Dordogne or Barcelona

Haven't been to Barcelona, but spent 5 days in Sarlat in the Dordogne region. Very fond memories. It will tick all your boxes, history, vistas, serenity, great food. If you want to have a free day away from the car, I can highly recommend taking a day tour with a wonderful tour guide who runs Hello Philippe Taxis in Sarlat. Check him out on the net. He will tailor the tour to suit you. We based ourselves in Sarlat. Every night we wandered down the street and found a different and amazing restuarant.

I am having trouble remembering the name of the great B & B we stayed in off the top of my head. I will look it up and send you the info. It was situated right in the heart of the town overlooking the old town square.

Hi there. Back again. The name of the Chambre de Hote we stayed in was Maison Du Notaire Royal run by the wonderful and very helpful and knowledgable Toulemon family. It was a little gem. The day tour company is Allo Philippe Taxi.

And I haven't been to any of those areas of France, but I'm very excited about returning in a few weeks to Barcelona. The city is a combination of modern and ancient with great food and wine, Picasso museum, superb Catalan Moderism (similar to Art Deco) art and architecture, beaches, and day trips to Monserrat (scenic), Tarragona (Roman), Girona (medieval), Figueres (Dali) for a start. Madrid with its great art museums is a 3-hour train ride away.

I'd be tempted to spend some time visiting the Cathar Castles in France - on the border near Spain, then a couple of days in/around Cadaques to see Salvador Dali's house before heading to Barcelona.

I've included a link to the Join Us in France podcast archives pertaining to the 22 episodes focused on southwest France. They have completely covered the area and provide good ideas and knowledge about what to do in the region. Enjoy!

http://joinusinfrance.com/category/south-west/

With 2 weeks, you can do the Dordogne and Barcelona. I'd cut out Carcassonne. It's not nearly as compelling as the other two destinations. In my opinion, it's a Disneyesque 19th century reproduction, full of tacky souvenir shops. The Dordogne has many beautiful medieval villages, great scenery, and fabulous pre-historic sites.

I'm an unabashed lover of Barcelona. I think it is just one of the greatest cities in the world. A week is a good amount of time to explore its enormous variety of attractions.

Agree with Rosalyn, though I wouldn't bash Carcassonne quite so much as recent research shows the restoration wasn't that far off. The tacky souvenir shops opened as early as the 19th C. Meanwhile, pilgrims to Mont St. Michel complained about the same thing back in the Middle Ages.

Anyway back on subject, yes, a week in the Dordogne followed by time in Barcelona. But be sure to leave the car at a French TGV station on the Paris-Barcelona route (Narbonne, Perpignan, etc.) and take the train to Barcelona. Leaving the car in another country will incur a hefty fee.

We have stopped for stay overs on travel through the Dordogne several times and spent a week there a few years ago and love it. We spent 5 nights in Barcelona 10 or so years back. Both are wonderful places. If you have two weeks, you have time for both. I am not a big fan of Carcassone and would pick the Dordogne over that, but all of this is good. 5 nights worked very well for us for Barcelona. We spent an entire day at Sagrada Familia (I think visits there now are more regimented, we literally wandered around the towers for hours taking pictures) and visited the other Gaudi sites in the city. Park Guell was still just a park and free then and it is now a ticket taking tourist site. We had wonderful food both places. With two weeks, I might spend a couple of days in the area you are in and then do 5 or 6 nights in the Dordogne and 5 or 6 nights in Barcelona and fly home from there.

Take a train from Montpellier to Bordeaux (2nts).
Pick up a hire car for the Dordogne (4nts).
Drive to Carcassone (1nt).
Drop off car in Beziers and take a train to Girona (2 or 3nts).
Perhaps another hire car to explore the Costa Brava - Cadaques, Figueres.
Train to Barcelona (4 or 5nts).

Thanks to everyone who has given me such good travel information. I will use it when planning our trip.

As seniors we have been to both. Last September we spent 3 days in Barcelona before the RS Best of Spain tour. Absolutely loved it. My husband says it was our best trip so far even though he got sick.
In 2009 we rented a house in La Roque Gageac and we loved the Dordogne. Driving all around those small roads was very difficult though without a GPS. Actual driving times are much longer than they appear. We were advised to fly home from Toulouse. I would love to go back there, too.

Barcelona is tapas, sangria, Picasso, Gaudi and lots of history. The Dordogne is a beautiful area with foie gras, prehistory and medieval sites.