With all of your suggestions I have finally sketched out a day by day plan of our four days in this area. We are staying in Sarlat and will make that our base for our time in the Dordogne. I am going to give my tentative schedule, and then I need suggestions as to how to switch things around as Font de Gaume is not open on Wednesdays and of course, that is when I had planned to visit! Here goes:

Monday, May 7
Domme
La Roque Gageac
Chateau Beynac
St. Cyprien and Castelnaud

Tuesday, May 8
Roque Christophe
Lascaux
Rouffrignac
Lunch at St. Leon Sur Vezere and stop by the Village de la Madeleine

Wednesday, May 9
Sarlat market in am
Les Eyzies and Font de Gaume

Thursday, May 10
Rocamadour
Carennac
Padirac
La Cave

Friday, Train to Paris

How can I change this around so we can visit Font de Gaume on another day besides Wednesday? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Not sure why you think Font de Gaume is closed on Wednesday. Their site http://www.hominides.com/html/lieux/...t-de-gaume.htm indicates that it's closed on Saturday (samedi)

I would not visit St Cyprien - especially on a Monday. That's the day after their big outdoor market, and almost everything will be closed. I've never considered St Cyprien a first-time tourist destination - except on market day.

Any reason you excluded Ch Milandes & Jardins d'Eyrignac from your itinerary? If you have time left in the day on Monday (questionable), I think Milandes would be much more interesting than St Cyprien - although that might be too many castles in one day.

I doubt if you can visit Roque Christopher, Lascaux, and Rouffignac before the final morning tour at Rouffignac. Assume you'll have to visit Rouffignac after their lunch closing.

I've mentioned this severaqal times, but I would plan to visit Sarlat again on a day when it's not market day. All the umbrellas & vendors will distract you from admiring the wonderful architecture of this beautiful village. Have dinner in Sarlat one night and arrive at 6:30 and take the walking itinerary in the Michelin Guide.

Stu Dudley

Monday looks very full to me. I have always been of the mind set that it is nice, particularly in Dordogne, to do something in the morning, take a long lunch, then do something in the afternoon. Of course, always take time to stop and just walk around what appears to be an interesting village. I tonly takes 15 minutes and can be a neat experience (St. Amand de Coly comes to mind).

Thank you all for your suggestions. I have two books that state that Font de Gaume is closed on Wednesday.....I was going to try to move things around and today I got an e mail from Font de Gaume confirming our tour for Wednesday!! Carlux, you were right!

We are going to try to follow the daily itinerary, but for sure we will not get to everything on this schedule. This is a rough outline of what we want to see. I am sure we will have to come back again to see it all!

Stu, thanks for the advice about Milandes and since we are staying in Sarlat, we should be able to see the town in the evening, after most of the tourists have left.

Dan M, I have made a note about St. Amand de Coly....looking forward to wandering around the small villages in this area.

Thanks again to all your help.

I posted somewhere else--you must do a canoe trip down the Dordogne!

Glad to hear that you will be able to make it to Font de Gaume. They change their closing days from year to year, so it's better to trust their site than a guide book, which is always going to be somewhat out of date.

bkmkng