told that the drive would be about 3 hours or more from Bordeaux to a point very near Les Eyzies (where the Font de Gaume cave is). I also heard that it is a particulary dangerous stretch of road. I think some of the info I was getting about this drive is on the Slowtrav forum.

Thanks both!