Beaune to Sarlat - best way?

Both DB and en.voyages-sncf are showing a 7:29 TER train to St Pierre des Corps changing to a TGV to Libourne changing to TER to Sarlat. Still takes over 11 hours and it doesn't run every day.

The very Paris-centric nature of the French rail system makes this very hard indeed to do by public transport. Hire a car.

That is what I was afraid of. Is there any local air service available between the two? Or somewhere close. We are actually going to be staying in Beynac.
Anyone familiar with the drive? Is it worthwile in and of itself? Can you rent one way?

Car rental would be the way to go. Yes, you can rent one way. It looks like it would be a scenic drive skirting the north side of the Massif Central. Through Clermont-Ferrand (say hi to the Michelin Man).

Via Michelin shows about 300 miles and 6 1/2 hours from Beaune to Beynac, about half of it on motorways. It will probably take longer, but still within a day's drive. You'll need the car in the Dordogne anyway. Generally there's no dropoff charge within the same country.

Otherwise take trains as suggested above, or through Paris which might actually be faster than 11 hours, and hire a guide or driver for the Dordogne. It will be very hard to see much in that beautiful region without some kind of wheels.

Having your own car is very handy around Sarlat, especially to see cave art, and picking up the car in Beaune would allow you more freedom to roam the surrounding wine country there, too.

Thank you all for the advice. I made a mistake and did not budget for a long commute. Nor did I intend to do cross country driving. So I may rethink spending two days in Burgundy. May rearrange my itinerary despite really wanting to visit that part of France. May instead spend the two days closer to Dordogne (spending 3 days in Beynac). Is Medoc worth a day or two?

Ben - yes Beynac-et-Cazenac will be our base in the Dordogne. Do you recall the route you took from Beaune to Sarlat? It looks like you can either traverse west from Beaune or Macon ,or drop down to Lyon and cut across to the west from there. Which route would be faster and/or more scenic?