Trip report Dordogne
 

First of all I want to thank everyone on the board that contributes information. Our trip would have been much tougher to plan without the generous feedback here. Stu Dudley, St Cirq, Carlux, Ger, Moolyn and Mr/Mrs Go get honourable mentions.

We used Frequent Flyer points to fly from Halifax/Toronto/Frankfurt/Toulouse. We found TLS very easy to drive to and from...very good signage.

Avis compact diesel car rental for 11 days....cost CAD 325.00. We used our Collision coverage from our credit card and luckily on this trip no mishaps. Kms driven 1373....93 Euros of gas used.

1st night La Truite Doree (Logis) in Vers which is half way between Cahors and St. Cirq lapopie. Half board was a very good value at 85 Euros.

2nd and 3rd nights at the Le Relais in Loubressac. Bed and breakfast at 93 Euros per night.

3 bedroom/2.5 bath villa rental outside of Cenac 460 Euros for the week.

Last night at Hotel Wilson Square in Toulouse...a bit of a dive but what do you expect for 53 Euros per night I guess.

Total trip cost worked out to be approx 4900 Canadian for the 11 nights.

Average spending I figure was approx 140 Euros per day for food, gas, incidentals such as admissions etc.

I'll post a day by day account but try to keep it to the point..except for a few small events that made our trip interesting.

Dordogne and Lot...May 16-27/2007

Day one

We arrived with our baggage on this trip...so good start.

Avis had no line in comparison to Europcar so our paperwork took 5 minutes. We found Avis in France much more efficient that our rental in Italy. We made a wrong turn and drove through Blagnac but the signage is very good and got back on track.

The Toll road from Toulouse to Cahors is great and we arrived to Vers in about 90 minutes even in the rain.

We weren't expecting much from Vers but found it to be a cute town on the river within easy distance to St. Cirq and to Grotte du Pech Merle. We had asked for a room in the new section but even they seem rather worn. It was comfortable enough and certainly clean.

We spent the afternoon in St. Cirq Lapopie. We found lots of parking in the lot at the top of town. There were few tourists and the rain had stopped. The views were glorious and the town is as cute as a button. Much nicer than I expected based on some mixed reviews I had read.

The meal at the hotel was very good local cuisiine...paysanne salad with walnuts, casoulet (which was the best I've had since Carcassone), our first taste of Cabecou which neither of us could stomach, and a pistachio/chocolat icecream desert for me and creme brule for my husband.

It was a relaxing and enjoyable first day...we even made friends along the way. The town dog, a german sheppard mix, followed us around while we took a stroll.

Photos will follow but I have to edit them...575 shots hopefully down to a managable amount. Everything was so lovely that I'm not sure we can bear to part with any.

Hi Crazy - just fulfilling my committment to adding at least one comment to any trip report I read so that the author knows it's being read! La Truite Doree is one of the hotels on our "potentials" list for our planned 1 night stay as we drive south (our trip isn't until next year) so I am interested in those details!)
looking forward to the remaining days updates!

Thank you for the encouragement CanadaV. I thought the hotel was good value for money. The room was a little spartan, the bed very firm but I don't mind that, the location was very convenient for us and the dinner was very good. The restaurant was packed so I think it's popular with locals as well.

Good luck with your planning.

Thanks for working on a trip report! I'm looking very forward to it and am happy to hear you liked St. Cirq Lapopie! We be visiting it and this area and the Aveyron in September.

Crazy, I'm impressed but pleased that you've started your Dordogne report already. Good work! I'll be following along. It was almost exactly a year ago that we were heading there ourselves. We enjoyed St. Cirq Lapopie too but were glad to be leaving just as busloads of tourists were arriving.

Thank you for tuning in Images2.

Moolyn...I wish I could be as organized as you and have my photos posted with each section. I find a picture is worth a thousand words. I'm having computer troubles (actually more my trouble using the computer than actual computer problems I'm afraid). I guess we were lucky because there were no bus groups while we were there. We got there around 2pm and stayed a couple of hours, so we must of missed the crowds. Other than a few other people, we had the place to ourselves.

Bookmark
We're leaving for 5 weeks in Provence early tomorrow. Today is packing day, so I won't have a chance to read your report till I get back

Stu Dudley

CRAZY - I am enjoying your report about a favorite part of France. Thank you.

Welcome back! I'm enjoying the report and looking forward to more. I would love to see photos if and when you and your computer are in the mood.

Thank you.

Thanks for posting your trip report. I'm looking forward to reading more about yoru stay in the Dordogne.

Thanks for writing this up. Dordogne is on our "must see" list, so I'm starting to read more posts about the area.

