We will be spending a week in the Dordogne next May, and will eventually be flying from CDG. Rather than taking the train to Paris and spending a few days (or more) there, we are considering driving to Paris over the course of perhaps six or seven days. We could drive through the Loire Valley or perhaps any other reasonable route.

Recognizing that there is never "enough" time to do any trip justice, is this a good use of a week, and if so, what route (with which stops) would you take? Thanks.

Hi ded,

What's the rest of your itinerary?

We will be doing the same thing in June.

We spend 2 months in France almost every year. We've spent 8 weeks in the Dordogne (2 more in June), 2 in the Loire (1 more in June), & 2 in the Puy du Dome, which is somewhat between the Dordogne & the Loire.

You say 6 or 7 days. I assume you have plane reservations, so I'll also assume you have 7 nights, and the day after the 7th, you depart from CDG.

A week in the Dordogne is not much time at all.

There are 2 areas in the general vicinity of the Dordogne that require some driving to get to, and you might not get the time to visit them in your 7 days (if you are staying near Sarlat). I would spend 1 night in one of these areas.

1. The area west of Souillac. On the way from Sarlat, you could visit Rocamadour, Padirac, Carrenac, and Martel. Stay in Martel Next morning, visit Collognes la Rouge and Turenne, then get on the freeway at entrance #53 and head towards the Loire.

2. Leave the Sarlat area and visit Hautefort Chateau, then visit Perigueux. After Perigueux, visit Brantome & stay there overnight. Next morning, head to Angouleme, then Poitiers, then the Loire.

The Chateaux in the Loire are fantastic, but after you have visited the Dordogne, I think the Loire countryside will be dissapointing.

If you REALLY love chateaux, and visiting 10 of them is OK, then I would do #2 above, and spend 5 nights in the Loire and stay the last night at Chantilly - north of CDG. Visit Chartres on the way to Chantilly and, of course, visit Chateau Chantilly.

If you enjoy scneic countryside more than you enjoy 10-12 chateaux, I would do # 1 above, and after leaving the Dordogne I would get on the A89 towards Clermont Ferrand and visit the Puy du Dome area and admire this scenic region (different from the Dordogne). Stay there 2 nights, perhaps in Besse en Chandesse. Then head to the Loire for 3 nights, & Chantilly for 1.

Stu Dudley

I am not sure I would spend a week to make a scenic drive between the Perigord and CDG, because not matter how you go there are pretty long stretches of it that are not that scenic.

In my opinion, most of the more "scenic drives" are generally south or west from the Sarlat area And as Stu mentions, there is so much to see right around the Perigord area itself. Depending on the price you get for a car rental with a one way drop at a TGV station, you might want to rent a car to drive somewhere to a TGV that you can then take back to Paris.

For instance you could drive to La Rochelle on the Atlantic, which is a nice place to visit or go south through the Lot and and end up in Montpellier via Rodez through the Averyon which is spectacular. Then you can drop the car and take the TGV back to Paris. Otherwise, if you want to drive back to Paris CDG and haven't seen any of the Loire then your first idea is a pretty good one.

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough (even though maybe I was and my idea just isn't that great). Our plans are to rent a house (with friends) within, say, 20 miles of Sarlat, and do days trips. We'll spend a week in that area. AFTER that we'll head back to Paris. (Our friends will likely spend another week bicylcing in the Dordogne or Lot). We've been a couple of times in the last few years, and while I could no doubt enjoy months there, we thought that rather than spending a week or so in Paris on the back end (or front end) of the trip to the Dordogne, we'd slowly make our way back. It sounds like perhaps we'd be better off driving down through Lot, then taking the train back to Paris for a couple of days before heading home?

An alternate route to StuDudley's is to go to via Hautefort and Limoges. Stop by St. Yrieix if you are interested in low priced porcelain. The center of town (to the left of the north-south main road you would be on) has discount stores where you can pick up interesting small items, such as a <i>beurrier conservateur</i> or little dishes of various shapes that can be used for hors d'oeuvre, etc. Limoges has an excellent porcelain museum. Or you can by-pass the town entirely.

Going north you might want to stop by Aubusson (tapestry center), which would be somewhat of a detour off the main road. Then there is Bourges, with one of the grand French Gothic cathedrals. From Bourges you might want to go west to see a couple of Loire chateaux, or go east toward Sancerre and then up to Fontainebleau and/or Vaux-le-Vicomte.

