The Vézère valley is a site of exceptional interest, with 147 prehistoric sites dating from the Palaeolithic Age and 25 painted caves. In our ancestors’ footsteps – 450,000 years of history Its 4 major towns are Périgueux, Bergerac, Sarlat and Nontron. Situated in New Aquitaine, the A89 motorway runs through it on an axis between Lyon and Bordeaux. Use this handy Hotel Map with prices to find the perfect place to serve as a base for your explorations.Covering an area of 9060km, the Dordogne is France’s third largest region. You'll want to spend more than a day in this beautiful region of France. Saint-Cirq LapopieĪ medieval village little changed from the Middle Ages, set in a vast forest, it takes awhile to get to. Sarlat is a popular base for explorations of the Dordogne because of its many good hotels and rental apartments, its restaurants, and its own cultural and historical interest. RocamadourĪ mystic, spiritual medieval town clinging to a sheer cliff topped by a fortress, Rocamadour is revered for its miraculous Black Madonna effigy and chapel as well as for its dramatic situation. Préfecture and largest city in the Dordogne region, Périgueux is half-ancient, half-modern and famous for its foie gras and truffles. It's here you'll find the National Museum of Pre-History along with plenty of caves and art. Lascaux is most famous, but Les Eyzies is really the center of France's pre-historic cave-dwellers and their culture. The neighboring town of Montignac is a gracious host. The astonishing 25,000-year-old cave paintings discovered in the caves at Lascaux are a must-see, even if they're actually the faithful reproductions in Lascaux IV. It's best viewed from the middle of the River Dordogne in a hired canoe or kayak, or during a cruise by traditional gabare riverboat. Squeezed between a mountain cliff and the river, this old one-street town looks to be straight out of a storybook. This small town, built as a fortress in 1267, is a quiet, calm stopping-place on your wanderings along the valley of the Dordogne. View from the ramparts of Domme, Périgord. DommeĪ strong-walled military lookout on a rock promontory has become a must-see stop on any Dordogne Valley itinerary because of its panoramic views of the fertile countryside, spired châteaux, and meandering river. CahorsĪ mostly modern city embraced by the River Lot, but with medieval reminders, Cahors is, and always has been, famous for its wines. Perched on a mountain crag looming over the Dordogne River, Beynac is a picture-perfect medieval town topped by a castle-fortress, with canoes and kayaks for a cruise on the river. Here are the high points: Bergeracįamous for Edmond Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac, this interesting medieval town is, more importantly, a winemaking center. You go to the Dordogne (by plane, train, bus or car) just to live there for awhile and enjoy it. What it has is a consistent richness of natural beauty, history, culture and cuisine.ĭordogne/Périgord cuisine, by the way, is based on duck and goose, including the heart-stopping (in many ways) fois gras, washed down with notable local wines. The Dordogne has no must-visit imperial cities such as Paris, no must-see royal châteaux such as in the Loire valley. Swathed in fertile river-floodplain fields and green forests, its hills and rock outcrops dotted with medieval towns and châteaux, it offers a succession of beautiful vistas and panoramas along the length of the river and its tributaries. The Dordogne River valley is among France's most beautiful and alluring regions.
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