Lascaux II or Font de Gaume

Definitely Font du Gaume, since its the original and not a copy. It literally made me gasp out loud in awe.

They're very different experiences, which we liked for different reasons. Though Lascaux II is a reproduction, it's a very faithful one, letting you see what the Magdalenian people would have seen in the original cave. The colors are vivid, lighting is good, and there's room to move around on a level floor and see the paintings. The English-language tour is excellent. With Font-de-Gaume the footing is uneven, space is tight, and lighting is dim. As I recall, we were able to spend much less time in the cave, for understandable reasons. But the immediacy of standing a foot or two from what a prehistoric artist put on the stone 150+ centuries ago is incomparable. The tour we took was in French, we understood enough to appreciate what we were seeing but English would have helped.

Since you're so pressed for time, I suggest you choose whichever cave you can schedule most conveniently with an English-language tour (unless you're fluent in French). I think Lascaux II will offer more such tours than Font-de-Gaume, which had them only a few times a week as I recall. They're different, but one isn't really "better" than the other.

An advantage of Font-de-Gaume, if your time allows, is being very close to the prehistory museum on the cliff above Les Eyzies, a worthwhile sight in itself.

Font du Gaume which we have visited twice is almost impossible to visit these days because they only allow a handful of tickets a day which go to people who line up at the crack of dawn and then sometimes not all of them succeed.

It is for me the best experience though -- there is something about seeing the real thing that is by itself exhilarating. I feel truly blessed to have experienced it.

Lascaux II which we have also visited twice is by contrast easy to visit; they run small groups in various language through continuously and each time we have gone, we were able to get an English tour within two hours. Since your time is apparently short, you would want to arrange in advance. The reproduction is true to the real thing and because Lascaux was protected from the elements (Font du Gaume is an open cave) the colors were preserved. The Lascaux murals are in original color; Font du Gaume is black on black due to degradation over time.

With limited time I doubt you have a choice, Lascaux II it is.

Assuming you can do either, I would go with the original - Font de Gaume. An original trumps a copy any day. I thought Peche Merle was even better, but it may not fit your agenda - it's about an hour and a half away. I believe it's easier to get tickets though, and a better experience than Font de Gaume.

There's nothing like the real thing and Font de Gaume is the real deal. The other is just a reproduction. Now, if you don't want to carry lawn chair, food, and drink and camp out all night in the hopes of getting a ticket, request one in advance. Do this by emailing fontdegaume@monuments-nationaux.fr or calling + 33 (0) 5 53 06 86 00 In 2015, this is the way to buy advance tickets and the ones available are for the last two tours of the day, one in English and the other in French. Font de Gaume will blow your mind.

Hi from Wisconsin,
I would aim for a real cave. Not an replica. I visited a replica of Altamira in Madrid. Just not the same as a real cave.

Southern France has Pech Merle. Jacob Bronowski, in his book, The Ascent of Man, uses the paintings in this cave for his book. This is a super cave. The cave along is worth a visit and then to have these really neat prehistoric cave paintings. It was a thrill. One of the high lights of that five week trip to France.

Near Avallon France, is Grottes d'Arcy. By now we have seen several caves with the pre-historic painting in both Spain and France, so we are a bit choosy. d'Arcy was not a spectacular cave, but that last room had a herd of mastodons. Pretty neat.

These caves with paintings are great but not as rare as we have been lead to believe. Shop around.

wayne iNWI