Sarlat to caves without a car?

Frank, I have been on 2 full-day tours with Philippe and they were both wonderful! He's very informative, helpful and fun. He's listed in Rick's France 2013 and probably in the 2014 too and is the owner of "Allo-Philippe Taxi". Depending on where you're staying, he picks you up at your hotel. (We stayed both times at Hotel la Couleuvrine and we would stay there again.)

Thanks- I saw that listed in the book. If I wanted to do it on the cheap and just go to one cave, do you know of a way that I can get there?

Frank

Is renting a bicycle worth considering? Depending on time of year and your inclination to pedal, it would be a cheaper vehicle that a car, and perhaps better than walking ;-). I've rented bikes in many places in France, and a canoe in the Dordogne, but not in Sarlat. I suspect there would be several shops renting bikes there, however. Helmet use and availability is lower in Europe than in the USA, however.

Thanks for the idea. I'll be going in February so the weather may not be good. I also haven't looked to see how much up hill there is. Perhaps I'll be able to catch a ride with some one from the hotel... Frank

Frank,

There is a bus line that goes from Sarlat to Perigueux (and its only €2!!)
Check out the timetable at:
http://www.cftaco.fr/presentation/index.asp?rub_code=9&thm_id=111
and look for the LINE 7.

Cheers

Carla
http://southweststory.com

PS Did you know that there is a serious talk that there is a another painted cave just as Lascaux in the area - and they are going to do researches starting this summer to re-find it!!!

http://southweststory.com/wp/lascaux-iv

That is tough.

Go to Sarlat to see what's there in the way of information. Pretty much anything you look up will tell you that there is no public transportation to the caves. You need to rent a car or take a tour. We went with Phillippe as well and we can also recommend him. Check out his rates for this year. He charges by the load and by the hour, not by the person. We were there in October and he had no other customers, so we paid the full price, but he designed the tour for us and showed us some things that we didn't know existed. It was great. Some of those things are on the Sarlat website linked above. If you contact him, he will tell you how likely it is that there would be other customers in February and give you an idea of the weather. Depending on where you want to go, the locations are close by car, but not any other way.

We stayed in Sarlat at Les Cordeliers. The owner came and picked us up because there is no public transportation of any kind from the train station into town, even taxis. Again that was in October, so I would expect it to be even more quiet in February.

Hello to Carla,

Your message was encouraging. I will need more information, however. Will the bus you mentioned get me to a place where I can visit a cave? Will it get me to the museum? I would like to figure this out before I book a hotel reservation and the train ticket. Will the bus be pretty easy to catch ( I would guess the hotel would have tis down pretty well, huh?).

Thank, Frank