I am looking for some truly expert advice! My family, including two boys that are 16 & 12 are doing a bike tour of the Dordogne region in June and we have an open day in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. I've done some research and there are so many options within riding distance but I'm not sure which to focus on! Our mode of transportation is a bike but I suppose we could find a taxi (maybe?) if needed. If you were based in Les Eyzies would you go North to La Madeleine, East to Grotte Font de Gaume, or West to St-Cirq & Le Bugue? Could we possibly fit in more than just one of these options in a day? Please note, this is likely our only day to visit some of the pre-historic caves but I'm not sure which cave to focus on?

thank you in advance for your knowledge!

St-Cirq-du-Bugue is only 4 kilometers, and other than the very small grotte there (and my house there is nothing to see. It's very, very hilly, too. Le Bugue is yet another 5 kilometers and a very fine town, but not anything most tourists would be interested except on market days (Tuesday big market; Saturday small market). I can't imagine it would take you more than half a day to do both of these, and they certainly wouldn't be considered typical tourist attractions, though maybe that's what you're looking for.

The Grotte de Font de Gaume is basically IN Les Eyzies. You don't need a bike - you can walk. So that's not a destination for biking.

La Madeleine is probably the most boring of all the prehistoric sites in the area. It's just a riverside area with some faint traces of prehistoric shelters. The road there is also one of the most tortuous in the Périgord.

If you give me some idea of how many miles/kms a day you are looking at covering (there and back), I can definitely suggest some options.

Most other days we'll be riding around 35KM (from city to city). We'd like to have enough time to site see and eat lunch. If we went to the grotte font-de-gaume we were also considering going to the Chateau de Commarque. If we go to Le Bugue we would also go to the Grotte du Sorcier. It just so happens we are there on Tuesday so I thought we would go to the market, at least to pick up lunch supplies, and then continue on to our destination. If you had a day in the Les Eyzies area what would you do?

We ride to Les Eyzies on Monday from Salignac so there is a chance we could stop at a cave on that trip as well, our tour says we go through St Genies on the way. We leave for Sarlat on Wednesday.

I appreciate your input!
Fayew

You will likely need reservations for cave visits, especially so if you need a tour in English, so you'd best pick which one you want to visit and get on the phone or fax right now! Don't count on the Grotte du Sorcier being open, either. At this time of year, the owners are rather capricious.

The Château de Commarque is interesting, but a ruin.

On Tuesday, sure, ride to St-Cirq and then to Le Bugue for the market (you can either go back down the hill from St-Cirq and take the road that runs along the railroad tracks, or you can continue up the hill and over it (actually you will ride right over the roof of my house), ascending steeply and following what will become a dirt path that will lead you to a paved road where you'll turn left to Le Bugue. Alternatively, from the Grotte you can go back to the first fork in the road and turn left and go around the hill and eventually descend to Le Bugue, but I wouldn't do that on market day because it will dump you in the midst of the market. From Le Bugue you might want to go over the bridge and ride to Cadouin (along the way is the tiny hill town of St-Chamassy, but it's a long way up and down for a tiny village), through Le Buisson. Cadouin has a beautiful abbey. You could do a circular route that takes you back through Limeuil, which is at the confluence of the Vézère and Dordogne rivers and has an elbow bridge and a sweet upper hill town.

St-Géniès is a pretty little town, but I can't think of a cave particularly near it.

Walk (or ride) to Font de Gaume. Visit the Prehistoric Museum in Les Eyzies, and with a leisurely lunch will take care of your day.

St. Geniès has a chapel with remains of frescoes, and it has a nice ensemble of stone roofs.

St Genies is a gorgeous little village, with wonderful lauze roofs. You'll cycle through it on the way from Salignac - I'd also recommend a very brief detour to St Crepin, just after the the turn off to St Genies, to see they tiny chateau there, Laceyierre/La Cipiere. Walking - or riding down the hill to find the chateau at the bottom is quite magical.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/palmeraie/3521664805/
If you go back up the hill, and directly across the road, you pick up the St Genies road.

Also if you go to Cadouin - highly recommended, with wonderful cloisters, continue on a few kilometres to Montferrand du Perigord, which is a very pretty village, with amazing frescoes in their tiny church. Although, now that I think of it,this is very close by car, but maybe more than 'a few' kilometres on a bicycle. Anyway, for anyone else in the area, highly recommended.

<i>with amazing frescoes in their tiny church</i>

Is that the cemetery chapel or the village church?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...57623717079199

Great advice! What about caves? Is there one in the area or close by that we should go to?

No caves that I know of between Le Bugue and Cadouin, though there is one in Le Bugue itself - Bara-Bahau, just outside of town on the road to Tursac/St-Léon-sur-Vézère/Montignac. It's not chromatic, though, just engravings. And the Gouffre de Proumeyssac is between Le Bugue and Le Buisson, but it's just a stalctite/stalagmite tourist attraction.

