Dordogne June trip -feedback
 

Hi,
Thank you all for the wonderful info. My husband and I are having a great time planning the trip with all the suggestions.

We are flying into Bordeaux and will stay in St. Emilion for one night at the Hostellerie de Plaisance. Has anyone had dinner there in their restaurant? We could make a reservation there now if we want.
From there we are going to the Sarlat area. There is availability to stay at Ferme Lamy for three nights giving us time to explore the towns and caves nearby.I heard this was a nice place. We were thinking of going to the Rocamandour area and staying near there for two nights.
Some one mentioned that the Belle Etoile in a town near Domme was a good place to stay. Not sure how close that would be to Rocamandour.
After our visit in the area we are thinking of driving back to Paris. How long of a drive would that be? Would it be best to stop for a night in a town. On one thread someone mentioned a place in Blere?
Any ideas about a place in Paris in the Latin
Quarter? We will be there for two or three nights depending if we stay overnight on the way to Paris.
Any feedback would be most welcome.

I've stayed at the Hotel de Plaisance and had dinner at their restaurant. The food and atmosphere was superb as was the service. I particularly remember the foie gras appetizer and the wonderful St. Emilion wine pairings.

An inexpensive and charming hotel in the Latin Quarter is the Grandes Ecoles.

The Ferme Lamy is a pretty, nicely situated place on a tiny road between the D703 and Meyrals, which has quite a thriving artist community. It's not near any stores/cafés/restaurants/commerce, though, in case that's of concern to you.

The Belle Etoile is in La Roque-Gageac, not all that far from Meyrals. It's definitely not a base for visiting Rocamadour, but I'd recommend you have dinner there.

A great place to stay near Rocamadour is the Domaine de la Rhue (http://www.domainedelarhue.com/).

Since you surely won't want a car in Paris, do you really want to drive? It's about 7 hours and not all that inspiring.

The place you may be thinking about in Bléré is the Cheval Blanc - have never stayed there, but the restaurant is fabulous.

I'm copying my post from another thread.)
Re La Ferme Lamy, see this thread: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34452728 My very negative opinion was based on a stay there in fall of 2000. It's quite possible they have discontinued some of their strange and inhospitable practices, but you might want to elicit more opinions before deciding.

Thanks for all the suggestions and info. I will look into that hotel in Paris. As far as the Ferme Lamy. It seems that the books we have looked at and others on this web have recommended it. Your info, St. Cirq. about it not being in a town, might be something to consider though. Would anyone recommend an alternative that is in a town that is easily accesible? I heard that getting in an out of Domme can be a lot of driving. Not sure about other towns
Also again St. Cirq thanks for your input about driving to Paris. I thought it was about 5 hours not 7! I think we were trying to avoid having to make a train in Perigueux from Rocamadour and leisurely make it to Paris. Any suggestions?

St. Cirq your photos are wonderful. Thanks for sharing them.

Chella, I never saw any recommendations of la Ferme Lamy posted here by anyone who actually stayed there. But now I'm curious. If you can, would you post a link to any Fodors thread with a good review by someone who stayed there? It would be nice if the owners recognized what they were doing wrong and changed their ways. The property itself certainly had a lot of potential.

Getting in and out of Domme is not a problem as long as you are not bothered by narrow streets. It takes 5 minutes at the most, maybe a little longer on market day. Sarlat is a different kettle of fish.

Chella: Domme isn't a problem except in high season when those ancient gates that only accommodate one car at a time get clogged. Stay at the Esplanade there (see Ger's recent trip report about it). It's not "a lot of driving" - it's just "driving straight uphill for a mile."
But there are other options: Le Moulin de la Beune in Les Eyzies, La Table du Terroir in La-Chapelle-Aubareil, La Belle Etoile in La Roque-Gageac, Le Relais des Cinq ChÂteaux in Vitrac..................

We had dinner at the Hostellerie du Plaisance two years ago, and had a wonderful experience; I would definitely recommend it.

We stayed in Domme and made a day trip to Rocamadour, rather than staying in Rocamadour. It was a longish but very pleasant and scenic drive. If we had stayed closer to Rocamadour, however, we would have visited more sites and sights in that area.

About Domme, we stayed at l'Esplanade, which also has a very good restaurant, and the hotel was nice & the staff helpful. The views from the village are great, too. BUT the one-lane road into and out of the village can be a hassle, though it was not problematic, and didn't take terribly long to get in and out of. I think if we had it to do over again (which I hope to, someday soon), we would stay in la Roque-Gageac, merely because it was more accessible (and also a very cute village). La Belle Etoile looked nice from the outside, but we didn't stay or eat there.

We also ate at Table du Terroir in La-Chapelle-Aubareil and le Relais des Cinq Chateaux in Vitrac (based on suggestions from StCirq and info found elsewhere). La Table du Terroir seems to me to be a little off the beaten track to stay at. Almost all the food was made from products from their farm; the waitress was very kind and helpful. Le Relais des Cinq Chateaux has marvelous views up and down the valley. I would say that, as lodging, both of those are a step below l'Esplanade, if that matters.

An alternative to driving to Perigeaux to take the train back to Paris is to drive back to Bordeaux, as we did. I would say that Perigeaux is probably a better choice. We spent the night before our return to Paris at le Vieux Logis (VERY nice), in Tremolat, a bit west of Sarlat. We visited a village or two the next morning, then had a LONG drive back to Bordeaux, during most of which the traffic was very slow and I was very worried (needlessly, as it turned out) that we'd miss our train to Paris.

Have a wonderful trip; the Dordogne area is magical, and StCirq is a wonderful resource for the area.

Hello Chella:

I am just back from the Dordogne and have posted a partial trip report.

I stayed at L'Esplanade in Domme and would recommend it highly for both the lodging and food. The village and views are wonderful.

I drove back to Paris (about 4.5 hours driving) and stopped in Bourges for lunch and some sightseeing. it can easily be done in one day.

Good luck with your planning.

regards ...Ger

Hi all,
Thanks for all your recommendations and suggestions. We have booked three hotels so far for our stay in St. Emilion and the Dordogne region. We will stay at the Hostellerie de Plaisance for one night exploring the town before we head off to the Sarlat area. We did decide to stay at Ferme Lamy for three nights. I know that cmt did not have a good experience there in 2000. Yet, I did see one post after that date who did and Michelin and other books that are up to date do recommend it hghly. So we shall see. We thought it would be nice to stay out of town. Yet,to have another experience we did book for two nights at L'Esplanade with a room overlooking the river!
SO thank you all SO much for your info, travel logs, photos and love of this area. We can't wait to go.
I might have more questions later on about trains etc. but will write later.
Chella