Dordogne: Getting to it
 

I hope some of the posters in ths forum can offer advice...I will be on honeymoon in Europe in May. We land at Orly at 14:35 on 2 May and must be on a 12:00 flight at CDG on 9 May. We want to visit the Dordogne in between, but I'm starting to question my original plan to rent a car at Orly and drive down, as I want to maximize the time we can spend touring leisurely and minimize the time racing around France getting to and from the area.

I'm wondering if there's a better way to get to the area--eg fast-ish train to big-ish local town (Sarlat? Cahors? Brive?) Is flying from Orly to any regional airport an option? If there are trains, will it entail getting into Paris from Orly first?

We plan to base in Domme or Sarlat, and of course we will need to rent a car to get around. But I'm staring at that massive drive back to Paris on the 8th and wondering if there's another way...

Thank you for your help!

PS For the curious--we have 20 days to spend, and were going to split our time between Paris and the countryside. Then I thought, what the heck, let's throw in a side trip to Barcelona...so here we are.

I was similarly somewhat skeptical of the time to get to the Dordogne last year. We departed from near Angers. I was pleasantly surprised how short a time it took to drive down. I would guess it was only about 3 hours. We stayed at a pension on a goose farm in Carlux, outside of Sarlat. Nice place, good location, but alas, no free foie gras

We took a fast train from Paris to Brive and picked up a rental car at the train station. Quick and easy.

You can go directly from the Gare Montparnasse to Bordeaux in 3 hours, then take a 45-minute ride on the local train to Périgueux and pick up a car there.

You could also take a shuttle over to CDG airport and go directly to Bordeaux from there.

You can also take a TGV to Brive and do the same (with a bit longr ride once you're off the train).

Or you can take a regular train from the Gare d'Austerlitz to Périgueux.

Check out www.whichbudget for cheap flights, too. There are airports in Périgueux and Bergerac.

topping

Last year we flew into CDG then on to Bordeaux where we picked up a car. We spent a week in La Bugue, a few days in St. Emilion before flying back to Paris (Orly) from Bordeaux. I see no reason why it wouldn't work out of Orly and into CDG.

Thank you all for your advice--I appreciate it! I have decided to take a train to Brive, stay overnight there, and pick up a car in the morning.

tomboy, I love staying on farms. We have at several throughout France. Is there a web site for yours?

Not that I'm aware of. We found it by stopping into the tourist info office in Sarlat. The fact they raised geese for foie gras intrigued me (guess I thought I'd get some free). They let one watch the goose feeding (cramming). I'd suggest you put Carlux & geese or goose & Sarlat in a search engine, and see if it comes up (Carlux has one store, and I saw no other goose farms).

The tourist info office also offered another chambre d'hote which was on a walnut oil farm, or whatever one calls that. It sounded equally interesting.

Thanks for responding.I'll be staying at one in the Loire this year. One year we were at a wonderful goat farm in Provence, another year in the book village of Montolieu.

Cigalechanta, I always enjoy your posts. Will be looking forward to what you say about the Loire.