Paris, Dordogne, and Berlin

Train from Paris to Berlin will take at least 8 hours
I would fly

In Dordogne, I recommend staying in Sarlat, which is very centrally located. It's a very charming small city with an awesome market on Saturdays. We stayed at Villa Des Consuls. Their accommodations are apartments. Located in the medieval quarter. They provide parking at a nearby parking garage.

We spent a week in the Dordogne in Fall of 2024 and loved it. Not speaking French will not be an issue with driving. Do your homework ahead of time regarding signage, and within the Dordogne, trust the road signs more than your GPS. Here is my Trip Report if you're interested. I do talk about the driving in it.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-part-2-hills-and-castles-dordogne

Driving in France is easy. You'll have a learning curve, but once you get going, it's pretty straightforward.

Sarlat is great.

It would be a long day on the train (9 hours with 2 transfers), Paris to Berlin, but if you'd got the time, it's more relaxing than flying.

If you can, you can arrange to make the trip in the order Paris-Dordogne-Berlin (without backtracking to Paris after the Dordogne). EasyJet operates two flights Bordeaux-Berlin a week on Thursdays and Sundays. This is in the event that you rent a car in Bordeaux after a Paris-Bordeaux by train, and return the car in Bordeaux

Not speaking French won't be an issue, whether for driving or staying in the Dordogne. As Allan mentioned, be careful not to trust your GPS blindly. You’re better off following the road signs. In rural areas a GPS might lead you into the middle of a field down a dirt path just because it "thinks" it’s saving you a mile or 2

Millions of foreigners visit the Dordogne every year, and there is a large British expat community, so not speaking French is very common. This is especially true in Sarlat—where almost all North Americans go—even though it’s only a tiny part of the region.

From May to late September, finding accommodation with parking (preferably free) is essential in Sarlat, as it's the most touristy area. And regarding the Sarlat market, sorry for having to repeat this point, but there are dozens of markets every day in many towns and villages in the Dordogne. Sarlat is far from being the only place where you'll find a market; in fact, the same vendors and stalls rotate through different local markets throughout the region depending on the day of the week.

That being said, in the summer the Sarlat market offers special street entertainment for tourists that may appeal to them.

Driving in France will be no problem. I suggest you watch some YouTube videos about it.

Les Frenchies has a very good one on driving in France, as well as other informative videos: https://www.youtube.com/@LesFrenchiesTravel

There is one road sign in particular you should familiarize yourself with, it shows two opposing arrows that indicates which direction of travel has the right of way. This manages passage on narrow roads and is something we don’t have in the in USA.

Buying gas at unstaffed kiosk type stations can be a problem due to our credit cards not working there. There are some very long threads on these forums about it, just something to be aware of.

I love the Dordogne -- if you can spend a week there with a car it would be great.

We did Berlin for a week a couple years ago as a side trip from Paris -- but we did spend a few days in the Netherlands first and so did it by train (and were in the middle of a train strike, so fun all around). I would fly from Paris to Berlin and open jaw your flights so you fly out of Berlin.

In Dordogne, I recommend staying in Sarlat,

You'll get different opinions about this. For me, Sarlat is nice to visit for the market, but other than that is the least interesting and most crowded place in the Dordogne. I would recommend staying in a smaller village like Beynac, much less stress to drive in and out of, quiet and peaceful at all times, right on the river, and right below a castle.

You can rent a car from Bergerac, Bordeaux or Brives-la-Gaillarde, whichever you find has better train connections from Paris. I used Bergerac, but that is because I was flying from there.

You don't need to speak French to drive, the signs are pretty universal. Even the stop signs say "stop" (not arrêt) and anything that is in French will soon become apparent to you (sortie = exit, for example).

We always stayed in villages in the Dordogne -- last one was Cadouin which had easy parking, one bakery, one cafe and one restaurant -- and a very nice abbey. It was a great base to drive to other towns, chateaux, gardens etc in the area. I would not stay in Sarlat unless you didn't have a car. And for the Dordogne you really need a car.

