Hello,
We are planning a trip to Southern France in September 2016. We are looking at the Dordogne and Basque Regions, but are wondering about a third ares to travel to. We will be driving, but we do not want go too far outside of that general area. Any recommendations?
Don and Chris
This may be further than you want to go but on a similar trip we drove south toward the Pyrenees at Tarbes and ended up in the village of Saint-Lary Soulan for a couple of nights. The drive was beautiful and the region is great for hiking with good restaurants. Just one of many options!
There are so many incredible places in the Dordogne in addition to the caves at Eyzies-de-Tayac and the towns actually on the Dordogne- you don't want to go too far away from that area; spend a lot of time there. As for the Basque region, my favorite is St Jean Pied du Port, the town at the base of the Pyrenees from which pilgrims (and tourists) walking the road to Santiago de Compostella in Spain; they get their identifying scallop shell insignia there, but it is a lovely town with a river running through it.
Bordeaux and Arcahon, or Toulouse.
You don't say how long you're going for, but in 2014 we spent 3 nights in Bordeaux, 7 nights in the Dordogne, and 4 nights in Basque country. We could have added a couple of additional days to each place and not run out of things to do.
Neil
How long? We have visited the Dordogne 3 times -- for 1 night in passing, for 4 nights and then for a week and we are planning a week again this fall. I would plan on a week for this area. So many delightful chateaux, little towns, cro magnon cave, abris and other sites and the great archeological museum at Les Eyzies. And you will want to take one day for canoeing on the Dordogne. Wonderful area.
