We plan on visiting several caves while in Dordogne. When I try to access sites in my guidebook I am not having any luck. The site doesn't seem to have a choice for English or if it does, when I go to buy tickets it turns to French.
Anyone have success with online tickets? Mostly I am interested in Grotte de Font-de-Gaume, Pech Merle and Lascaux. We have been to the first two many years ago but didn't try Lascaux. Anyone who has I'd welcome which of the Lascaux you preferred.
Thanks
I visited Lascaux Cave IV last year and it was one of the most amazing, awe-inspiring things I have ever seen. I joined one of the guided tours they give and our guide did a fabulous job of explaining what we were seeing. You will forget immediately that you are in a replica cave and not the original - it is an exact copy. Do not miss this!!!! I copied the official website below that gives an explanation in English and it has a link to get tickets. From what I read on the website, it looks like Cave II gives you a smaller version of the original cave where as Cave IV is the full experience. Go for the full experience - you won't regret it. Absolutely incredible when you realize how long ago the drawings were made.
https://www.lascaux-dordogne.com/en/a-voir-a-faire/decouvrir/les-grottes/lascaux/la-grotte-de-lascaux/
When are you going? Many tickets are not available until 4-6 weeks before a date. The official website to order tickets for most of the caves is monuments-nationaux.fr. It is the site for the Centre des Monuments Nationaux. At the upper right corner you will see the letters "fr" with an arrow pointing down. Click on that and you will see "en" and "es". Then click on "en" for English. A page will appear "Find a Monument". Below that are options. Choose "Department" and in the drop-down box click on "Dordogne". Scroll down and click on "Prehistoric Sites of the Vezere Valley". You may have to reclick on a language option again (upper right corner). Font-de-Gaume will appear. Click on that. Other places are there also.
Lascaux IV (the newest reproduction and a fantastic job!) official website is lascaux.fr/en/. This is for English. I have been to Lascaux II, over 20 years ago, and it was very nice, but this is really impressive, with lots of additional info on prehistoric caves, etc. It is much easier to get tickets for this and they have quite a few tours in English. (You must go in with a guide.)
Font-de-Gaume is the real deal, so tours are limited and are in smaller groups (about a dozen persons, max). There was only one in English per day when we went in 2023, but sometimes there are two. Because they are harder to come by I started checking daily almost two months before the date we wanted, and jumped on buying the tickets as soon as they came up. (We were seven in our group, so I was diligent in getting those tickets.) This was for early June, before school holidays, and midweek. Weekends were harder. (I believe they were closed on Saturdays. Go figure!) Remember that if they aren't available yet, sometimes it looks like they are sold out for those days.
FYI, the National Museum of Prehistory in Les Eyzies might interest you. It was closed when we went to Font-de-Gaume, which is very near Les Eyzies.
We will be in that area in May. I have already purchased the Pech Merle tickets through their website. I have seen tickets on the Lascaux website, but haven't purchased them yet. The Font de Gaume website is not working for buying tickets online. Hopefully this is a temporary problem. It seemed to work in February, but the May tickets weren't available then. I have heard that sometimes you have to just use the French version. This isn't hard as long as you put the date in correctly! Or you could try emailing them.
Thank you all, a big help.
Plumeria54, I have purchased my Lascaux IV for June. When we visited Font de Gaume and Pech Merle in 1999 we didn't visit Lascaux. Since then we have visited prehistoric caves in Spain and their replica cave was excellent so we are excited to see Lascaux IV.
Judy and Cindyeb, we aren't having luck with purchasing from the website but your detailed instructions were great, Judy. It doesn't appear anyone can purchase right now. I did try sending an email so ......... I haven't tried Pech Merle yet but going there next.
Thank you all again!
And if you haven't visited the caves in Spain, you might want to put them on your list.
Cindyeb
Here is my reply re font de gaumetickets:
Due to a technical issue, our online ticketing service is temporarily unavailable. Our teams are working diligently to restore access as quickly as possible.
While we work to resolve the problem, you can purchase tickets at the box office, subject to availability.
We currently do not have an estimated time for a resolution.
jannsphr,
Oh, that is too bad. I hope they get the system up and running by April. If they do, you should be able to book tickets then for June. Best of luck!
Ticketing for the Font du Gaume has been different every time we have been in the area. Persistence is key. At one point you had to show up at dawn and sit in a numbered seat until ticketing opened at 9 am -- and no seat saving; everyone had to be there. Doing it on line is so much better
Don't forget Roffignac -- also an interesting authentic site.
Thanks Janettravels
