Perigueux France travel query
 

I will be traveling from the Loire Valley to Perigueux in the middle of May. I do not have a car. I am planning on leaving Tours for Saumur, then to Perigueux then to Lemieul, to Sarlat la Canada, to Lascaux Caves, to Cahors then to Paris. Leaving Tours on May 16 and arriving in Paris on May 23. I do not have a car but hope to travel by train and bus.

I am on a major budget, don't want to spend much money on my rooms or in restaurants, but prefer markets and bakeries so I can see more of the countryside.

Would appreciate hotel advice and travel methods advice. My goal is to see the Cro Magnon and Neanderthal areas. I'd also like to get in Rocamadour somehow.

I'm 59, female, and in good health, will travel with backpack and don't mind walking to get where I need to go. I'm just concerned about travel options in these areas.

Thank you so much.

I'm glad to see your question here. I wish you luck in getting answers, but I have a feeling that you might be better off on another web site, like Lonely Planet or Frommer. Unfortunately, I don't see many people traveling your way on Fodors. People almost always suggest a car to me when I ask about traveling through a particular area even when I specifically say I want to take a bus or train. However, I am hoping you will get the responses you want so I am responding to your question so it will go to the top of the queue. Good luck! It sounds like you have a wonderful trip planned.

I agree with Annetti that you might do well to consult Lonely Planet for detailed information about local train & bus options but I can't help being one of those who still recommends that you consider a car for some of your trip. You are planning to cover quite a bit of ground in 7 days and this area is not particularly well served with public transport that connects the places you mention. You might want to think about a car for 2-3 days in the middle, say at Sarlat. You can check the sncf site for rail schedules - www.sncf.fr - they have an english language page. You should be able to get to Saumur from Tours by train, and then backtrack to Tours to take the train line down to Bordeaux - there seems to be a branch off that line to Perigueux. There is a train connection from Perigueux to Les Eyzies so that would work for Lascaux and I think that line also connects with Sarlat. Sarlat is the end of the line But there is an SNCF bus to Souillac where you could join the line that goes to Cahors. You will spend a lot of time waiting at trains stations for connections IMHO hence the suggestion that you try a car. Good luck, this is a lovely region. Recommendation - don't miss Rouffignac & Font de Gaume for pre-historic art. Highly recommended pre-reading "The Mind in the Cave" by David Lewis-Williams.

Here's a thread that has a few of the same questions, although the plan is different from yours: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34424767

Here's another thread that may have something useful in it for you, though most likely it will not cover this area: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34424767

Unfortunately, I think your plan may be very difficult to carry out by public transportation. I don't rent cars on trips myself (becaues of the expense, stress, etc.), and I've given up on visiting this area alone because it's too difficult to get around by public transportation.

I don't much enjoy driving abroad and long since gave up driving in the UK, but everything the posters say about touring Perigord by car is true.

There are lots of places that would be hard to get to without a car, including Combarelles and Les Eyzies (pardon spelling)which are essential if you have Cro-Magnon/Neanderthal interests. All the good markets except Sarlat were in very small towns and not accessible conveniently by bus.

The drive to Rocamadour is as interesting as the place itself, which is far more rewarding to believers than to unbelievers. There are also many fortified hilltop towns that repay visits with peaceful settings and fantastic views that are simply not accessible in other ways.

There is little traffic, especially off season and on back roads, and the driving holds few terrors,though we almost drove into the back of a horse drawn gypsy wagon on a blind curve. But then it was a horse drawn gypsy wagon, wasn't it?

We picked up the car at an SNCF station, though the rental agent was on lunch break when we arrived, and we had to wait a couple of hours.

You CAN get to Les Eyzies by train (see other thread that I linked to), and from the train station it's a short walk to Font de Gaume and a longer but very doable walk to Combarelles. However, I am not saying that it would be easy to do this trip by car, simply pointing out that these two sites are not that difficult to get to. The real problem may be getting from one town to another without returning to a major transportation hub.

These two sites might be of some help for public transportation:

http://www.ter-sncf.com/aquitaine/default.htm

http://www.cg24.fr/accueil.htm

This last one lists all the bus services with telephone numbers. You may have to search on the site if what I am posting is not on the listing itself.

Jackster,

The second site I gave is a little complex. Once on that site, scroll down to <i>Plan du Site</i>. Click on that. Scroll down to <i>Routes et transports</i>. Click on that. Click on <i>les services des transports</i>. click on <i>usagers du r&eacute;seau TRANSPERIGORD</i> and you will get the listing of all public bus services. Once in P&eacute;rigueux, you can try to see if the tourist office can give you schedules for the various bus lines.

You'll be fine until you get to Sarlat, but after that it's going to be very difficult to plan. There's no train to Limeuil and it's a long way to walk from Sarlat. Maybe the Conseil G&eacute;n&eacute;ral du P&eacute;rigord site Michael gave you will show buses there, but I've never seen a local bus there and I'm there with some frequency. Same with getting to Montignac to see Lascaux II. I'm sure there must be bus tours because of the number of people who visit that site, but generally speaking, local buses don't go to tourist towns. As mentioned, you can get to Les Eyzies and see the Grotte de Font-de-Gaume and Les Combarelles, so you will at least be able to see one prehistoric cave using the train.

There's an outfit in Le Bugue called Les Cars Rey that runs weekly buses to P&eacute;rigueux. You might google them and see if they do other local runs as well.

What's in Limeuil that you want to see?

To answer your final question, your travel options in these areas are quite limited. If you can do it, I'd highly recommend renting a car.

The system is a hub system, and the only bus going to Montignac is from P&eacute;rigueux.

I agree with what others have said about the difficulty of traveling in this area using public transportation.
If you have a limited budget, renting a car can be expensive; however, the driving itself was easy and enjoyable.
Accommodations and food are really reasonable in the Dordogne, so that makes up for the cost of a car. I traveled for 2 weeks in the area last May (taking the train down from Paris),
and really loved it. I'm older than you are, and really hesitated the first time I rented a car in France (alone) -
but have done that for the last 4 years, and love it. If you absolutely don't want to rent a car, train options are better in the Loire Valley, or Alsace. But in the Dordogne very few, and you'll be spending so much time waiting for the few trains there are, or busses. It's a wonderful area to visit, though, and good luck with your plans.

I'm glad to hear that there are so many options down in Dordogne. We traveled through that beautiful region about 10 years ago by car and I can't remember seeing any public transit. Driving there is comfortable as discussed above. I know your budget gets into the way of renting a car, however on the pro car side, public transport is not free and when you have a car, you can stay away from small cities where accommodations may be more expensive. It will also be easier to find markets and bakeries. It may save you valuable travel time having a car since you may have to double back or wait for that bus that comes every other hour. I hope the bus/train works outfor you and that it turns out to be more convenient that thought.I think consulting local French tourist bureaus as suggested is a great idea since they will know (hopefully) about local buses. Let us know how public transport works there for you. I'm sure others would be interested and inspired. I know I often prefer public transport over a car.Whatever you do, best of luck.