I think your costs--$4900 Cdn--sound very reasonable. Does that figure include the Aeroplan taxes and fees?

Anselm (another Nova Scotian)

Anselme - do you have my Dordogne itinerary??? E-mail me at [email protected] if you want a copy. However, unless you do it in the next hour, I won't be able to respond till mid July, and if you e-mail me earlier than mid-June, it will age-off my incoming e-mail queue.

If you liked the Puy du Dome, you'll love the Dordogne (the food is much better too).

Stu Dudley

Thank you all for tuning in.

Stu...I'm pea green with envy. I love Provence and will no doubt go back again some day as I only scratched the surface there on a previous trip. Enjoy you holiday!! The Euro has lost a little bit of ground which should hopefully stick around for a few more weeks.

Anselm...the 4900.00 included the air taxes and service fees in the amount of 443.00...travel insurance 110.00 and local car taxes which were an additional 48 Euros paid locally. I haven't gotten my last credit card statement so that is an estimate give or take a little bit. Pity the Euros was just starting to fall. Whatever you do, don't use American Express...their rates are about 3 percent higher than Mastercard. I only used them for a few things and was shocked at the difference.

Stu, I just sent you an e-mail. Many thanks.

CRAZY, looking forward to reading more ...

Anselm

Day Two...rainy and quite cool

Arrived in plenty of time for our 10am appointment at Grotte du Pech Merle. The tour is in French but I had enough English information from the internet and their brochure.

This was the closest thing I've had to a religious experience since my first visit to the Sistine chapel. The cave has some interesting formations but I was truly in awe of the drawings. This was certainly one of the highlights of our trip and our favourite of the 4 caves we saw.

After the visit to the cave we watched the short film they showed inside the adjacent museum. Jetlag was starting to hit me hard so I think I nodded off a few times. The museum itself has some interesting artifacts and is worth the extra time.

We continued our drive through the Cele Valley to our next stop Figeac. It would have been a much nicer visit had it not been so rainy.

To get out of the rain we ate lunch at Creperie La Chaneleur on a small side street rue Boutaric. The meal was decent but not memorable.

After lunch, we wandered the lovely back streets until we were soaked. We managed a few photos but it was difficult not to get the lense wet.

We made our way to Loubressac which was the base for our next two nights. We had booked there as a fairly last minute option when our hotel in Carennac was closed by the health department....we could see that it looked a little run down when we happened upon it later.

The hotel Le Relais has the most lovely views of the countryside, Chateau Castelnau and the town of Loubressac. The rooms are a little worn but clean, firm bed, lovely pool and a five minute walk from town. We had our second best meal of our trip here. A very good choice of hotel overall.

The chef has a daily creation which can be ordered as a 3 course meal or 5 course meal. The first night I paid 18E for 3 courses which included a few pasteries, a green salad with walnuts, main course of Magret stuffed with olives and a balsamic reduction. Vegetable were flowers of white aspargus (delicious), eggplant and red onion. My husband paid 26E for an additional course of Soup du Poisson which came with some interesting garnishes and a cheese course selection. For desert, I had a tasty apple tart and he had chocolate mousse cake. We had a half bottle of rose...total meal cost an absolute steal at 51E.

How was the drive along the Cele river to Figeac? Was it slow going? How long did you spend in Figeac?

We'll be spending a week in a gite in Belcastel, west of Rodez and I have a day trip planned, starting out in Figeac, driving the Cele River road, visit the Grotte du Pech Merle, then St. Cirq-Lapopie, and back up the Lot river road.

Do you think this is feasible in one day?

Yippee! A trip report for the Dordogne to read. :D We will be flying into Toulouse on 7 July and spending a week in the region before going on to Paris so this will be helpful. Thanks!

Glad to hear getting out of Toulouse is easy.

Images2 - We have a similar day planned with Figeac, St. Cirq-Lapopie, and Pech Merle on the same day (in and out of the Conques area). So far no one has told me that it is crazy, but I will be eager to get feedback here.

Looking foward to more CRAZY4TRAVEL!

Actually...I completely forgot that we went to Chateau Castelnau as our last stop before Loubressac. The views must be very awesome on a clear day. I have to say that the Interior of the Castle did not wow me but the view of the castle from our hotel was pretty special.

We packed quite a bit in our second day Images2. I would say that had it been a sunny nice day that we may have lingered along the Cele and stopped in a town or two. The rain was quite steady. The drive from Pech Merle to Figeac was a little more than an hour. We stayed in Figeac for 3 hours. Visited Castelnau and still had time for a walk in Loubressac before our 8pm dinner.

