TTT we will be leaving paris for dordogne on a saturday in late may.
Day one: train to Angouleme or Brive? what do you suggest? we want to rent a car ( i have to check if the car rental places are open on saturday afternoon) and then drive to champagnac de belair/Brantome/ bourdeilles for 2 nites.
Should we stay at the Moulin du Roc in Champagnac de Belair? or Hostellerie des Griffins in Bourdeilles for our first two nights?
Day 2: explore around brantome/bourdeilles; rent a canoe; see what is open on sunday.

Day 3: drive south. caves,etc. I thought to spend 3 nights in one place --La Ferme Lamy in Meyrals, on the outskirts of Sarlat. Has anyone been there? WE can go to beynac, domme, rocque...etc. Explore the area day 4 and 5. perhaps drive a bit east.

Day 6: we need to get to bern in switzerland. Easyjet flies for 20-25 euros from bordeaux to geneva. It wld take us about 2 1/2 hours per michelin to drive there. there are not easy jet flights from closer cities. I check into trains--they cost more than flying. flybaboo (swiss owned--have anyone tried it?) flies from toulouse to geneva for over 100 euros.
Any ideas of the best way to get from sarlat area to geneva? driving the whole way is long.

i have gotten great ideas from this forum!

>>Day one: train to Angouleme or Brive? what do you suggest?<<

Angouleme is much closer to Brantome than Brive.

>>we want to rent a car ( i have to check if the car rental places are open on saturday afternoon) and then drive to champagnac de belair/Brantome/ bourdeilles for 2 nites.
Should we stay at the Moulin du Roc in Champagnac de Belair? or Hostellerie des Griffins in Bourdeilles for our first two nights?<<

If you have the $$$$$ the Moulin du Roc is quite nice. We've never stayed overnight, but had an anniversary diner there. I was quite dissapointed - I'de put it near the bottom of my list of 1 star michelin restaurants. Hotel/grounds seemed very nice.

Visit Perigueux if you have the time.


>>Day 2: explore around brantome/bourdeilles; rent a canoe; see what is open on sunday.<<

Save the canoe trip for the Dordogne - rent it in Cenac & canoe past Beynac.

Hautfort Chateau & Villars Cave will ve open. Perigueux will be dead.

>>Day 3: drive south. caves,etc. I thought to spend 3 nights in one place --La Ferme Lamy in Meyrals, on the outskirts of Sarlat. Has anyone been there? WE can go to beynac, domme, rocque...etc. Explore the area day 4 and 5. perhaps drive a bit east.<<

Can you squeeze in another day or two??? Lots to do in this area. A Canoe trip will consume quite a bit of time, and in May the weather may be not-so-great for a canoe trip - but you can wait till you get there to decide. Just stay near Sarlat/Beynac/Roque Gageac - no need to go past Souillac or down to Rocamadour with only 2 days in the Sarlat region.

>>Day 6: we need to get to bern in switzerland. Easyjet flies for 20-25 euros from bordeaux to geneva. It wld take us about 2 1/2 hours per michelin to drive there. there are not easy jet flights from closer cities. I check into trains--they cost more than flying. flybaboo (swiss owned--have anyone tried it?) flies from toulouse to geneva for over 100 euros.
Any ideas of the best way to get from sarlat area to geneva? driving the whole way is long.<,

Fly from Bordeaux or Toulouse.

Stu Dudley

Hi-
I was in that area in October. We took the train to Angouleme from Paris and spent 3 days in the area, including Brantome, Bourdeilles and Perigueux.
If you click on my name you will see the link to my trip report or you can see it with all the photos on my website; http://www.wired2theworld.com

We rented a car in Angouleme. We used Auto Europe for the rental, but did it though the .uk version of the website, saving the 50 euro surcharge for picking up at the train station.

In terms of flying to Geneva if you need to fly from Bordeaux, why not consider spending your last night there? You should be able to return the car there without a surcharge if you rent from Auto Europe.

Ditto to everything Stu said.

