Hello: We have managed to get tickets to Font De Gaume. Is it necessary to see other cave drawings too if short on time? Thanks!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
1000 posts
Congratulations on scoring your tix.
We spent an hour or 1-1/2 hours at the https://musee-prehistoire-eyzies.fr/en shortly before we went to Font de Gaume. The Musee is in Les Eyzies, and Font de Gaume is just outside the town, probably less than 1/2 a mile from the museum. Very sensible to pair the two stops … and maybe get lunch in town. We probably spent about 3-1/2 to 4 hours in the immediate Les Eyzies area for the museum, lunch and tour of Font de Gaume.
Not sure what you mean when you say you’re short on time.
Lascaux IV, in Montignac, is 24 miles - a 30 minute drive - away. It’s a re-creation, quite well done. We went there the next day, as we were travelling through the Dordogne - the Perigord Noir - by bike and not by car.
We did not get to any other caves in the area. We rode right by https://www.roque-st-christophe.com/en/ along the road by the river en route to Montignac without stopping, other than to take a photo from afar. I don’t know if we missed much of anything there, or not.
Loved the Perigord Noir as the French say, or the Dordogne as we say in the US. We cycled there for 7 days/8 nights.
Posted by
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
6079 posts
Necessary? No. But all the caves will offer something different. We've been to 3 over two trips to the area and enjoyed then all. However there's so much interesting stuff to see in the Dordogne that even if you have a week you'll have to cut something.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
To Allan & Fred:
Thank you! for taking the time to respond to my post. We have never travelled in the Dordogne before. A note on Font de Gaume tickets - I started trying to purchase online early on September 1 for later September date. The website must have been overloaded or crashed as it took me 1.5 hours of continuous trying before I FINALLY got tickets in French, although we are English speakers. I still feel extremely grateful that it all worked out. A friend who had visited the original Lascaux caves many years ago before they were closed did recommend that we visit Lascaux IV so I think we will do that in the afternoon after FdG. I will continue to post questions and read trip reports to maximize our time in Dordogne. Thanks again! and safe travels!
Posted by
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
6079 posts
If it helps, here's my Trip Report from 2024.