My husband and I are looking to visit Dordogne from the US in September for a 10 day vacation. We would fly into London first and maybe visit that city for a night. Wondering if we should then:

1. Fly to Toulouse for a night, then rent a car there and explore Racamadour area and stay for a night there, then continue onto Beynac or Sarlat area for 4-5 nights. Then should we backtrack back to Toulouse OR head to Brive and fly out of Brive?
OR...
2. Fly to Brive from London and then rent a car there and go straight to Dordogne. Then back to Brive or go south to Toulouse for departure?

Is it best to fly in and out of two airports like Brive and Toulouse so there isn't a lot of backtracking? Can you drop off rental car in a different city? Looking for most efficient use of our limited time to fully explore this amazing area.
THANK YOU!

Brive is closer to the Dordogne. Consider it a regional airport and as such, using it in and out does not represent backtracking. It's as if you consider flying in and out of Laguardia backtracking when visiting NYC.

But if you want to visit Rocamadour on the way to the Dordogne, there is no need to stay overnight in Toulouse which is only a couple of hours from London in flight time. My preference would be to go directly to a base in the Périgotd noir and do a day trip to Rocamadour and environs.


Maybe include Collonges-la-Rouge on that outing:

You couldn’t pay me to revisit the tourist trap that is Rocamadour, let alone stay there. But different strokes….and we certainly found lots to love in the eastern part of the Dordogne.

By all means, request Stu Dudley’s Dordogne itinerary by emailing him (do a search and his name will come up, possibly even an old post with a link to the itinerary). It was an invaluable planning tool.

Agreeing with Michael that you can pick either Brive or Toulouse depending on convenience of flight timing, I’d advise returning to the same airport to save a one-way car rental fee. And definitely do dummy bookings to compare car rental prices from each airport.

Europcar as opposed to Hertz did not impose one way fees in France when renting with Autoeurope as the broker. But that was pre pandemic and this may have changed.

The only time I have encountered a one-way rental car fee in France was with Hertz via AutoEurope or Kemwel. No other rentals charged this fee.

I would choose to fly into and out of Brive. It is so close to where you want to be and so easy to navigate. The traffic around Toulouse can be heavy and stressful for the driver (IMO).

I would not stay in Rocamadour either.

If you stay in Sarlat, I would recommend looking for a place that has a dedicated parking space for your car. You might consider this place in Sarlat: https://www.le-porche-de-sarlat.fr/

Les Jardins du Porche has a private parking lot just across from the rentals. It is around a 15 minute walk into the old town of Sarlat. It isn't the cheapest option, but we enjoyed it.

Just bear in mind the choice of cars is limited in Brive vs Toulouse e.g. availability of automatics, if thats a consideration. So check that upfront. Brive is a wonderful little town (we finished our Dordogne trip here, spent a night and took the train to Paris after). Enjoy your trip.

And Stu's itinerary was incredibly helpful for our planning too.

I too would just stay in Sarlat and do day trips. We stayed at the Porche a few years ago for 10 days. It’s not luxurious by any means but clean. IKEA quality furnishings. If you don’t want to walk 15-20 minutes downtown you can drive down the hill and there is easy parking. Also nicely situated as you can leave Sarlat without getting tangled up in the downtown traffic. There are several megastores to buy groceries an easy drive away. We were going to spend half of our Dordogne time in the East but in the end found it easier just to stay in one central spot.

Thank you eveyone for your replies! I requested Stu's itinerary and have been enjoying reading all his great tips. I think I will just fly in to Brive and stay in the Beynac or Sarlat area for the bulk of the trip. I had thought that flying into Toulouse would allow us to see Carcasonne and some of the east side of A20, but now it seems like there is so much to keep us busy in central Dordogne. Plus less driving by flying in to Brive. Thank you for all the ideas.
I have a feeling we will return to this area after this trip, then we can see perhaps the east side and further south. But for now, I'll fill the itinerary with central Dordogne activities! I will look into your lodging suggestions as well. Hopefully early September will have fewer crowds as well!

WOW! Your photos are amazing. Collonges-la-Rouge is going on my itinerary. Thanks for the suggestion!

Good to know that Rocamadour can be done as a day trip if we feel the need to go there. Thanks.

You will love the Dordogne! I would choose Sarlat as your base. I stayed in a wonderful B&B in Sarlat and hired a guide for five days of touring. I wish I could have stayed longer. Have you considered flying into Bordeaux? It’s a 2 1/2 hour drive but a city worth visiting with a much larger airport.

See attached Dordogne itinerary

Stu Dudley