Has anyone driven from Normandy to Dordogne in one day? I know is quite a hike but necessary. Taking trains doesn't seem to be much of a benefit and we want to have a car in Dordogne. If you have made this trip, what route do you recommend and how long did it take you? From Google maps, it says 7 hrs and 20 min.

I've done it several times. Boooooorrrrriiiiinnngggg...

It has taken about 9-10 hours, with stops for lunch and a bit of sightseeing along the way. We've gone up the coast and straight up the middle and then west.

Why wouldn't taking the train be a benefit?

I suggest you take a train to Bordeaux and rent a car in Bordeaux.

Ooops, I just realized my general directions were based on traveling from the Dordogne to Normandy, not the reverse....but you get the idea.

From Normandy I would go in the direction of Angers, Poitiers, Limoges, and then either toward Périgueux or take the autoroute toward Brive, depending on where you are going in the Dordogne.

But I do not see the point of doing it in one day. There are things to see along the way: Angers castle with its tapestries of the Apocalypse, Poitiers' Romanesque cathedral (or St. Savin priory to avoid Poitiers' traffic), Oradour-sur-Glane. Any of those stops will use up enough time to add up to a very long day's drive.

Thanks for the input. We are doing the trip in one day because our time is short and I want to maximize our time in the Dordogne area. RailEurope gives a price of $1064 for 4 people which is substantially more than a car. Also, the time is about the same... the train is about 6 hours incl. an hour layover in Paris. Then we still have the drive from Bordeaux to Dordogne so both seem to be around 8 hrs.

if you are driving south from nantes its not too far to pop into cognac for a quick drink to take the edge off a very long drive...

Checking http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
I notice that there are several reasonable train schedules (only 1 train change - in Nantes) from Le Mans to Bordeaux. Raileurope is expensive - check the rates for exactly 3 months from today on the SNCF site

Stu Dudley