We will be staying in the Dordogne area next May for 2 weeks. We have a country house in Le Buisson de Cadouin, about 30 min west of Sarlat, for 1 week. We want to be near Lascaux, Sarlat, Domme etc. The other week we plan to stay in a country home about 30 min north of St Cirq. Goal is to be near the sites in the eastern and southern area of the Dordogne (Roacamodour, Pecch Merle, Cahors, Figeac, St Cirq.) Do you feel this is a good plan? I am a little worried that our St Cirq location may be a bit out of the way. Is there a better location in the Eastern part of the region?

Thank you!

I think both your spots are about 15-20 mins "too far away". All your drives to see the stuff most people want to visit around Sarlat, will be to the east. For example, 50 mins to Montignac/Lascaux vs. 27 mins if you stayed in Sarlat. And 55 mins to Jardins d'Eyrignac vs 18 mins from Sarlat, 53 mins to St Armad Coly vs 23 from Sarlat. It is a 40 min drive to Sarlat. The southern sites along the Vezere are close to Buisson, & the northern sites along the Vezere between Les Eyzies to La Roque St Christophe are about the same mins from both Buisson & Sarlat. We base near Cenac. If you stayed in/close to Sarlat you would probably save 1-1 1/2 hrs of driving each day. And you could have dinner in Sarlat - which is breathtaking at night.

What town/village north of St Cirq Lapopie will you be in? There are a group of sites around St Cirq - you have mentioned them. And then another group farther to the north - Carennac (where we've stayed for 2 weeks), Rocamadour, Gouffre de Padirac, Lacave, Castelnau Bretenoux, Martel, Collonges la Rouge, Turenne, & Brive. Rocamadour & the Gouffre might be equal distance from your gite/house vs staying in Carennac. But Collonges/Turenne is too far away. Actually, Pech Merel & Figeac are two of our favorite sites near the Dordogne region. So is the drive along the Cele River. I would just stick with the place 30 mins north of St Cirq - but realize that a drive of at least 30 mins awaits you at the start & end of each day.

Attached is my Dordogne itinerary

Stu Dudley

Thank you for your advice. The town north of St Cirq is Lentillac-du-Causse. Sounds like we should stay with that one.

Sounds llike we should consider moving a bit northeast for the other week though. We were worried about staying in Sarlat area - thought there would be too much tourist pressure. And we are looking for a country house, not one in a town. But I will check our homes closer to Sarlat, but not in the town.

Thank you again for your help.

From your Lentillac-du-Causse site, you could:

- Spend a day with a visit to Pech Merle & St Cirq Lapopie. Plus explore a bit of the Cele River along the D41. This is very close to your gite.

- Head out early in the morning (to beat the crowds) & visit Rocamadour. It is 50 mins away. Don't forget the scenic photoshot from Hospitalet & from the southeast of Rocamadour that I describe in my itinerary. Depart Rocamadour about noon and drive the short distance to the Gouffre de Padirac. It may be closed for lunch - so plan accordingly. Then drive to Carennac & explore. If there is time to spare, drive (take the D43 west, cross the river) to Martel & explore. Then it is about one hour back to the gite from either Martel or Carennac. Read my itinerary for more info.

- Drive along the Cele river to Figeac & spend several hours there. Follow the walking itinerary from the tourist office. Then drive 55 mins to Conques - one of my favorite small villages in France. It is rated 3 stars by Michelin. Then 1 1/2 hrs back to the gite.

- On Wednesday visit Cahors. I'm not a big fan of Cahors. There is "too little" of the old medieval section remaining. But the view from the approach (see my itinerary), and the market are both fabulous (Wed market).

- Now some Autoroute time. Get an early start & take the A20 north to exit 52, then southeast to Collonges la Rouge. This should take 1 hr 10 mins. Like Rocamadour, Collonges gets crowded (and parking difficult) as the day goes on. Then take the short drive west to Turenne & explore. Then get on the A20 at exit 53 & back to the gite. I should take an hour to get back. See my itinerary for more details.

Happy Trails

Stu Dudley

-

I’ll toss this rental into the hopper because I felt like quite the country squiress there during our week in the Dordogne,
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1820290...etvpbX0TKVMlcv. Chantepierre has new owners since we were there in 2006; the current reviews still look good.
These were the nextdoor neighbors, https://www.guide-du-perigord.com/en...erre-7029.html.
And some additional information from my trip report: https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...hlights-647935.

Funny, that first villa is the one I am looking at based on Stu's comments. I will read your trip report shortly

Thank you so much! Most of those places are already on our list, but the inside tips are great. I also read that Conques was great, maybe better than Rocamadour due to crowds? We are also thinking of going to Bouzies and doing a boat / kayak ride one day. Maybe we will skip Cahors....Where do I access your itinerary? I am sure I will have more questions as we continue to plan

This would be an excellent location. We visited their "nextdoor neighbor" during Patrimoine weekend - it is fabulous!!

My Wife's Shutterfly book from that trip.
https://stududley.shutterfly.com/54

Click "full screen"
Cover picture was taken from our gite in Carennac. The Carennac area & Sarlat area starts on page 30. Sarlat is abbreviated because we had visited it for 10 weeks on prior trips, and already took photos of most of the stuff in the region.

Stu Dudley

Hello helpful Fodorites,

Just want to let you know that we changed the location of our stay from Le Buisson to 15 min outside of Sarlat.

Thank you for your help!

I think what you did was fine. We spent 10 days in the Dordogne a few years ago and originally booked two places to stay including the first one on the out skirts of Sarlat. We subsequently extended our stay in our Sarlat Condo for the entire visit and we were just fine driving everywhere we wanted to go to from that one central spot

If you are driving, there is no "right town." Visiting a friend in the Lot once, we went to one of his favorite restaurants. That particular night, it was absolutely invaded by flies. No matter what the owners did, there was no way to get rid of them. Unexpected things can happen anywhere.

Were they Horse Flies like you had in Mississippi? Our close friends from Gulfport called them the "State Bird".

Stu Dudley

They were the delightful flies of my childhood who liked to stick themselves to the tape hanging from the kitchen light bulb in the home of Mme & Mr Hanen.at the end of my grandparents street. My stepfather (from North Carolina) called Mme Hanen "old lady one tooth." Little did he know that many years later, after his death, his beloved wife (my mother) would fit that description.