The Dordogne

Here is our host's discussion of the region, including recommended sights under "At a Glance." Everyone's choices will vary based on time, interests, energy, and budget. My wife and I stayed here in Beynac for five nights and loved the place and the town. Others might prefer Sarlat as a bigger town with more dining options and a big street market one (or two?) days a week. We spent a market day in Sarlat, visited the castles at Beynac and Castelnaud, went to the Lascaux II and Font-du-Gaume caves, visited the prehistory museum at Les Eyzies, went up the hill to Domme, drove over to Rocamadour for a look but didn't go into the vertical town, and drove down to Cahors for part of a day. Your choices may be quite different. Hope this helps you make your own decisions about what to see and do.

The Dordogne is one of my favorite parts of France. We’ve been there several times. With no more clue to your interests than quaint villages (plenty of those), I ‘ll mention a few that the earlier poster omitted. Near Rocamadour is the Gouffre de Padirac, a gigantic cave system. You have to take an elevator to reach the floor. Part of the tour is done in a boat. Really spectacular.
Another very enjoyable activity is canoeing on the river, which is shallow and slow moving. The rental companies set you up with your gear and arrange pick up places and times.
There are many prehistory sites. If that interests you, you should do a google search to find which ones are near where you will stay. They vary in their access rules. Some take reservations; others are first-come . . . Those often have people lined up hours in advance.
If you let us know your interests, we can give more specific recommendations.

We have stayed twice at Le Petit Versailles in Beynac http://www.lepetitversailles.fr and can recommend it highly. The hosts are friendly and Mme Fleury served the best breakfast I have ever had at a B&B. We like gardens and really enjoyed Les Jardins Suspendus de Marqueyssac http://marqueyssac.com/new/?lang=en. There are numerous interesting towns and chateaux in the area.

We can also recommend La Villa des Consuls in Sarlat-la-Caneda http://www.villaconsuls.fr/en/promotions/ It's a hotel in the Old Town of Sarlat and can provide parking nearby (no cars permitted in the Old Town). It's very nice and provides easy walking access to the great markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We really enjoyed the gardens at Manor d'Eyrignac. Sarlat is only a 20-25 minute drive from Beynac so the same sightseeing riches apply to both. Sarlat is a good base for seeing prehistoric cave art.

Been back for a week from the RS Loire Valley to Nice tour and the Dordogne was my favourite. We used Sarlat for three nights as our home base. The old town of Sarlat is very pretty for evening dinners. The town of Beynac was my absolute favourite on the entire trip-very picturesque. We were only there for an hour so it's now a bucket list item to go back and stay overnight. Park at the top near the castle and wander downhill through the town to the river. We visited Rouffignac and Lascaux caves. Liked them both but if I had to choose one it would be Lascaux. If you love markets, time your trip to be in Sarlat for the Saturday morning market.

When will you be there? If in July and August be sure to go to at least one night market in a small village -- food, communal tables, dancing on the square at night -- bring your own dishes and utensils. There are snapshots here.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/perfect-place-for-murder-commarque-chateau/
We enjoyed the St. Cyprien market -- you want to find a larger one -- the market in our little town of Cadouin where we were staying had about 5 vendors. We love visiting the small towns and out of the way treasures. And definitely canoe on the Dordogne (not the Vezere). We also loved the caves -- it is worth getting up early to see the Font du Gaume and Lascaux recreations are also well worth the trip. There are many chateaux -- take in one of them and gardens of interest. Just beautiful area; our distant ancestors knew a good thing when they found it.

Here is a small town we found with a nice stroll to a small church in the countryside -- we visited a couple of other small villages in the region the same day.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2017/08/01/montferrand-du-perigord-and-its-12th-century-stone-church-st-christophe/

We spent a week in the Dordogne, at a house in Beynac, a few years ago, and loved it. Rather than listing all the places we went to, I'll just attach a link to my blog. This was the first entry, and 3 later ones also covered the Dordogne.
http://mainelywinenews.blogspot.com/2016/04/from-bearn-to-dordogne.html

What are your interests? The Dordogne is known for prehistoric caves, castles, gardens, and duck! What time of year are you going? That makes a difference regarding crowds.

We visited for 6 nights in May 2015. We spent 2 nights in Brantome, which is not mentioned much on these forums, but we really enjoyed it. In May, Brantome was just waking up from the winter. Not crowded at all. The countryside was very green and very beautiful. We had a guided tour of the Abbey in Brantome. We did an all-day scenic drive along the Dronne River, and visited many pretty villages, such as Bourdeilles, Creyssac, Lisle, Montagrier, and Lusignac (our favorite village). On the way from Brantome to Sarlat, we visited Chateau de Hautefort, which I think you could also visit from Sarlat if you don't make it to Brantome.

We spent 4 nights in Sarlat at Villa des Consuls that Bob mentions. These are lovely apartments; we had a 2-bedroom apartment because our daughter was traveling with us. Sarlat is crowded but beautiful, and has many restaurants to choose from so it's a great place to be in the evenings. It has a large market, too, that I think is held twice a week.

From Sarlat, we visited the following caves:
Gouffre de Padirac: I agree with Rosalyn. it's really spectacular and one of our favorites.
Peche Merle: another favorite; In the Lot Valley. Original drawings and paintings, stalagmites and stalacties; footprint and handprints of an adolescent boy.
Lascaux II: Glad that we saw it but not one of our favorites because it's a reproduction.
Grotte de Rouffignac: Take a train through the caves. Original cave drawings, domes on the ceilings, and hundreds of bear nests. Another favorite.
Grotte du Grand Roc
La Rogue St. Christophe: very impressive with great views

Other sites we saw:
Dordogne River cruise on a river barge with Gabarres Norbert
Marqueyssac Gardens
Beynac Castle: a highlight of our trip. Medieval fortress with few furnishings; has a primitive feel to it; Richard the Lionhearted slept here.

For a guidebook, I used Footprint France (Dordogne & Lot).

We are planning to be there late May 2020 until early June 2020. Thanks for all of your help so far!