Day Trips from Sarlat
 

You've all been such a huge help, and I can't believe our trip is in 2 weeks! I've gathered lots of information on surrounding towns, and markets and gardens and caves etc. But I'm having a little trouble putting together our 'days'. I assume we'll stay in Sarlat Saturday morning because of the market. We'll arrive there on a Thursday afternoon, and depart for Figeac the following Tuesday - so maybe we should visit Rocamadour the morning we leave Sarlat (depending on the weather).

What are other good things to put together into a day trip from Sarlat? I think we'll likely come back to Sarlat very late afternoon, and have dinner there in the evening. I don't think we need to go to lots of markets, we do like walking/hiking, particularly like walking tours (guided or not), EATING etc. I don't want a rushed pace. What are some suggestions for a perfect day trip when you're based in Sarlat? Also, what about Sunday/Monday? Are many things closed?

Thanks as always,
Alice

Well, the big attractions are the caves and the fortified villages, certainly, and you can always take a canoe down the Dordogne. There are castles, gardens and great houses to view from within and without. There is a pleasant public garden in Sarlat.

You may want to think about eating your big meal when you are out during the day.

I happen to like the cuisine of Perigord but some find it heavy, and Sarlat has lots of tourists who expect to eat duck, potatoes fried in duck fat, foie gras, and salade des gibiers (duck gizzards) while they are there, so you may not find a lot of variety even though there are quite a few places to eat. Excuse me, I am making myself hungry. We went to lots of markets to buy fresh foods and cooked in about 2/3rds of the evenings.

Yes, I've read about the heavy food, but also read that there's a lot of fish on menus as well. We're in a B&B, won't have a kitchen, so won't be able to cook dinners.

There's only so much foie gras and duck fat a person can eat! I do like the suggestion of eating our large meal at lunch, cheaper and you don't go to bed with a belly full of heavy food.

I'm planning on relying on our B&B hosts to help with steering us to the right daytime itineraries, this has always worked well for us in the past.

Alice

We've spent 10 weeks vacationing in the Dordogne. My wife only eats fish at restaurants in France. So that's approximately 40 fish dinners for her there. I've never eaten duck fat - never seen it on a menu. I suspect fries could be cooked in duck fat, however.

Do you have my itinerary for the Dordogne, I've sent it to about 1,000 people on Fodors & aol. It describes our favorite "day trips", markets, villages, castles, caves, and also has a restaurant section describing some of our meals. E-mail me at [email protected] if you want one & I'll attach it to the reply e-mail. So so soon - we leave for 6 weeks in France in a couple of weeks from today.

Stu Dudley

Stu, I do have your wonderful itinerary, it's been very helpful. We haven't got that many 'days', I want to organize them right. I do want to see some of the caves, and chateaux, and gardens and pretty villages. I want to canoe and hike. Of course I want to EAT. And after Sarlat we'll be in Figeac for a few days, so we can see things in that direction when we're there.

Alice

Arrival Day
Walk Sarlat

Itinerary #1
Lascaux ll- call day before to reserve 1st English tour
St-Leon-sur-Vezere (good lunch spot)
La Roque St Christophe
Chateau de Commargue-walk in the woods(optional extended day)

Itinerary #2
Sarlat market-early morning
Dordogne Canoeing (Cenac) or gabarres tour boat (La Roque)
Les Milandes (good lunch spot) see bird show

Itinerary #3
Font-de-Gaume (reserve English tour from USA)
Les Eyzies-de-Tayac (good lunch spot)
Chateau de Castelnaud
Dinner in Domme at Esplanade or outdoor cafe next door
(to me Domme is a must see in the evening-the light is right for fantastic views). Domme short drive from Sarlat.

Itinerary #4
Marqueyssac gardens (good lunch spot)
La Roque-Gageac (short stop if not #2)
Chateau Beynac (park at the top of the village)
Have dinner in Beynac (Cafe des Remparts or Le Petite Tonnelle).