I guess it depends on how much you want to do in a day. We usually have more energy at the start of our trip and tend to run out of steam half way through.

We try not to plan things to death. Our main plan for the day was Pech Merle and Figeac and everything else was flexible.

fun4all4....we quite liked Toulouse. It reminded me of a small Paris. Very fashionable and chic.

Ok...I'll try and be more organized so I don't forget important details.

Day Three...partly cloudly and warm

I had heard that it was wise to get to Gouffre de Padirac early and it was good advice. We got to the ticket booth just ahead of a few tour groups prior to the 9am opening.

It's quite a climb down into the cave...455 steps on the tour all together. We were on the first boat out. Padirac is unlike any other cave I've visited. I've been to the Crystal caves in Bermuda and done cenote trips in Mexico but nothing compares to this unique experience. I was not prepared for the size and magnitude of the formations. It is quite a trek but we did see some people with canes on their way into the cave. I'm not sure how they managed. This was our second most favourite cave of our trip. I understand there are some impressive caves in the Dordogne that have interesting formations as well that we didn't get a chance to visit. On our way out of the cave the line was really long...likely an hour or more wait.

Our next stop was Rocamadour, or rather L'Hospitalet where we parked. We orginally intended to park there and take the lift down into town.

The view of Rocamadour is most impressive from L'Hospitalet. We didn't arrive ahead of the tour buses and the crowds were too thick for our liking. After our trek at Padirac, we decided to enjoy the view from afar and leave it at that. Many people I spoke to afterwards said that the view is the main attraction anyway. We could not have climbed another 216 steps.

Our next stop was the lovely town of Carennac designated one of the most beautiful villages of France. We agreed that it deserves its title but staying in Loubressac, we might lean towards that town more because of the views.

We decided to stop for lunch in Carennac at the creperie Le Prieure. I think our mistake was ordering omellettes instead of crepes. Unfortunately our lunch was not very good but we very much enjoyed just lingering in Carennac.

Beaulieu-Sur-Dordogne was another town we considering staying when our hotel in Carennac closed. We had a short visit there next and did not connect with the town. It enjoys a position overlooking the river Dordogne but I didn't find it particularly charming.

Autoire is a cute town and worth a short visit. It sits near an area of limestone cliffs, a canyon which was carved by the river Autoire over time There is apparently a waterfall which was a 2km trek from town which we decided to save for another time. You can only do so much....

Back at our hotel, the pool had been opened but the kids are the only ones brave enough to stand the temperature. We enjoyed the view of Castelnau from the terrace over an aperitif. There was a dog wandering the grounds that we thought belonged to one of the guests.

We both decided that 3 courses was enough and ordered the 18E menu of salad, Quail in a porto wine sause, and desert. A good meal but not quite as impressive as the previous night. The night was lovely so we took our coffee and degestive on the terrace to watch the sunset. The dog we saw earlier was camped outside and we were told that no one knew where he came from.

Another perfect day in France!!

Moolyn...just a footnote that my hair behaved terribly on this trip but that's the worse thing that happened... so I can't complain.

Hi again C4T - when I reread my message, I think I was unclear about where we will be staying (not that it matters, but ... ). We will fly into Toulouse, then stay in Albi, Conques and a small place outside of Beynac et Cazenac. I hope to have a little time to peak around Toulouse, but that is just where we are flying in .... glad to hear it is charming.

Anyway, your trip sounds lovely so far. Sorry about the rain.

fun4all4....Your trip itinerary sounds lovely. I'm sure we'll do that Albi...Conques route one day.

I'm sure you'll love the Beynac area. We absolutely fell in love with La Roque-Gageac. That entire stretch of the river is beautiful and I could never get tired of the views.

I know what you mean about feeling a religious experience at Pech Merle. I felt like I was walking on hallowed ground. The thing that really gave me chills was the hand prints stenciled on the wall. The signature of the artists who lived 25,000 years ago.

Wow! You're back already. Enjoying your report so far and really looking forward to seeing the photos.

Crazy, I had a great omelette at the creperie in Carennac. Perhaps we had different cooks. We liked Loubressac too. It's actually a most beautiful village of France as well. We were told about it by English people we met enroute so it was a lovely surprise to add to Autoir and Carennac.

Sorry your hair didn't behave as well as mine in France!

Images and Funforall4, we visited Peche Merle, St. Cirq Lapopie and Figeac all in one day, from Sarlat, so it isn't impossible. It was our day of the most driving but we felt it was worthwhile. You can follow the Cele in one direction and the Lot in the other.

Crazy, thanks for the report. Did you book your car with Avis direct or a consolidator? On-line or over the phone? That was a great rate, better than we got for 10 days.

