How best to get from Brive to Sarlat
 

We have rented a house in Sarlat for three weeks in the early fall. We are thinking of flying or taking the train to Brive from Paris and either picking up a car at the airport or train station and driving to Sarlat or finding some other means of transport to Sarlat (a limo or minivan) and renting a car in Sarlat. One way or another, we know we will need a car while we are in Sarlat. We've been told driving to Sarlat could be challenging because the roads are not well marked and we will get hopelessly lost. Is this true? Are there transfer services from Brive to Sarlat? I have found them from Bordeaux to Sarlat, but I have not yet been able to find any service that could take us to Sarlat from Brive. If we depart out of Brive at the end of our trip at a time when the rental car agencies are not yet open (assuming we end up renting the car in Brive), can we leave the car at the agency nonetheless? I look forward to any thoughts anyone might have. Many thanks!!! Carrie

<<We've been told driving to Sarlat could be challenging because the roads are not well marked and we will get hopelessly lost. Is this true?>>

There is no end to the utter nonsense people will tell you. Do you have a map? It's clear as daylight on any map that it's a breeze to drive from Brive to Sarlat. You take the A-20 (N-20) south to Souillac, then the D703 to Sarlat, or, if you're feeling even the teeniest bit adventurous, from Souillac you take the D62 to D60 to D704. You can also get maps and directions and driving times at www.mappy.com.

If you plan to have a car in Sarlat, I assume that means you'll be touring around the Dordogne in it (because a car just for Sarlat makes no sense). And if you're planning to drive a car around the Dordogne for three weeks, you will certainly encounter more challenging routes than Brive to Sarlat. I

If your car rental agency has a drop box, yes, you can drop the keys and insurance papers there whether the office is open. I would definitely inform the agency you plan to do so, though.

Get the car at the train station. You should have no problem driving from Brive to Sarlat. Make sure you have good instructions for getting to the rental once you reach Sarlat.

Thanks for the quick response. Yes, that's going to be my next concern - finding the rental.

Another vote to say that how absolutely ridiculous it is to say that this is a difficult drive. The only other option is to take the train to Souillac and then the coach from Sarlat, but this is more complicated, and unnecessary.

And you should have no difficulty leaving the car off even when the agency is closed. People do it all the time.

I answered your driving "difficulty" question via e-mail when you asked for my Dordogne itinerary - but I'll repeat one observation here so others can read it.

One of the "odd" things about road signage is that road numbers often change when you leave one department (like the Dordogne), and enter another department (like the Lot). For example, there is one road that travels along the Dordogne River that goes from the Dordogne Dept, to the Correze Dept, then back to the Dordogne Dept. While in the Dordogne it is road 843 (I made this number up), then it becomes the 543 in the Correze, then back to the 843 when in the Dordogne again. The Map may only show it as 843 - so while traveling in the Correze when it is 543 and you see a road sign saying 543 but your map says you need to be on 843 - panic sets in. You just have to realize that often roads change numbers when departments change.

If you have read anything about traveling in France, you'll know that signs direct you to the next town. So study your map and become a little fimiliar with the relationship of one town to another in the Sarlat area.

Stu Dudley

All of these replies have been most useful. We will rent the car in Brive and drive to Sarlat. Many thanks!!

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