The Dordogne

I think there is more to Bergerac than wine. For one, it's actually on the river, so you can take a barge trip. It's also bigger, so more to offer as far as accommodation, restaurants and shops. I haven't stayed there, though. I wouldn't stay in Sarlat again. Parking is a pain there, and it's easily done as a day trip.

We always stayed in villages with a car and then day tripped to other spots -- gardens, markets, chateaux, canoe rentals.

I’m not sure how many days you are talking about, but assuming it is less than 7, I would spend them all in the Sarlat area over the Bergerac area.

Bergerac is at the western end of the Dordogne Valley region, if you want to visit the Dordogne for what makes it popular, the villages, castles, caves, etc, Bergerac doesn't have much to offer.

Also considering the Dordogne region as a whole, Bergerac is close to Sarlat, so splitting your time between Sarlat and Bergerac doesn't make sense.

If you are really passionate about the wines of the Bergerac region.. Cote de Duras, Montbazillac and other local appellations you can stay in either of these two places
But if it is about wines in general there are plenty of other places in the region with local vineyards to satisfy you. The wines of Cahors at the eastern end of the valley in Quercy are also very famous.

As already mentioned Sarlat is hell if you have a car, which is essential in the Dordogne. Staying in Sarlat is like staying in the visitor center of a national park. It is crowded with tourists. Moreover it is not really a central place to visit the Dordogne whose particularity is not really to be in a town with lots of restaurants and shops but to visit pretty rural areas with its small scenic villages lost in the middle of nowhere.

See this map to get an idea of ​​the places to see in the Dordogne.
(I also put some winemakers where you can go for tastings)

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1OdPOg8AgsNn0Jlv1cNHkujaWv9p_Jpc&usp=sharing

bmcbride,
Jolui knows her stuff. Listen to her. Stay in one of the other lovely towns in the area and drive into Sarlat for a day. Parking and getting into and out of Sarlat is not easy. Just too m uch traffic. We stayed in a gite between Vitrac and La Roque Gageac and it was perfect. Each day we drove to someplace different. (This was early June) Driving in the area was easy and places we visited were all within a reasonable distance. Bergerac, to me, is too much one the edge of the area. You can find the local wines in the restaurants and the groceries, and there are probably some tasting rooms. Many of "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France" are all around the area.

You caught me by surprise by writing that Bergerac is all about the wine. We spent an afternoon there last Fall and didn't know. Old Bergerac is very pretty and worth a day trip but if you really want to focus on wine for a few days I'd suggest St Emilion. Depending on your interests in the Dordogne we found Beynac to be small but a perfect base for us to explore castles and caves. Here's my Trip Report if you're interested. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-part-2-hills-and-castles-dordogne

A week in the Dordogne was a fabulous vacation! No need to focus on wine at all when you have the following in fairly close proximity: Grotte de Font-de-Gaume in Les Eyzies (a prehistoric site that rivals Lascaux, but you could actually go down into the caves and see the real drawings, not a facsimile, when we visited). Chateau des Milandes: Josephine Baker´s home, now a museum complete with some of her costumes, with a raptor show in the courtyard. Chateau Marqueyssac and Gardens in Vezac: truly magnificent formal gardens that sit way up on the bluff above the river, but then again, maybe 150,000 boxwoods just aren´t your thing, but you can sip your vin blanc while enjoying your crepe on the chateau terrace...Trust me, you´ll find plenty of things to do. Oh, and then there´s the river cruise, and the Chateau de Castelnaud: for medieval architecture, home to the Museum of Medieval Warfare (all the weapons, armour, siege engines, you could dream of...) Lots more details on purefrance.com.

Sarlat is an excellent town to use as a "home base" while exploring the Dordogne region. I agree that having a car inside the city can be challenging because of limited parking and because some streets are closed to traffic on market days. We stayed at a short term rental apartment, Maison Pierre d'Or, which is on the edge of town and has its own private parking. It is an easy, safe, short walk into town. We used the car to explore other areas of the Dordogne and to access a nearby large suburban style grocery store, but could easily avoid the traffic of Sarlat. I highly recommend a stay at Maison Pierre d'Or near Sarlat.

When we visited the Dordogne in 2015, we stayed in 2 different bases. One was Sarlat. We had a car, and our hotel (Villa des Consuls) had parking spaces reserved in a nearby garage, so we never had problems with parking. We enjoyed staying in Sarlat because we had many restaurants to choose from at the end of a long day of sightseeing. We found it convenient for sightseeing, such as LascauxII, Grotte de Rouffignac, Grotte du Grand Roc, La Rogue-St. Christophe, cruise on the Dordogne River, Marqueyssac Gardens, Beynac Castle, Gouffre de Padirac, and Peche Merle.

Our second base was Brantome, which is much quieter than Sarlat, at least in May it was. This is a lovely town; our room overlooked the Dronne River. We took a very nice drive along the Dronne to explore villages. Had a guided tour of the Abbey in Brantome. We really enjoyed Brantome and the surrounding area. Very pastoral and green.

We also stayed in Villa des Consuls in Sarlat for five nights. It was great. The reserved parking at the outskirts of the central area of town worked well and we only had one time when getting out of town took a while.