By the way, seems you're a Haligonian, yes?

I know what you mean about the hand prints nikki...very impressive discovery.

Yes, sad to be back so soon msgo.

I have to admit that I usually never order omellettes when out at restaurants because my husbands cooking is chef quality. He has spoiled me with the most wonderful omellettes on the planet. The one I had in Carennac lacked any seasoning and the cepes were a little slimey.

Thank you, thank you, for taking the time to write such a detailed trip report! We will be leaving next month with some of the same itinerary and your information regarding driving distances, in particular, is so helpful.

I don't usually have trouble planning trips but that whole aspect for the Dordogne region was really hard and advice like yours (and from the archives) made all the difference. I think it's just so hard to try to imagine the distances involved, regardless of the detail on the Michelin maps or Mappy and deciphering what is "too much" for one day, even a full one. Yours is one of the reports that has really addressed this! I also notice that, despite the weather, you always found something positive to see or feel and share. Please write some more soon! Thanks again!

Thank you sglass. I worry that I sometimes include details that are only interesting to me so I am trying not to do so much of that this time around.

I'm glad that you're finding some of the information useful. If you have any specific questions, please ask and I will try and answer them.

Thanks for the info on your time spent in Figeac and the Cele route. We'll see how it goes.

We were actually in Carennac, Martel, Autoire and Rocamadour on Saturday, May 5, shortly before your trip! We were fortunate not to have any rain and really enjoyed the Saturday market in Martel. We bought several food items to stock our gite in the Basque area, where we were headed! I guess we missed Loubressac, I'm not sure. I remember we followed the signs from Carennac to Autoire, and I couldn't figure out what road we were on. Maybe we drove through?? What a beautiful area this is.

Carennac is magical, all the stone homes with climbing roses blooming all throughout town. The Dordogne river runs at the base and it was fun walking along it watching people fishing. There are picnic tables along side so it would be a great area for a picnic lunch.

We parked above Rocamadour and walked down, then back up. It was late afternoon and there were hardly any people there. What a difference a couple of weeks made in the crowds I guess. I really enjoyed the walk and liked it much more than I thought, hearing the bad opinions on the sight. I think the key were how few people were on the pathway. We didn't care for the shops at the bottom, and I was very surprised the "little white train" actually drove along the path with the shops. There really isn't enough room for that train and the walkers.

We spent the night south of Toulouse at Les Pesques www.les-pesques.com

It was a great B&B, and only 49€ per night!

Fun4all4 We're staying in a gite in September in Belcastel. This town is also on the most beautiful towns in France list and is located between Albi and Conques off D994, west of Rodez. There is a chateau in town. If you happen to stop by let me know how you like it!

Sorry to add to your report:) It's just bringing back great memories and I haven't even started a trip report yet!

Looking very forward to more of yours!!

I don't mind Images2....

I guess it's like with our visit to St. Cirq-La Popie...we hit the town at just the right time and almost had the place to ourselves. I've heard that it can be over run at times as well but it was quite tranquil...luck of the draw I guess.

More Crazy! We leave Tuesday for Paris, then Dordogne, for a week. I can't wait to hear more of your travels!

Enjoy your holiday wren!!....I'm afraid my report won't be done in time for you but if you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask.

Day 4...Partly sunny and light jacket weather.

Prior to breakfast we start loading the car. The dog from the night before is still camped out on the front door of the hotel where we saw him last. The tour director of a small group staying at the hotel, tells us the dog has been abandon as his tags have been removed but he has a collar. No one at the hotel is familar with the dog...very sad!!

I know that salty ham and cheese is likely not the best food for a dog,. I can't leave knowing that he is likely starving. My husband and I both sneek a little something from the buffet and give him some water before we leave. He inhales the food and looks at me for more....my heart breaks but I know there's nothing I can do.

With heavy hearts, we head to Martel for the Saturday market.

We were lucky on our trip that we always seemed to find parking. We found a spot in the main lot.

Martel is a cute town and the Saturday market is lovely. I was expecting it to be a little more extensive but we very much enjoyed it.

Vitrac was our next destination stopping off at the Cingle de Montfort along the way. We had no information on this Chateau and although it was closed to the public, it is quite an imposing structure. Made a few new friends along the way...two kittens and a little girl from the village.

Lunch at La Treille was delightful. My husband started with the garlic soup, Trout for his main dish and ended with strawberries in a wine sauce. I had my first Gesier salad with fois gras and magret. The gesiers were cut into thin strips and tasted like they were marinated..delicious. I had a confit de carnard stew which was ok. I ended the meal with creme brule.

