Lot Valley Suggestions
 

I will be in Rocamadour for a few days in April and am interested in seeing what is of most interest in the Lot Valley. Any suggestions for a day's driving tour of less than 200km total would be much appreciated. Lunch or dinner suggestions would be great. Thanks.

Most people will tell you to visit St-Cirq-Lapopie (not one of my favorites at all, but if you're going to be in the area, it's worth a half-hour of your time). Just up the river in Cabrerets, the Pech-Merle prehistoric cave is fairly mind-boggling. There are only a couple of tours a day, though, so be sure to reserve ahead and plan accordingly.

Labastide-Murat is an interesting little bastide town you might stop off at on the way. And Cahors is worth a visit.

If you haven't read From Here You Can't See Paris, by Michael Sanders, you might want to pick it up. It's all about a restaurant - La Récréation - near Cahors. Eating dinner there was a highlight of one of my last trips through that area.

I also highly recommend the Pech Merle caves - really astonishing and beautiful. The tours are also very well organized and easy to book on their website. I was there last May and it wasn't crowded at all. I don't think they give an English speaking tour, but it really doesn't matter, as they give an English handout, and it's all very easy to understand.

I agree with St. Cirq about St. Cirq Lapopie. I drove through and looked at it from the parking lot up above the village - and ate my picnic lunch there. That was enough.

I re-visited St Cirq Lapopie in October 2005; I tend to agree with the other posters. (Okay, it was raining that day)

If you would possibly entertain an alternative suggestion:

From Rocamadour, you could easily go a bit north-east, rather than south, and see Gramat, Martel, Turenne, Carennac and all those other wonderful little towns, inside a maximum of 200 km.

Sorry, I loved the beautiful perché village of St Cirq Lapopie. It was very quiet and our hotel very nice, an actress and a musician couple who where the receptionist and cook couldn't be nicer. The village people were very friendly. It's a problem driving up when there is alot of traffic.

Listen to Tedgale - he/she's got it all right with regard to Carennac, Turenne (there's a whole horrible WWII story of that town to tell - google it and you'll see), Martel (town of the seven towers - see if you can find them), and Gramat (and Gourdon).

St-Cirq-Lapopie gets a lot of press, but it's really just one of those hill towns that sells Made-in-China stuff in "artisanal" shops and doesn't have a decent restaurant because it doesn't need to because it doesn't have any resident French locals. It's got some cool geography but is really just one of those fake French touristy towns on a hill with Made-in-China offerings in all the stores. Because there are so many wondrous towns and villages so close by that aren't "fake" like that, it seems a shame to give it a lot of time. Just because it's "perché" doesn't mean it's got any true worth. So is Molières, and no one ever bats an eye about that.

There were mostly craft shops when we stayed there, Clothes that were hand made, leather shops and art studios. a natuaral fabric shop (hemp) I saw no cheezy china things.

Hi B,

From Rocamadour,you cold take the N140 to Figeac and then proceed down the valley of the Lot or the Célé. We went via the Célé and stopped at Grotte du Pech Merle.

You could visit the bridge at Cahors.and return either by the other river valley or by the N20.

Alternatively, you could go East on the D673 to the Gouffre de Padirac and on to Montal, St Céré, Castelnau, Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, Collonges-la-Rouge, Turenne, Martel and the Grottes de Lacave.

You might find my trip report helpful.
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34676645

Photos at http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-pla2au


Hope this helps.

((I))

StCirq- I am halfway through "From Here you Can't See Paris". Now the Lot Valley is on our list of places to go. It is nice to know the restaurant is still there and doing well.

I'm with Ira. The Gouffre de Padirac is really interesting as is the red town of Collonge la Rouge.

I agree the Gouffre de Padirac is really interesting and worthwhile to visit. And there are some wonderful drives north of Rocamadour. I loved Turenne. However, Collonge-la-Rouge was wall to wall tourists, and I don't think anyone actually lives there. All I saw was shops and tourists - many busloads. Turenne seemed real, as did Carennac.

Yes Carennac is worth your having a look at too.