Parking in Sarlat on Saturday
 

StCirq, I know you are very familiar with the area, where would you suggest we park? We arrive on a Saturday, market day and the hotel advises we could park in rue de la republique if we arrive after 8 PM or if before 8 PM then the boulevard Eugene Le Roy or free car park on avenue du General De Gaulle. What do you suggest?

It won't be easy to park on Rue de la Republique on a Saturday at any time - Which hotel will you be in? I live 15 minutes away, and can recommend parking at the north end and at the south end of town.

We are staying at the Villa des Consuls which I understand you cannot drive up to due to the narrow street. I would like to hear your suggestion for parking and whether to plan to arrive in Sarlat after the market closes and street cleaning is complete which the hotel says is after 8 PM.

I would certainly never try to park on Rue de la Republique (known in town as the Traverse) even after 8. It's 'payant' most of the time, and always busy. If you're there in the summer it will be all pedestrian anyway.

If you can get a space on Blvd. Eugene Le Roy, you're not too far away, but there aren't too many, and since the street is usually busy, you may not want to be trying to manoeuvre into a spot surrounded by other tourists trying to find their way around.

I think the best place is on Ave General de Gaulle, a little to the north. There are two parking lots, one on either side of the road. IF you come in from the north (Montignac), you'll go through a roundabout with a fountain, then see the cemetery on your right, and immediatly after, then the parking lots.

From the south, entering town you'll come to a T-junction cum roundabout, where you bear left, towards Montignac/Perigueux, pass two traffic lights, and very shortly after, the parking lots.

That is very helpful, we are driving in from Bayeux in Normandy and so we have a rather long drive planned. We probably won't arrive until late in the day and will look for the two parking lots off of Gen De Gaulle. Do you think it is possible for us to drive near the Villa des Consuls to drop our luggage or is it a short walk from the two parking lots?

The difficulty with the Villa des Consuls is that it is just off the Rue de la Republique - the main road, which is pedestrian only in the summer, and is always one-way going south.

If you check Googlemaps for France, and enter the address of villa des consuls,
'3 rue jean jacques rousseau 24200 Sarlat'
you'll get a map showing the street, and at the top, rue de la calprenede. The parking lots are just beyond this. A bit of a hike, but probably easier than trying to find your way around the one way streets.

Also, I find it interesting that Villa des Consuls is not providing more detailed information - I do for the houses we manage (which, in fact have private parking spaces for the days you can't find public parking.)

The hotel recommended driving to cote de Toulouse to unload baggage and then parking on avenue du General De Gaulle. Our route to Sarlat takes us in on D 704 and crosses Calprenede as we approach Sarlat. Should we turn right onto Calprenede, park and then roll our luggage to the hotel? Is the parking well marked? When you say hike what do you mean? We don't mind a walk so even if it is a 10 or 15 minute walk, no problem.

It's certainly not 15 minutes to the hotel from the parking lot - more like 5 or 10. I can't actually remember whether Calpranede is driveable - remember, a lot of the streets in Sarlat are pedestrian only - very narrow. So, just park your car in one of the well marked big lots and roll your luggage down. By the way, when you get this far you are IN Sarlat, not approaching.