Total bill including a demi of rose was 60E. My husband really enjoyed his trout and desert.

I was a short drive from here to our gite but we got lost several times on the way. We just made our 3pm appointment with the owner. She was just planting some flowers in pots outside the house when we arrived.

We were to be the first guests of the season. The house had been closed all winter so she was airing it out when we arrived. I think our first impression was one of disppointment. She showed us around and left us to unpack.

The gite was located less than a 5 minute drive outside of Cenac. The home is 250 years old and has been restored based on the original materials and structure. The master bedroom has a 30+ foot ceiling and the other rooms 20 foot ceilings. The bedrooms ceiling is a web of wood beams all criss crossing each other.

The kitchen has an open fire place which I guess has posed some problems in the past with unexpected visitors...namely bats and mice from what I can see in the guest book. There is also a fireplace with an insert in the livingroom. I was a little reluctant but we chose to sleep in the large room which had a barn like feel.

The first order for my husband was to kill the numerous flies and wasps buzzing around. We are informed by Jean that the spiders own the place and we are living in their good graces.

I was happy that I brought my own sheets and towels because the ones that she rents (which she kept onsite in cupboards) were very musty smelling. There is no heat in the home so everything felt quite damp. There were lots of blankets so we used these to drape the chairs and placed them under the sheets on the bed to make them dry and warm.

The bathroom and kitchen have been refitted but we were told not to use the bathroom with the stand up shower because there had been leakage problems and the ceiling has just been fixed. I detest taking a bath to wash my hair because I get such a chill, but I am not going to let these little issues interfere with my holiday.

After unpacking, we decide to make our way up to Domme for a short visit. We parked outside the gate in a bus zone. Since it was evening and there were other cars parked there, we decided to chance it. The view of the Dordogne river from Domme is spectacular, but we did not connect with this town...can't put my finger on it but it just lacked a certain charm in our eyes (only my opinion).

Cenac is a very convenient town. It has every service you could possibly need for a weeks stay. There is a bank machine, good grocery store, a couple of patisseries, a couple of boucheries, several restaurants, a local cafe and more. It was described as a truck stop in one post which worried me but I was instantly comfortable in Cenac. It makes a very convenient base to see the region. Getting in and out of town was a breeze and there's several public lots in town so parking is never an issue.

We stopped for groceries and that night we made a fire and ate at our new home. Another lovely day in France.

Crazy4Travel, thanks for the report and to others for their comments on the region. Your report has helped me to whittle our August itinerary into a more manageable and enjoyable plan. Keep the reports coming...I am Dordogne dreaming.

We are hanging on your every word C4T.
Will you post a link to the gite or at least identify it as a number of us are always looking for places in Dordogne?
Thanks for this great report.
We had that same feel about Domme.

Well, I think you should post the name of the place that you stayed so that others won't go. I don't think that musty linens, bats in the fireplace, a shower you can't use, etc. are acceptable. Hope you had a good time despite this.

A word about omelettes. Unfortunately for our taste, many chefs (and serving staff) when they hear an anglophone accent assume that you will want your omeltte stiff - to our minds , overdone.

If ever we order an omelette in a restaurant, we make sure to order it 'baveuse', or runny. As my husband often explains - we may sound English, but we don't eat English! Apologies to those of you who are English but eat French!

hi, crazy,

thanks for the report. like you we loved the gouffre de padirac - quite the best cave complex i've ever visited.

regards, ann

Thank you reading on...the gite kind of grew on us during our stay but it is certainly not as well run as yours Carlux (from all the good feedback I hear about yours). The old saying...you get what you pay for is so true. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes not.

You could tell that she had in haste done some light cleaning to get rid of some spiders and webs but I would not take a bath or cook until I had fully cleaned the bathroom and kitchen. The fridge, stove, microwave and small appliances were all very new and clean. There were plenty of nice dishes, utentials and cutlery. The washing machine looked fairly new. We were a tad disapointed with the lawn furniture which was the plastic variety and full of bugs and bird droppings. I was not inclined to clean it or sit outdoors for that matter. The pool was closed and pool area under construction.

The owners are working on restoring the other part of the house and eventually there will be 3 or 4 gites in the complex. There was a real mess next door with building materials etc which did not interfere with our stay but had we chosen the other unit it would have been quite unacceptable.

Overall, it was fine. You could tell the owners put a lot of hard work into the restoration and it was an interesting experience for us...it was our first time renting a gite and we learned a lot.

Here is the link:

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/Fra...rd-Noir/p12095

The one we rented was Gite Laurier.

Sorry, for the long link....I may have mentioned before that I'm not very good with the computer...just squeak by.