Would appreciate input on this itinerary for Sept./Oct.

San Francisco to Toulouse, using frequent flyer miles (probably via Timbuktu). Pick up car rental at airport. Overnight in Toulouse.

Tour Toulouse in am; drive to Albi (1 hour). Overnight in Albi.

Tour Albi in am; drive to Carcassonne (2 hrs.);arrive early evening. Overnight in Carcassonne.

Tour Carcassonne in am; drive to St. Cirq Lapopie (3 hours, 15 min). overnight in St. Cirq.

Tour St. Cirq and Grottes de Pech Merle; drive to Rocamandour (1 hr). Overnight in Roc.

Tour Roc. and Gouffre de Padirac. Drive to Sarlat (1 hr). Overnight at Hotel Madeleine (3 nights).

Tour La Roque-Gageac, Castelnaud, Beynac, St. Julien, Domme, Fone-de-Gaume, St. Leon, Lascaux II, Hautefort.

Day 9-11 Sarlat to Amboise (Drive 4-1/2 hours). Tour Cambord, Cheverny, Chenonceau, Villandry, Azay-Le-Rideau (maybe Amboise and Blois)

Day 12 Drop off car in Tours. TGV from Tours to Charles de Gaulle airport.

Any input is appreciated!

<<Tour La Roque-Gageac, Castelnaud, Beynac, St. Julien, Domme, Fone-de-Gaume, St. Leon, Lascaux II, Hautefort.>>

Just curious: Why St-Julien? I mean, it's a nice village - but it's about the size of a pea and nothing special there that I know of (if there is, I'd love to know!).

Also, Hautefort might as well be seen on your way north to the Loire, as it's a good 2-hour drive from the Sarlat area. And depending on the time of year, plan on more than an hour's drive from Rocamadour to Sarlat.

Otherwise looks like a fine itinerary to me.

St. Cirq, thanks for replying, I was especially looking forward to your advice!

Re St. Julien, I saw some pretty pictures of the Romanesque church, and it looked like a nice village. Since it is that small, we will fit it in only if we have time to fill.

Re Hautefort and Lascaux II, I considered staying a night in Les Eyzies, but after so many single nights in hotels (whew!), it seemed close enough to Sarlat so that we could stay there three nights. I'll reconsider so that we're not backtracking. Or maybe I'll drop Hautefort since we are now tacking on the Loire Valley.

We traveled to France 3 years ago and we had a similar itinerary. We stayed in Rocamadour,very nice.We also visited Beynac and Collognes-la-rouge, also very nice medieval villages. I recomend an illustrated book"The Most Beautiful Villages in France"in your local bookstore.

Thanks for the suggestion on the book; I have it on hold at the library. The pretty pictures of St. Julien were in the book "Most Beautiful...Dordogne."

Frankly, I think your five 1-nighters at the beginning might be a bit much. Is there any way you could stay in St. Cirq 2 nights and do Roc on a day trip?

We did Montalban (2)>Albi>Carcassonne>Sete and were glad to plant our feet in l'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue for 7 nights!

We loved the Madeleine in Sarlat (maybe it was the A/C).

St-Julien is a pretty little village, but just one of hundreds - and there are Romanesque churches all over the place. At any rate, St-Julien isn't out of the way - it will be easy enough to drive over from Domme, for example, to see it.

There is no reason to move from Sarlat to Les Eyzies at all. Les Eyzies is 25 km from Sarlat. And Lascaux II is only a half-hour drive at most from Sarlat as well. Hautefort, on the other hand, is way north. There's no reason you couldn't stop there on your way to the Loire.

I agree that Collonges-la-Rouge, as well as Martel, are good stops for your day in Rocamadour.

LVSue, I know that's a lot of stops in the beginning and that is normally not my first choice, but the only thing I dislike more than packing and unpacking is driving! So I'd rather just enjoy several new places and get on with it! If I am not able to get the preferred accommodation in Rocamandour (La Rhue Domaine), I will certainly heed your advice and stay two nights in St. Cirq.

St. Cirq, so much to see and so little time! More reason to return in the future.

I am a little surprised that the prices for lodging are so high (for three stars); I guess there has been no shortage of tourists in this area this year? I thought prices would drop October 1, but they seem to be still considered high season thru the end of October.

Sue, please tell me more about the Madeleine. Just checked out the website (http://www.hoteldelamadeleine-sarlat.com/) and it looks great. Did you eat there?

jal52:

I second any recommendation for la Domaine de la Rhue near Rocamadour. Lovely property, great owners.