Each time StCirq says "just," substitute the words "great" or "fantastic." She's obviously become jaded!

Loved Château de Commarque. They've restored so much of it in the seven years between my visits. The climb to the top of the tower was scary but fun. It would be a beautiful bike ride too.

Yes, Commarque is fascinating. I'm trying to remember, though, whether it would be easy to reach by bike. Seems to me we parked and walked forever and a day on a lumpy grass path between the parking lot and the château. Maybe it's been paved since we were there - it was a few years ago.

And with only a few days, it seems, in the Périgord Noir, I wonder if the OP wouldn't prefer to spend time at Beynac or Castelnaud.

Yes, I've probably become jaded

"with amazing frescoes in their tiny church.
Is that the cemetery chapel or the village church?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/4929972666/in/set-72157623717079199"

Yes, it's the 'cemetery chapel l'eglise St Christophe.
http://www.montferrandduperigord.com/General.htm
It's 1 km from the centre of the village, but well worth the walk - there's a lovely walk through the woods.

thank you all for the suggestions! StCirq, we will try to be very careful when riding over the roof of your house!

Fayew

Just don't stop and picnic on my roof, please, as so many hikers seem to like to do!

Hi there

Not entirely to do with cycling options, but as this thread is being used I hope you don't mind my semi-related question. We arrive in Paris at 2:10pm on a Sunday. We need to be back in Paris the following Saturday. We are really keen to cycle around Les Eyzies (LE) and want to make the most of our time. So...

Should we get Disneyland over and done with Sunday evening/Monday and then go to LE? If so, is there a direct train? A bus? Should I hire a car?

Or

Should we take a train directly to Bordeaux and overnight it there and then train it to LE on Monday? Or do an extra day in Bordeaux?

I am very confused about the trains (distances/times etc) and am wide open to transport suggestions. We're not on a budget (though obviously don't want to waste money!).

Thanks
Ingrid.

Well, Ingrid, I personally would never bother with Disneyland, so I can't advise you there, but to answer your train questions, there are many ways to get to the Périgord. You can take a train from Paris to Brive, in which case you have about an hour and a half drive to LE; a TGV to Libourne or Bordeaux (Libourne is preferable because getting out of it in a car is easier), in which case you have about a 2-hour+ drive to LE; or a regular train from Paris (Gare Austerlitz) to Périgueux, in which case you have about a 40-minute drive to LE. If you choose the TGV, you can get discounted PREM fares by buying online 3 months out from your travel date - it might cost a lot less that the regular, slow train.

Yes, you should hire a car for pickup in the Périgord because it's the only way to get around.

Unless you've already made a lot of trips to France or are an oenophile, I'd pass on spending the night in Bordeaux. I like the city a lot, but don't think it holds a lot of appeal for folks who haven't already spent loads of time in France.

Count on the trip from Paris to LE taking the better part of a day. For distances, consult a map - you're going to need one for cycling anyway.

Hi StCirq

I had a feeling you might not be a Disney fan! Thanks for the info on the trains, there seems so many different options when it comes to trains. So the TGV is faster but doesn't get us as close as the regular train.

Thanks, you've narrowed down what I need to look into and made some sense of it for me ;-)

Ingrid.

Hey Fayew

Am wondering if you have been on your trip and if so, what you ended up doing in Les Eyzies? We have two full days in LE plus an afternoon on arrival and a morning on departure. We're hiring bikes from the afternoon we arrive to the morning that we leave, and will also have a car.

I've got StCirq's suggestions that she gave you which sound fantastic. I'm just trying to get my head around the geography!

I'm also really keen to see the caves but have heard some are replicas and am keen to hear where you ended up going. I'll be traveling with my son who is similar age to your boys.

Thanks
Ingrid.

Ingrid,

Of all the myriad beautiful villages of the Périgord, Les Eyzies is probably the most charmless. Get in, see the Musée Préhistoire, Font-de-Gaume and/or Combarelles, walk up oine side of the street and down the other, and then leave.

It doesn't matter where you go, except that some routes in that area are incredibly hilly and steep. You could head to Le Bugue and Le Buisson or through Tursac and on the La Roque-St-Christophe and St-Léon-sur-Vézère, or really anywhere. Get a detailed map and a good guidebook and figure out what works for you.

The only replica of a cave is Lascaux II, and it being a replica should in no way put you off seeing it. Because it is a replica and was recreated by vast hordes of scientists, you will learn precisely how the chromatic caves came to be, how the artwork was created and with what materials, and what the significance of sites such as this is. Besides, you won't even know you're in a replica.

Thanks StCirq, I probably didn't word my post too well as we're not planning on spending two days in LE. We're staying in a B&B close by and the only things I am planning on doing in LE are the prehistory museum and Font-de-Gaume (which I have bought tickets for already) so pleased these are what you have recommended as well.

The guy that is delivering the bikes has said he will spend some time with me going over routes etc so I'm sure it will be a great trip!

Lucky you living in such a gorgeous part of the world ;-)