Lascaux Cave tours

If you are planning to visit Lascaux IV, which I recommend, you can take their guided tour. You can’t do it on your own. Visit www.lascaux.fr for info and tickets. Be sure to select an English tour. In April we bought our tickets a few days in advance. We loved the tour and exhibits that you visit after the tour.

Edited to add that we also visited Grotte du Font de Gaume. Those tickets often sell out, so plan ahead.

None of the tours we have taken were 'self guided' -- Lascaux, Roffignac, Font du Gaume or Chauvet. Each was done with a group tour and you can buy tickets for English tours although we did Roffignac in French because we would have had to waited a long while for an English tour and we did Font du Gaume the second time in French as it was what was avaialble that day. They are all great. Font du Gaume is IMHO the best because it is both elaborate and the real deal -- but hard to beat those magnificent Lascaux and Chauvet recreations.

arvaijw,
You cannot do a self-guided tour at Font de Gaume. Tickets are sold out very quickly.I would hop on the website now to reserve them, especially if you want the English language tour. Be sure to use the official website for tickets to there and to Lascaux IV. Lascaux IV may have walk-up tickets available on the day, especially if in LATE September, but you may not get an English language tour. There too, I believer you are not permitted in the replica cave on a self-guided option. If you can, nearby to Font de Gaume, in Les Eyzies, there is the well-regarded National Museum of Prehistory, a fitting addition to the grottes visits. I wouldn't pay an outside tour company to see the caves, but youy will need a car to navigate around the Dordogne area. Do a search on this forum for the Dordogne caves, and put in "travel Forum", then 2 years or newer" for lots of helpful information.
tickets.monuments-nationaux.fr is the official website. You can search it out in English, but for some reason, last year, I had to switch to the French when I made our reservations.
Oh yes, and if you want to go to both caves the same day, allow yourself enough time to drive from one town to the other, and don't get tour times too close together.
How long do you have in the Dordogne area?

arvaijw,
Font de Gaume tours are limited to about 13 people each. You are in the original cave and up close to the original art work. Rules are very strict so as to preserve the drawings. And it is a long-ish (for this 80 year old) uphill walk to the cave entrance. Give yourself time to arrive from the gift shop/entrance. (I started before my family and let them catch up to me, otherwise I would have been 15 minutes behind them.)

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. The Font de Gaume caves sound great. Unfortunately the dates that we are in the Dordogne area (3 days , 2 nights) do not have any English guided tours available. For the French tours do they have audio guides that accompany the tour? (hoping for the best). We are also touring down to the South of France and go near the Caves of Niaux. Does anyone have any experience with them?
If anyone has other suggestions for the Dordogne area they would be greatly appreciated. We will probably do the Lasxaux IV tour

You don't need someone explaining things in English at the Font du Gaume -- grab whatever is available. Yes it would be better to have an English guide but you can read up on the cave and its drawings so you know what to look for and just look at what the guides are pointing too. Language is a plus but not a requirement -- and this is the real deal.

Piggy backing on this question as we are going next summer, about how far out do the Font de Gaume tours go up for sale?

@Jlkelman, there was a post earlier this year that I was following that mentioned that tickets would go on sale mid-month for the month after- next. For example October would go on sale August 15th. However there is nothing on the website that states this and tickets are not yet on sale for when I need them in October. I sent an email to ask and got a quick reply but no real answer. Here it is:

Thank you for your interest in national monuments.
In order to respond to your request, we confirm that sales are opening gradually, we invite you to make your reservation 7 days before your actual date of visit.
We wish you good reception of these clarifications and remain at your disposal for any additional information you may need.
Best regards.

L'Équipe E-billetterie CMN (Sophie)

the rules for the Font du Gaume change constantly so you have to keep checking in. When we first did it you had to call and book a reservation; the second time we had to show up at the crack of dawn and sit on a numbered bench until they opened at 9 and only the people with butts on those numbered seats got tickets for the day. I seem to recall there were about 60 seats and the tickets were issued in groups of about a dozen or so. Sometimes you can register on line nearly a year in advance and then sometimes the rules change and it is a week or two in advance. So advice is not a sure thing.

jkelman and arvaijw,
Last year I needed tickets for seven of us for Font de Gaume, preferably English language, for the first part of June. I started checking on line in early April (too early), but I checked every day anyway, as tickets were VERY hard to come by, (and I am a bit overzealous) and our group would take up half the tour size. I got them the day that our date opened up, on May 4, for a tour on June 14, for the only English language tour of the day. We did not use a tour group or company to book. They cannot get tickets any sooner or better than you can, and you will pay a lot more money. The website is tickets.monuments-nationaux.fr. Get familiar with it to reserve your tickets when they come online.
(FYI, my nine-year old granddaughter loved them and was so impressed to be in the presence of the real thing, the truly prehistoric pictures. Our guide was especially good with her explanations, and made sure the kids (a 12 year-old also) could see the art.
A different day we went to Lascaux IV and it was a big hit as well.
Bonne chance in your quest!

arvaijw,
Re other things to do. Your time in the area is limited, but my second choice would be a castle, probably Beynac over Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, although each is great. Both have stunning views of the river and valley, one of the most beautiful parts of France.