Where are you planning to stay in St-Cirq-Lapopie? For what it's worth, we thought La Pelissaria, which gets pretty high marks from a lot of people, was a total rip-off, and I'm pretty familiar with accommodations in that part of the world. Not only was the price too high for what we got, but the owners were downright pernicious.

All right, I'll admit it, I have never liked St-Cirq-Lapopie and wouldn't go 10 miles out of my way to see it (now that I have several times). I'd see the caves at Peche-Merle and keep on trucking up to the Dordogne. Just my opinion.

Now I stand on another side. I loved St- Cirq-Lapopie and they were wonderful to us, when we popped in, at that hotel on a heavy raining day with no reservations. Our room was delightful with a stained glass window, overlooking the church and gardens.
Across from the hotel was an art gallery. part of the painter's hom who was very friendly as were every place we stopped

hmmmm. We drove from Carcassone,where we had arrived about 4PM, toured to our satisfaction before dinner, and were happy to head out to the Dordogne the next morning. We based ourselves in Beynac. Truly, there were very few American tourists this Spring in France, so we may have been rather lucky. But we found it very easy to spend 3 days and 2 nights touring the area, and plan to return for a week in the future. I think you would be happier basing yourself in Beynac or La Roque-Gageac. We stayed in Hotel Bonnet for around 54 euro per night. Not posh, but the staff was charming and it was neat as a pin. Great dinner in a lovely dining room.

ps...I have some pictures posted on Virtual Tourist for both Beynac and Carcassone: www.virtualtourist.com/radiomom

click on All Travel Pages if the ones for Beynac, etc aren't showing up as links (they seem to rotate).

I agree with Uh Oh that Beynac, or another small town, makes a good base. Even in Sept./Oct., traffic in Sarlat can be wicked and you can waste a lot of time getting in and out of town. Besides, with all that gorgeous countryside, it's nice to sleep at night to the sound of the cuckoos.

Betsy, no, we didn't eat there. It just happened to be Fete de la Musique (June 21), so we strolled into town to eat and see the various performers.

I hate to say this, but I really don't remember any specifics (except the A/C). This was a holiday where we decided to wing it after our first two nights in Les Ezies. The Madeleine had availability for only one night, so we took it and moved on. I did like being able to walk into the town and not have to get in a car. Parking was the pits in Sarlat!

I have found both StCirq's to be charming...the village by personal experience.

I am not as fond of Toulouse as I am of other places, so If I wanted to include Carcassonne on this trip, what I would probably do is go there directly from the airport and stay there overnight, then get up to Albi. I don't think there is much benefit in trying to see a city the size of Toulouse in a morning. Plus the fact that this route is more direct.

Albi, on the other hand, is one of my favorite towns. I might stay there for a couple of nights. Or one night there and the other in Cordes sur Ceil. This is a very charming little perched village. We had lunch under the same plane trees cigalechanta has spoken of.

If I chose Cordes sur Ceil to stay, then I would go right on to Rocamandour, passing through St Cirq on the way. This leaves another night to spend somewhere.

Sarlat to Amboise in a day seems like an awfully long haul. I would do it in 2.

In Albi, be sure to see the gardens behing the Toulouse Latrec Museum, and of course the cathedral, which is extremely unusual and interesting. A good place to stay is the Hostelerie San Antoine. It is close to the center of things, has a good restaurant and convenient car park.

Ron, I agree with you. I loved Albi and would have liked to spend more time there.

Does Hotel Madelaine have it's own car park? I'd recommend Villa des Consuls appartments for 1 to 7 nights stay. Some of them are A/C. Click on my name for a trip report of the Dordogne area.

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments!

I was going to overnight in Toulouse because I know my brain will be fried after traveling from San Francisco. I did think about spending the first and second nights in Albi, but wasn't sure how long or difficult that drive is.

My thought was to do our usual: arrive, stay in the city center area and see the two main churches in Toulouse, stay up as late as possible and get a good night's sleep in a bed with a firm mattress, ala Marriott. Leave Toulouse early the next morning after a good breakfast.

If we go Sarlat to Amboise in two days, where is a good place to stop?

If you go to Carcassonne first from Toulouse, you can tour Carcassonne in the afternoon/early evening, then drive up through Castres to Albi the next morning, touring Albi in the afternoon. The drive from Albi to St Cirq-Lapopie is fabulous, and I'm one of those who loved both the village and La Pelissaria (the male half of the owner couple has a rather offbeat sense of humour, don't take him too seriously.)

I laughed when I read how you'd rather unpack than drive, that's just how I feel, and I did this trip with 6 one-nighters in a row.

My only other thought is that I'd be too chicken to go direct from Tours to CDG airport; I'd want a night in Paris, just to be sure. But I'm sure you've thought of this.