The following could be done:
A. When driving Sarlat to Figeac
B. When driving Figeac to Paris
C. As a day trip from Figeac

Itinerary #5
Padirac
Carennac (good lunch stop)
Rocamadour

Itinerary #6
Pech-Merle
St-Cirq Lapopie
Cele and/or Lot valleys

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Absolutely wonderful itineraries, dugi_otok!

Yes, Stu, the potatoes are generally fried in duck fat, which of course makes them delicious.

OT, Portland, Maine, has a restaurant called "Duck Fat" where even my most healthy-diet friend drops observance in order to eat their fries.

Too early in the morning. In addition to pommes frites cooked in duck fat, pommes sarladaise are cooked in duck fat, which I believe may be in most dishes with "sarladaise" in their names.

Alice9----we'll be going to Sarlat in Sept. so I am enjoying this post. Have a fun trip. I'll be watching for your TR.

I've devoured Stu's very helpful itinerary of the Dordogne--thank you Stu.

Dugi_otok---fabulous photos. I've made note of all of your site combinations. Very helpful in our planning.

As to Alice's question about Sun. & Mon.---are there places that are better to see because some things are closed on Sun. & Mon. morning?

Wow... I had a bunch of good suggestions in mind. But dugi's post already covered every single one of them. Without exception. So here's a bunch of photos, instead:

http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p157404402

mr_go----outstanding photos and what a great format.

We've looked at so many beautiful photos from the region. I hope ours can come up to the quality we've seen so far.

Thanks, TPAYT. Having plenty of sunshine certainly helped our efforts!

Alice, I just recommended this to someone on another thread, but it seems apt for you too. Get a copy of the Cadogan Guide called Lazy Days Out in the Dordogne and Lot. It has itineraries PLUS recommendations for places to eat along the way. A useful supplement to whatever other guides you're using.

mr go, have you been back to theDordogne since 2006? We're finally returning this June, exchanging homes this time. We'll have a view of Les Milandes from our terrace. I noticed from your photos that you went there. I loved your photos and the zen folio display!

Alice, we'll be in the Dordogne when you are; perhaps we'll cross paths. On our last trip we rented a house in Sarlat for two weeks. Not only is Sarlat very centrally located for day trips but it's lovely to wander around town at night when few people are left. You'll have a wonderful time!

dugi, you are a JEWEL, thank you so much! Your photos are gorgeous too. mr_go, NICE pictures, You guys are really whetting my appetite for this trip. StCirq, I'll see about that Cadogan Guide. I'm actually trying to find online resources I can put on my iPad or my phone, so any ideas would be great.

moolyn, maybe we WILL cross paths!

No ideas about Sun/Mon? We're staying at Les Cordeliers in Sarlat, reviews have noted how helpful the hosts are in helping you plan your days.

I will absolutely do a trip report, I always do - I get such great information from these boards it's the least I can do!

Alice

Alice, here's the report from my previous trip to the Dordogne for some ideas:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-june-2006.cfm

Sadly the photos are gone so it will be my mission to replace many of them this trip.

I'm traveling with an iPad too! You can contact me at [email protected]

Alice, have a great trip! We stayed at Les Cordeliers last September. It is a wonderful place. One piece of advice from my TR....you can never have too many euro coins to feed the parking machines (les horadateurs)!

I actually wondered if the Dordogne would live up to my expectations after viewing photos like dugi's and mr. go's and all the other fabulous photos that Fodorites like Michael and Tedgale have posted. It truly is gorgeous. I am in the process of planning a repeat trip that will include the Dordogne again.

moolyn: <i>mr go, have you been back to theDordogne since 2006?</i>

I'm afraid not... although it is on our very-short list of places we'd love to return to. But a wide world beckons, and we have only so many vacation days (alas). Someday, someday...

moolyn, I will check out your report shortly, and you just might hear from me! kansas, thanks for the tip on the parking meters. It's like home, we keep a bag of quarters in the glove compartment to feed meters. And I'm glad to hear you liked Les Cordeliers.

Alice

Alice9, you've gotten a lot of good replies so far. You might scan our last trip report from September, 2011, when we stayed in Sarlat for two weeks (and met Kansas). That will give you an idea of what <i>we</i> did.

It's at http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-in-sarlat.cfm

- Larry