France Family Travel Guide Logo

Dordogne Towns  There is a rich diversity of towns and villages in the Dordogne with splendid villages perchés and bastide towns such as Domme, delightful riverside villages such as Limeuil and cultural centres such as Sarlat.  But the best must be the spectacular villages built around cliffside troglodyte dwellings such as Rocamadour or La Roque Gageac.  No visit to the Dordogne can be complete without spending at least some time in a street café in one or other of these.
Square in SarlatSarlat
 Location: Situated where the D704, D47 and D57 intersect in the centre of the Dordogne region.
General Info:  Parking can be difficult at times, especially on market day (Saturday) when you might prefer to try and travel there by train on the Bordeaux to Sarlat main line.  Office du Tourisme website.  Sarlat online.  See the bottom of this page for details of Sarlat hotels.
 SarlatDescription: This medieval town gets hugely busy in the summer months with hordes of tourists browsing the myriad of shops in the centre.  Sarlat is reknowned for its Saturday market -best in the region.
Our recommendations: We would advise you to go there in the evening when the town is lit and has a really romantic feel to it, also the crowds tend to be lighter and yet many shops will remain open. Look out for the portrait artists outside the Cathedrale St Sacerdos.
For the children: Try one of the ice cream parlours – they have a delightful choice in many of them.  Our children also had fun having a caricature by one of the street artists (see below!).		 Our favourite towns in the Dordogne:

             - Domme
             - La Roque Gageac
             - Limeuil
             - Monpazier
             - Rocamadour
             - St Emilion
             - Sarlat

Also worth a visit are Le Bugue and St Cyprien for their markets, Meyrals for its fascinating scarecrow displays and Bergerac for its wine museum.
Sketch by Street Artist in Sarlat!Street artist sketch in Sarlat Chosen by our children:

     - Top Attractions in the Dordogne
     - Top ten Holiday destinations in France
External websites offering information on the Dordogne:

- Virtual Guide around Perigord.

You may also be interested in visiting our section on the Lot which is within a day trip's reach from the Dordogne.
Hotels in Sarlat area

To be centrally placed for visiting the main delights of the Dordogne then the area around Sarlat is a good place to make your base. Or you could split your stay into a couple of bases one in the west – say around Siorac/Belvès or slightly north around Le Bugue and the other in the east – in the Sarlat area.  If you don't want to cook for yourself, then why not get pampered in one of the local hotels?

A good web-site to look at is www.hotels-sarlat-perigord.com. Click on the English language option and then click on ‘our hotels’ which gives you a map of the region, centring on Sarlat.  Each hotel is given a good write-up and in addition some (but by no means all) have their own web-sites which are listed below.

www.lahoirie.com
www.lavillaromaine.com
www.latreille-perigord.com
www.hotelplaisance.com
 www.hostellerie-maleville.com
www.lerelaisdutouron.com
www.ferme-lamy.com
www.leshautsdemarquay.com
http://membres.lycos.fr/hoteldesbories
www.relais-perigord-noir.fr
www.domainedelabarde.com (a bit special)

Also you could look at:
http://www.clement5.com/welcome.html (in Belvès)
www.la-metairie.com (lovely spot on the river between Lalinde and Le Bugue)
www.moulindelabeune.com (in Les Eyzies)
www.chateauxhotels.com/esplanade (in Domme)
www.lafleunie.com (north of Montignac)
www.hotelducentenaire.fr (in Les Eyzies)
www.hotel-moussidiere.com (in Sarlat)