I also agree to stay outside of Sarlat. Getting into and out of town involves slow and annoying traffic. We were in a gite between Vitrac and La Roque Gageac, and Sarlat was just a 15 minute drive away, but we only went there once for a special dinner and once for the Wednesday (big) market. Every other place we visited was an easy drive. Driving around to the places we saw were lovely also.
When we went in 2023 we took a train from Marseille (we were with family there) to Bordeaux and rented a car there after a couple days stay in Bordeaux. The drive on country roads (our preference) to the Dordogne took almost 4 hours, but we stopped for lunch. On the A roads it takes less than three hours. The TGV from Paris to Bordeaux takes about 2 1/2 hours, so figure 6-7 hours total traveling from Paris this way. You can rent a car at the train station or the airport in Bordeaux. We returned to Bordeaux after seeing the Dordogne and took the TGV back to Paris. I don't know about the trains into Bergerac, etc.
Perhaps you might get your flight from home to Bordeaux (change of planes at CDG), get your car at the Bordeaux airport, and skip Paris until after the Dordogne. If you do, I would stay in Bordeaux that first night to get over jet lag. Get your car at the train station, or since there is a tram that goes to Bordeaux airport from town you could head to town, sleep there, then back to airport to get the car and drive to the Dordogne. (It is easier to drive from the airport than from the town.) When you leave the Dordogne, drop your car at the train station and take a TGV to Paris (2 1/2 hrs). It shouldn't cost much (if any) more to drop at the train station.
IMO, the Bordeaux option is best, but you could luck out with the trains to Bergerac, etc. Car rental options I these smaller towns may be more limited however (in choice of car and in open hours). You will have to check these out.
Good luck! Your trip sounds like a great one!

I'll be doing that Berlin to Paris route in June. You could break it up.

Last summer I did Berlin to Paris sitting in a 6 seat compartment taking the night train, all other compartment mates were Europeans, one young German guy, (this guy was in a sour mood...fair enough) , one solo French university student (she was nice) , one solo Spanish woman, an older German guy ca. 60 or so.

I purposely chose not the direct route, if such a thing existed. I took the Berlin-Offenburg option, arriving ca. 6 AM, it was late, then changed to local rail for Strasbourg (just in time for the rush hour folks) to catch the TGV to Paris Est....all in all a nice experience looking the foul mood guy.

The Berlin leg is easy, take the train to Frankfurt Hbf or Mannheim, then connect to Paris, a direct shot. Both Mannheim Hbf and Frankfurt Hbf or Frankfurt Süd have departures to Paris Est.

I'm going to be in the minority here, but I strongly recommend that you not go to Sarlat, It's very, very touristy. We hated it There are much nicer (and much less crowded) medieval towns to visit, especially if you have a car and are willing to venture off the tourist path: Domme, Collonges-la-Rouge, Beynac-et-Cazenac, Rocamadour, La Roque-Gageac, and more. Then there are the prehistoric cave paintings: Grotte de Font-de-Gaume (really, really special), Lascaux, and more.

You'll be driving smaller "D" routes, which we prefer over the boring, Interstate-like "A" routes. D roads are generally picturesque, easy drives through the French countryside. Google Maps navigation is mostly reliable; be sure to use the Google Maps download feature to put the Dordogne area to your phone in advance. I recommend you supplement Google Maps with the Michelin Driving Map 329 for Dordogne (from Amazon or Barnes & Noble). Don't be in a hurry, don't worry about the occasional gravel road (it will be smooth and it won't last long), and if you happen to take a wrong turn and think you're lost, smile! It's part of the adventure. Drive on, and Maps navigation will re-route you in short order. It's not a problem if you don't speak French. Follow the standard procedure to always begin every conversation with "Bonjour Madam/Monsieur", put on your best 'I Need Some Assistance' worried face, and you'll be fine.

Uncle Boo, You are not in the minority re a Sarlat stay.

We were just in France, and visited the Dordogne. We used a rental car from the Super U, a supermarket chain.

1) The road sign with the 2 arrows is important. The white arrow shows the direction of priority. The red arrow shows the direction of yield - if you have the red arrow, you wait while cars from the other direction (with the white arrow) proceed thru the space. The arrow on the right as you come to the narrowed place is your arrow.

2) We used Google maps all the time. We never had a problem with them. They were installed in the car. We put in the link to our phone, and could dial up the destination easily. We have T-mobile, which was a seamless transition to France.

3) The Dordogne was high on our favorite list. We stayed in Sarlat and also in Tursac. We had the "full duck" experience in Sarlat at Auberge de Mirandol. We also visited the Ferme au Lac Noire, and purchased some foie gras and other duck delights. We also purchased a bottle of noix liquer, a cordial made from walnuts which is a speciality of the region. Sarlat is touristy but a good stop.

4) The Chateau Beysac is a fine castle, where Eleanor of Aquitaine lived along with her son Richard le Coeur Leon after his captivity in Germany.

5) The cave as Lascaux is a great stop. there are other caves as well. We also visited the "troglodyte city", where an entire town was built into the rockside - destroyed during the Hundred Years War, sadly.