For something off the tourist track, stop by the village of La Borne between Bourges and Sancerre and browse around the dozen or more pottery shops. The <i>épicerie</i> in the center of the village is also a decent restaurant serving mainly the locals.

We've also spent 8 weeks in 4 different regions of the Languedoc/Lot, in addition to 32 weeks in Provence/Cote D'azur, 2 in the Auvergne/Puy du Dome, 2 weeks in the Ardeche, and 2 weeks in Pays Basque. Also, many weeks in Alsace, Burgundy, Franche Comte, Lake Annecy, Brittany, & Normandy.

The entire area east & south of the Dordogne all the way to Italy is quite scenic, as is the Auvergne to the northeast around Cleremond Ferrand. The Pyrenees from Perpignan to Biarritz are also quite spectacular. We've driven directly north of the Dordogne, and this area is not as scenic as the others, IMO.

On my prior post, I tried to work in the Loire. Other possibilities without the Loire include: d

1 Driving east through the Languedoc to Montpellier & then take the TGV back to CDG or Paris.

2 Continue on to Provence & take the TGV back to CDG or Paris from Avignon or Aix.

3 Drive through a portion of the Lot/Languedoc to the Auvergne/Puy du Dome and take the TGV from Cleremont Ferrand to Paris.

Endless possibilities.

Stu Dudley

I think all of the ideas here are great, just different one from another. It kind of just depends on what interests you and price. We have found that for 2 people it is almost always more economical to return a car to CDG even with tolls and gas prices-but we also like to consider the time it takes to drive and the scenery along the way. And many times you get Prem tickets on the TGV for one ways that are pretty cheap.

To expand on the idea of the beach, we have a family home in a little village called St. Palais sur Mer and that area of Charentes Maritime is really great in May. Not very well known by US tourists, it has lovely beaches. So you could easily spend a week in that area, stay a few nights at the beach, visit Cognac, and explore the Ile de Re, which is a very fun cool island where the very rich French tend to go in the summer

The last day you could have a lovely seafood lunch at the port at La Rochelle and take the TGV non-stop back to Paris from there. It is 3 hours non-stop.

Here are a few links to look at to give you an idea:

This is a nice converted villa in St. Palais down the street-a really nice place near the beach.

http://www.mamaisondemer.com/home.php

Our favorite seafood place for lunch before the train in La Rochelle. It shows nice photos of La Rochelle:

http://www.les-flots.com/contenu/,les_flots,10?

An aerial view of Ile de Re-great for biclycle rental by the way:

http://tiny.cc/kvpGO

I like jpie's idea best of all, though I would also spend more than 7 days in the Dordogne and fewer days driving back to Paris.

I would add Saintes to the places to visit after Angoulème and before La Rochelle and Ile de Ré. And I'd head northeast afterward to catch Poitiers, then the Loire, and finally Chartres on the way back into Paris.

Thanks for all of the wonderful ideas.

La Rochelle is wonderful! If you do go, another restaurant that I adored is Bar Andre. (We visited before heading to Cognac, where we rented a car and drove south via Brantome.)



JPIE: Thank you for posting the info about St. Palais--that would be a dream short vacation..La Rochelle and St. Palais!

Hi ekscrunchy-thanks for the Bar Andre, I will put it in my La Rochelle file.

St. Palais is really a hidden gem. My husband's grandparents retired there in 1951 (the year he was born) and bought a villa built in 1896 that overlooks the beach. So my husband grew up there for his summers and I have been lucky enough to tag along since we were married in 1977! Up until Ryan Air started a direct flight from London to La Rochelle (and then later pulled it), there were hardly any English speakers in the village and it is still mostly French families. My only complaint is that the cuisine and markets aren't quite up the standards of the Provence/Gard area but that is a nit-there is plenty of terrific seafood to be had! Also, the ocean is of course colder than the Med-but the sand is nicer.

If you ever go off season (like April, May or Sept. when there are less people on the beach), take a lesson in Char a Vole (here is a photo): http://tiny.cc/RuDqK

It is like a little go kart powered by a sail and it is a blast. We did it with friends from England. It is better if you buys some cheap gloves though-hard on the hands!