Dordogne from Carcassonne - Train Stations/ Car Rentals

Last year I took a train from Paris to Brive, where I rented a car from EuropCar. It is located next to the train station. From Brive it is about 1.5 hours by car to Sarlat (including time for photos, a sandwich, and briefly getting lost).

Alternatively, you could take a train to Sarlat and rent your car there. However, from my research last year I did not recall any hotels that caught my eye within a short walk of the train station. There are several further into the old center of Sarlat but those would be more like a 1 mile walk from the station.

Car rental agencies do not appear to be open on Sunday in France. I had to plan last year's trip around that fact.

Thanks for your help! I think Brive-L-G may be our best option. Do you know if it is possible to drop off a rental car on Sunday for processing on Monday? If rental companies don't do this, I guess I'll have to leave a day early for Tours. Also, I cannot find a way to get to Sarlat from Carcassonne by train except by going through Bordeaux. That's an extra 3-4 hour trip by train over going up directly to Brive-L-G. Am I missing something? Thanks again for your comments!

Thanks for your help! I think Brive-L-G may be our best option. Do you
know if it is possible to drop off a rental car on Sunday for
processing on Monday? If rental companies don't do this, I guess I'll
have to leave a day early for Tours. Also, I cannot find a way to get
to Sarlat from Carcassonne by train except by going through Bordeaux.
That's an extra 3-4 hour trip by train over going up directly to
Brive-L-G. Am I missing something? Thanks again for your comments!

I don't know if you can drop a car off if the agency is closed. You may have to check with the company and particular office involved.

I recall from my research that getting to Sarlat by rail from pretty much anywhere was a headache - a lot of changes and very time consuming. It's just not well served by rail as many other cities. Maybe a bus has a more convenient schedule?

Or maybe rent the car in Carcassone and drive to the Dordogne? The autoroute can get you into the Dordogne region painlessly from Carcassone.

Maybe it's because of where I live but I wouldn't waste that much time to see a beach. I've driven from the Dordogne to Provence stopping for lunch in Carcassonne. About an hour and we had enough of Carcassonne, it felt very Disney. I'd rent in Provence and drive the whole way. I'd want the car in Provence as well, heck...I'd probably want the car everywhere but Paris.

I haven't driven in Europe, and I haven't been to the Dordogne, so this may be impractical for some reason, but: Have you considered driving the car to Tours? From reading here I gather that there may not be a significant drop charge within the same country. Perhaps Tours has a rental office open on Sunday; if not, you could return the car Monday morning. You might also check hours at any rental agencies in Limoges, which is on the way, though it may well be smaller than Tours.

The drive from Provence to eastern Dordogne is mostly highway and easier that you would think. The drive from the Dordogne to Tours is fine, but requires more surface roads. Once in the Loire, driving is the easiest I've experienced in France.

Agree with Richard. Just did this last week. Trained Paris to Avignon, rented a car for 5 days there and drove to Dordogne via lunch stop in Carcasonne. (It was raining so we had the place practically to ourselves! 90 minutes was enough.)

We'd planned to drop the car in Brive and train back to Paris, but it was going to be a six hour train trip. We were spoiled after our 2 hour fast train Paris to Avignon, so we elected to keep the car and drive back to Paris...which afforded us a quick stop at Chenonceau in the Loire Valley.

It worked great, although don't really recommend dropping cars in Paris! Massive 2 hour traffic jam getting into the city and not immediately obvious how to get to the garage. Next time, I'd drop it somewhere an hour outside the city, spend the night and train to CDG I think.

Cahors: Has Hertz, Avis, and Europcar offices, centrally located. Trains depart Carcassonne at 13:30 and 15:30 and total train time with a connection at Toulouse is 2.25 or 3.25 hours, more than an hour shorter than continuing to Brive. I've only stopped long enough to visit the historic bridge, but Google Maps shows several hotels within an easy walk of Cahors train station.

You don't have to drop the car back at the same station. Also according to Google, Avis at St. Pierre-des-Corps train station (near Tours) is open 15:00-19:00; reconfirm with the agency. The problem with leaving the car at an office that's closed and dropping the keys in the slot is that you could be liable for any damage incurred overnight. If you have it checked out by a receiving agent in person, then they sign off on the condition.

Chintson, excuse me but I think this is not a good plan. You would see Carcasonne at midday, when she is at her tour-bus-infested worst, and miss her at her best, morning and evening. I am afraid you might regret the whole thing.

Between Carcassonne and Sarlat are many wonderful small towns and probably the best cave art experience in that part of France at Peche Merle. I would work the cave and nearby St Cirq into your itinerary, and I would steal a day from almost anywhere else in your schedule to do so. To be fair, you could visit them from Cahors, though it is a little bit out of the direct way.

It is common to return rental cars to unstaffed agencies on Sundays and after hours by dropping the keys though the night slot. Naturally you would want to verify this when you arrange for the rental, and get instructions about where to leave the car.