La Ferme Lamy is nice, but there's really nothing much around it except fields and forests. I'd want to be in a place where I could stroll around after dinner and grab a coffee or check out shop windows, especially with only 3 days (really - can't you add another day...or two or three?). That would mean Sarlat/Domme/Beynac/La Roque-Gageac/Le Bugue/St-Cyprien...

Another good canoe place is in St-Vincent-de-Cosse. They'll take you upriver to La Roque-Gageac or Cénac and you can canoe back to St-Vincent or St-Allard-les-Mines. You actually may have trouble finding a canoe place that's open that time of year.

You should check out the Tuesday market in Le Bugue.

thank you for all your help. we can squeeze in an extra night in dordogne by flying into bordeaux as our first stop; spend the night there and then drive east. so we have 6 nights and 5 full days in dordogne.
i thought we wld end with 2 nights in brantome/bourdeilles and then drive to angouleme and take the train to paris
where shld we spend the other 4 nights? in one place or two? where? suggested hotels or b&bs.

you got lots of responses on your other thread

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ry-in-june.cfm

I do not see how flying into Bordeaux adds any time to your Dordogne stay. Day one either uses up a few hours going to the airport and flying to Bordeaux or taking the train to Limoges (closer than either Angoulęme or Brive if going to Bourdeilles)and driving less than an hour to Bourdeilles. Return the car in Brive and go back to Paris from there.

I wouldn't spend two days in the Brantôme/Bourdeilles area. One is sufficient. It's nowhere near as scenic or interesting as the area around Sarlat. In fact, with only 5 days, I'd skip it, but that's just me. Driving from Brantôme to the Sarlat area, you might want to stop at the Château d'Hautefort, then just keep going.

Happy to recommend some hotels/B&Bs if you give us your budget. You definitely want to stay in one place for all 4 nights - there's absolutely no reason to move around.

We wld spend up to 200 euros/night; wld prefer less. if it cld be warm, we wld really prefer a place w/air conditioning.

Just outside of a town is fine; i read on this site recommendations not to stay in Sarlat due to traffic getting in and out. Quiet and charming wld be wonderful!

If stopping by Hautefort, you might find the 17th cent. hospital more interesting than the chateau.

Rather than passing by Hautefort, I would go to Périgueux, especially on market day (Wed. & Sat.). But the old part of Périgueux is definitely worthwhile regardless of the day and is not as overwhelmingly tourist oriented as Sarlat.

I agree with St Cirq about the Brantome/Perigueux area. The countryside is not as scenic as the area aound Sarlat/Beynac/Roque Gageac. I really liked Perigueux, however, especially on market day like Michael mentioned. Get a walking map at the tourist office - it's in English. IMO, Brantome looks better from the outside than from the inside. The inside is not nearly as interesting as Sarlat. Brantome is also a little too touristy for me - more "junk" than what's in the stores in Sarlat. I would just concentrate on Perigueux & Hautfort while in this area - with perhaps a drive by for Brantome - since you have so little time in this region.

Michael, I lost the write-up you did several years ago about the Hospital in Hautfort. We'll be there for 2 weeks in June - could you dig it up??

Stu Dudley

Stu,

I have found several postings where I recommended a visit to the hospice in Hautefort, but can't find any extended description on my part, and I do not keep a separate copy of my trip reports.

Thanks, Michael. I'll just go there & poke around.

Stu Dudley

Oh, you definitely want to go into Périgueux if your new schedule has you in that area on a Saturday. The market is wonderful, and the old quarter of town is delightful to stroll around in.

You won't have major issues getting in and out of Sarlat in May, except on market days (Wednesday and Saturday), but if you want to stay outside town, I think you could find a room at l'Esplanade in Domme for your budget. The restaurant is excellent, and there's plenty to do and see in the village. Or you might try Le Relais des Cinq Châteaux in Vézac (also wonderful restaurant), or La Belle Etoile in La Roque-Gageac (ditto on restaurant).