Les Eyzies-de-Tayac

I'd stay in Les Eyzies and with four of you, you really do need to be in the line crazy early. Odds are great that all 4 will not get tickets. It is well worth doing what you must.

The museum in Les Eyzies is quite wonderful so if you miss out on tickets, or if you get tickets for later in the day, it is a great way to spend a couple of hours learning about our cro magnon ancestors.

I agree that it's worth jumping through any hoops to visit Grotte de Font-de-Gaume. See also recent advice about reserving ahead through the French part of their web site: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/cro-magnon-caves. Taking the tour in French is better than not at all.

We just returned from a 5 night stay in Sarlat. We enjoyed this medieval village as our base for exploring the area. We stayed at Villa des Consuls which I can highly recommend. We stayed in one of the apartments, which was amazing....we even had a large terrace to sit on and enjoy breakfast or a glass of wine in the evening. We paid 10 euro a night for a parking space in a private garage which was worth every penny.....no parking problems and we avoided traffic when leaving town for our trips in to the country-side. The owner, David, was very helpful with directions and information and the laundry room available free to guests was an added bonus. The village of Sarlat, while busy with tourists, was still charming. At night there are many restaurants to choose from and the diverse street entertainers were a lot of fun for all ages. We visited the Cro-Magnon caves at Font de Gaume and Peche Merle and explored the villages of Beynac, LaRoque-Gageac, and Domme. A kayak trip down the river is a must and there are many beautiful bike paths to explore. As for tickets to Font-de-Gaume.......I had made reservations on-line back in January for the 100PM English tour. We were told that people were in line at 500AM to try to get tickets for that day. My understanding is that they only allow 80 people per day to tour this small cave. You might have some luck snagging tickets at the last minute if someone does not show for their reservation (there was a couple on our tour that lucked out). If you can't get tickets to Font-de-Gaume you might want to drive to Peche Merle (about an hour away from Sarlat). They allow a lot more people in per day, I was told 700 (cave is much larger than Font-de-Gaume) and I think you can get tickets fairly easily by just showing up though you may have to wait an hour or so for an available tour. Where ever you decide to stay I am certain that you will fall in love with the beautiful Dordogne Valley.

the reservation possibilities for the Font du Gaume seem to change frequently. Last I read from people recently trying to do this is that there were no reservations available on line anymore. Others said there were a handful offered on the French language web site. I feel so lucky to have been able to do this twice when it was easier; it is amazing. I'd so line up at 5 am for the tickets.

I started the thread referenced earlier by Laura, and in February reserved two tickets for our trip this past May by email using the script Diane provided in that thread. If making a reservation is no longer an option, I'd suggest staying nearby at Le Chevrefeuille, and coordinating you itinerary so that you can be there on Wednesday, Friday or Sunday when Ian is serving dinner. He and Sara will provide folding chairs and a thermos of coffee or tea for your early morning wait in line for tickets to Font-de-Gaume. Ask about a local truffle farm that offers a tour. We didn't have time to do it but other guests recommended it.

If you do end up having to wait in line, you don't need to have all 4 people until you get to the front of the line. Just drop off one person at around 6am and then go assemble a picnic breakfast to bring back to your designated squatter.

No bags or photography are permitted inside the grotte.

We were there July 22nd. We stayed at Hotel Cro-Magnon in Les Eyzies down the street (great little place!) and got to Font-de-Gaume around 7:30. We were not the first ones there, but pretty close, and were able to get in on the first English speaking tour which was at 10am. You can buy tickets for other caves at that location, too, which makes camping in line all the more worth it.

FdG was one of the highlights of our French trip, as was the whole area. We only scheduled one day here; I wish we had planned for at least three! Have a great time.

I appreciate all the tips. I have one more for future FdeG travelers. I waited for over a month to hear from the French tour people about a French tour of the caves. No reply. Finally, I found this email address. I made a simple inquiry and got a response the following day. Unfortunately all spaces were taken for the date we will be there, but this might help others.
[email protected]