6 or 7 nights Dordogne/Lot in 2020

Wishing you a speedy recovery Barbara. As for Dordogne region, you can base yourself in Sarlat-la-Canéda and in Lot Valley, Toulouse, Bergerac, or Albi is a good base. 3 nights in Sarlat and 3 nights in Toulouse.

https://www.tripsavvy.com/guide-to-albi-france-1517685

So sorry to hear about your fracture! Looking ahead in your planning, I would give another vote to the Dordogne! I can speak to our 3 nights in Sarlat as a base for exploring. We were on the RS Loire to the South of France Tour. Enjoy your planning & get well soon.

Sarlat is a very, very attractive place. From that standpoint, I doubt that you can do better for a base in the Dordogne. However, you should check driving times to other places you plan to visit. Sarlat is not on the river itself.

Toulouse is a very attractive city but a rather large one, and it's 68 miles from Cahors, so not a convenient base for visiting towns along the Lot. Albi is smaller but almost the same distance from the Lot. [Edited to add: Toulouse and especially Albi can be shockingly hot in the summer as well.] Cahors (flatter) and Figeac (somewhat hilly, and I'd say more picturesque) are much, much smaller than Toulouse but still probably not what you're thinking of when you imagine a town in the Lot Valley. I happened to depart by bus from Figeac during what I guess was the afternoon rush hour. Traffic was clogged. I had no opportunity to compare the afternoon-rush-hour situation in Cahors.

Bergerac is about 35 miles from the Lot (it's actually on the Dordogne), so I'd consider it inconvenient for the Lot as well. I don't know what it would be like to drive in and out of the town, but it was the one place I visited in the area where I was annoyed by car traffic as I walked on tiny streets in the historic center.

You really need to decide the towns and caves you're interested in seeing before choosing where to stay. Since you'll have a car, there's a wealth of possibilities, but traffic will not move rapidly, so you may gain significant sightseeing time by choosing a base that's sort of in the middle of your target destinations.

Almost forgot the airfare issue: You mentioned a one-way fare. What are you trying to do? If you want to fly into Toulouse or Bordeaux and back home from a different airport, don't look at one-way fares. Instead, price a multi-city ticket into Toulouse/Bordeaux and out of the airport nearest your final destination. I'm afraid it's going to be quite a bit more expensive than a round-trip to Paris (though I haven't checked), but it sure as heck isn't going to cost you $4000.

Thank you acraven! I had no idea that would make such a difference.

1) I'd probably go for 2 bases. Where might depend on the sights I want to visit. But there is something to be said for a town on the river. Beynac, La Roque, etc.

For the Lot, Cahors may be convenient. It is worth a stop if you do not stay there, also St Cirq.
2) Based on mu=y feeling that there is more to see on the Dordogne, I would do 4/2. But your itinerary ought to drive that decision for you.

3) As others have said, open-jaw is the way to manage the airfare.

Planning the same trip you are in late May of 2020.....have been looking at Sarlat and Beynac for our bases. We have heard so much about these 2 places and they keep popping up on my research. We will have a car and more than likely fly in and out of Paris as we always do because the tickets are so much more affordable. We love to rent a car and drive so that is not a problem for us. We love walking through the villages and going to the markets. I have THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VILLAGES IN FRANCE book so its fun to route our drives through those towns when we can......it adds so much to your drive and the majority of them in France seem to be in the Dordogne. We will probably allow 6-8 days in the Dordogne and about a week in Paris at the end of our trip.
So sorry to hear of your accident......hope you are healing!

We stayed for one week in wonderful manor house on the river.
http://www.chambresdhotes-lamalartrie.com/en/
It’s in a perfect location to tour the Dordogne and one hour from the Lot.
The service is amazing and the owners are awesome. Reserve early. Can’t wait to return. Heal up fast! Heading to Provence and Barcelona tomorrow 😃

.have been looking at Sarlat and Beynac for our bases.

Jane, if you mean that you're thinking of splitting your week between these two, I wouldn't recommend it. They're too close to each other. They're both worth staying in (we spent a week in Beynac a few years ago), but I'd suggest picking one and then picking a second further away, such as headed towards Bergerac or a little south. That would make it easier to see different parts of the Dordogne.