VickyO

Hi, we will be in France in June 2010. We've stayed previously in Monpazier, and had a day trip to Sarlat. Now we want to stay in Sarlat, in a self catering apartment right in the old part of town (this is yet to be found!). We are thinking of having 1 week in St Remy de Provence, then driving to Sarlat. I would welcome recommendations - we want to have third week, in a town in France but are not sure if we should have both weeks 2 and 3 in Sarlat, or week 3 somewhere else. I'd love suggestions (we've already stayed in Mirepoix in the SW, and also in Normandy so not those areas again). We will have hire car. I'd also like ideas regarding accommodation in Sarlat - self catering, and I hope around Euro 450 per week. Is this possible? I look forward to responses, thanks very much.

jamikins

Sounds like a lovely trip! We stayed in St Remy for 1 week, Sarlat for 1 week, and Beaune/Paris for 1 week in Sept 2006 and it was great...lots of different terrain.

Michael

I would choose La Rochelle for the third week.

StuDudley

We rarely stay less than 2 weeks in an area. There is PLENTY of stuff to do for 2 weeks in either Provence or the Dordogne regions.

If you'll be in Provence in late June, that's lavender season and you could spend several days just taking scenic drives into the Lavender regions of Sault & the Baronnies. Then a day in the Luberon, day in the Alpilles (St Remy, Les Baux), day in the Dentelles (Vaison, Seguret, etc), day in the Gorge de l'Ardeche region, day at the l'Isle sur la Sorgue market then Gordes & Roussillon after the market, day in Pont du Gard/Uzes, day in Avignon, day in Aix, day in Arles or Nimes, day in the Cote du Rhone region, day the Mt Ventoux area, day south of the Luberon Mtns (Lourmarin, etc), and days doing nothing. That's 14 days of doing something, plus the do nothing days.

Ditto with the Dordogne - we just returned from week 9 & 10 there. Same with multiple weeks in Brittany, Auvergne, Pays Basque, Languedoc, Roussillon (Perpignan area), Lot, Quercy, Franche Comte, Annecy region, Cote d'Azur.

Staying 2 weeks in a single spot allows you to "savor" a lot more.

Stu Dudley

ira

Hi VO,

How about putting your third week in the middle.

At www.viamichelin.com enter St. Remy-de-Provence to Sarlat-la-Canéda via Millau and St. Enemie. This will take you through the Gorges du Tarn.

After St. Enemie, head for Conques, then Figeac. Drive through the valley of the Lot or the Célé to Pech Merle. Head toward Cahors and up to Sarlat.

Take as little or as long as you like.

Details in my trip report: Ira Does France (Bordeaux, Dordogne, Paris) 2005
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...2&tid=34676645

Enjoy your visit.

blh

We stayed in Sarlat for several days last October at La Villa des Consuls in a studio apartment "Fenelon". http://www.villaconsuls.fr/ We enjoyed the Saturday market in Sarlat, the restaurants, shopping, etc. We did many day trips in the area seeing all the wonderful castles, gardens, and villages.

We then stayed in a small gite outside Montignac for four days: http://gite-lalibellule.com/eng/index.html. The rate is only 250€ a week - so a great deal! We also enjoyed Montignac very much. There are quite a few restaurants and the weekly market is fun. The Lascaux caves are in Montignac as well. We did quite a few day trips to many places of interest in the area - Chateau de Hautefort and Chateau de Losse are not far from Montignac. We also did a day trip to Brantome which a beautiful town.

You might want to spend your second week in the Lot area so as not to spend so much time driving back and forth. We spent three days in the Rocamadour area seeing the caves (Padriac) and many beautiful villages in this area. The Cele Valley is also very beautiful, and the Grotte du Pech-Merle is wonderful. And, of coure, the village of St Cirq Lapapie is amazing. We were there in off season - October - so all the touristy places - Rocamadour and St Cirq - were practically empty.

Since you have been in the area previously, you may want to spend your third week in another area. I would recommend Brittany as area that we very much enjoyed. We also like Burgundy very much.

StCirq

I would spend the extra week between Provence and the Dordogne visiting the Tarn and Lot. You could go by way of Castres, St-Guilhem-le-Desert, the Millau Viaduct, the Gorges du Tarn, Rodez, Conques, Figeac, then on to Sarlat. With a full week you could see many other places as well. Or split the week up into two venues and take day trips to these places.