Arles to Sarlat too much for one day?

Schedules are online through May on the DB site. You can depart at 9:00 and make the trip in 8 hours with two changes.

Laura, thanks!

It might be easier to drive. You could stop in Carcassonne for lunch and a quick look through the cite..

Richard, thanks. Come to think of it, that is a real possibility. Not necessarily stopping in Carcassonne, though we certainly would if we went that way with a rental car; but with a car it might be possible to take a much more direct route and cut out a lot of mileage, as well as seeing some (probably) pretty out-of-the-way places. Don't know why that did not occur to me, we plan on renting a car elsewhere.

Years ago we drove from Avignon (closer to Sarlat than Arles), stopped for a visit to the Pont du Gard on the way, and still didn't make it to our planned destination in Beynac or Sarlat that day. We stopped at a cute village with a mean boxer dog en route for the night, and continued from there, stopping along the way but eventually reaching Beynac. We encountered our Beynac B&B owner in Sarlat the next day.

You could make a beeline by train or rental car from Arles to Sarlat, but much of your day could be "burned" while inside your means of conveyance. Lots to see or do along the way, if you had the time and getting to Sarlat ASAP isn't a firm priority.

Thank you too Cyn. As usual, we're being tempted by several places in between points A and B. Number one temptation so far is a little town called Cordes Sur Ciel. So now we're back to the option of taking the train, if we want to maintain the original schedule, or adding a day if we drive. Leaning toward the latter.

In May we drove from St Remy, which is slightly farther due to being east of Arles, to Sarlat. I think it was about 6-7 hours of driving. The drive time predicted by the Via Michelin website was spot on. We stopped at Pech Merle cave for maybe 2 hours en route which slowed the drive a bit because it's located in the countryside, but the countryside was memorably beautiful so it was actually a feature of the drive. Instead of taking the major highway by way of Carcassone and Toulouse and Cahors we took a less direct route through Millau (good highway) and then cross-country on what was more like state highways and then secondary roads to reach the Pech Merle area. I think if we'd taken the major highway it would have been about the same drive time. My husband preferred the route because we saw more of the country than you do from the highway, but the driving was more 'active'.

Since Pech Merle takes reservations we were assured of being able to see the cave on our stop. BTW There is a little town a few kilometers from Pech Merle where we had lunch - there isn't a cafeteria at Pech Merle. There is a little museum and a gift shop.

It was a regret not seeing Carcassone. Perhaps on another trip : )

Joel - with a rental car there's so much you can enjoy en route from Arles to Sarlat. And, while RS did not appreciate Cordes Sur Ciel - we did - lot's a shops owned by local artists. The tour of the "beautiful villages" around Albi was a splendid day trip but may take too much time given your goal of getting to the Dorgonne. With a car you could stay outside of Sarlat (a very nice small city) but Beynac or La Roque Gageac are very charming. We stayed at the Hotel Perigod - great location, super nice owners, wonderful prix fix dinners, and swimming pool. Lastly, try to get on the river by 10 am for a breath-taking canoe ride (later in the day is not a problem, just so many more canoeist will be joining you). Bon voyage!

Many thanks Lia and Craig.
That Via Michelin Site is great! A whole new way to plan/anticipate the trip. In fact we are thinking of that route through Millau, it's helpful to know that it's a good highway. We also plan to stop at Pech Merle, though not on the day of the drive; how amazing that it is open to the public, and how nice that it takes reservations (we already have ours, for early June :-) ). We will definitely check out Beynac and La Roque Gageac; as the Chief Planner I've been fixated on Sarlat due to all the accolades, but we are always happy to find less touristy places to stay. Thanks also for the river tip Craig; that goes on the wish list.

I wouldn't fixate on Sarlat as I found the smaller towns mentioned to be much, much nicer.