liz10

We're planning to spend 5-6 days in the Dordogne the 2nd week of June (after a week in Paris). We're thinking of spending two nights in Beynac -either at the Hotel Bonnet or Hotel du Chateau. Any advice? Hotel Bonnet has rooms facing the river and garden available. (we're 2 adults and a child). I've been looking at the Les Granges Haut (northeast of Sarlat) for the first two nights . We'd like to stay in two different places tho I realize these are fairly close.
Also, any advice on flying to London from this area? Bergerac seems a good choice on RyanAir but am concerned about weight limits. The larger airlines out of Bordeaux are much more expensive. We're thinking of taking the train to Brive from Paris and renting a car there.
I've gotten so much valuable information from this board recently. Thank you all very much for sharing your experiences and insights.

StCirq

It's really unnecessary to split your hotel stay up into two places unless you just want to experience two hotels.
The Hôtel Bonnet is an OK choice. It's got a nice restaurant, and a garden as you say (but I don't think I've ever seen a hotel in the Périgord that didn't have a garden, so that's not particularly special).

I don't know much about the Hôtel du Château except that it's a 2-star and I've walked past it many times. It looks cute enough.

Beynac would not be my first choice of location for a June stay with a child. Except for the one narrow strip of cafés, Post Office, snack bar, etc., along the river, there's not much commerce nor any room to "spread out." The sidewalks are barely wide enough for two people to pass, and in June there will be a fair amount of traffic, though nothing like later in the summer.

Personally, with a child, I'd want a town with a more open feel, with more commerce, and more park area. There are plenty of those in the area - even Domme has lots more room to "spread out." Others include St-Cyprien, Le Bugue, and some farther afield like Belvès, Le Buisson, and Limeuil.

I think for inexpensive flights your best bet is RyanAir to Bergerac. For trains you can go from Paris to Brive, as you suggested, or Paris to Bordeaux and then on to Périgueux, or Paris straight to Périgueux.

ira

Hi liz,

>We're thinking of taking the train to Brive from Paris and renting a car there.<

Just when I thought I had my trip all put together....

I did some research on the trains and car routes.

You can take the TGV (PREMS fare 25E) from Gare Montparnasse to Libourne and drive from there to Beynac. This will be 3:15 hr on the train and 2:15 hr in the car.

Total 5:30 hr.

The train from Paris Austerlitz to Brive la Gaillard is 4hr (PREMS fare 20E). The drive to Beynac is 1:15 hr.

Total 5:15 hr.

You might find Montparnasse more convenient than Austerlitz and the TGV more pleasant.


Still thinking about where to drop off the car.

StCirq

You can often also find PREM fares on the Gare Montparnasse-Bordeaux route for 20-25€. It's a 3-hour drive from Bordeaux. Or you can keep going on the pokey local train from Bordeaux to Périgueux (under an hour) and then drive from there (45 minutes).

FrequentFlyer

One-Way Car Rental? I have a similar logistics question. We will fly into Bordeaux and want to pickup a car at the airport. We then will spend abut ten days in Bordeaux/Dordogne/Lot regions and plan on ending up in Figeac. Rather than driving all the way back to Bordeaux to drop the car and get on a train to Paris I would like to drop the car someplace closer (like Brive). Can anyone recommend a car rental company that will let you drop a car at a different location? What location would be best from Figeac? Thanks

StCirq

AutoEurope will let you drop it off anywhere in France. You could drop it off right in Figeac, or Cahors, or Brive - wherever you can get the best train schedules for your purposes.

progol

I highly recommend Les Granges Hautes. We stayed there last summer, and loved it. The host and hostess are warm and gracious, and the place is beautiful. There were families with kids there, and it was a great place for them to hang out. There's a swiming pool, though I don't know what the 2nd week of June would be like. The owners have 2 boys ( they were going to visit their grandparents the day we arrived in July), so it's definitely child-friendly. If you choose to go to a non "urban" place, you can't go wrong here.

Sue4

For the car rental question, Avis also will let you drop off in a different place for no additional charge. For my upcoming May trip to Dordogne, I'm picking up my car in either Perigueux or Angouleme, and dropping off in Figeac(or possibly Cahors). I'm staying in the area for 2 weeks, so will work my way down from the northern Perigord. I'm staying in Bourdeilles (near Brantome), Sarlat, a place near Rocamadour, and Figeac. I've also considered 2 nights at the Manoir d'Hautegente (near Lascaux II) because it looks like such a lovely place.

I also considered Les Granges Haute, which also looks great. I'll be solo, so decided against that, since there's no restaurant, and no place to walk to dinner. But that looks like it would be a great place with a child, and there are places to drive for dinner.