Contemplating a 10 day vacation to the Dordogne region in May. Of course will see Sarlat. But two questions. I know they have some famous gardens, are the flowers blooming there in mid May? Second, kind of confused about the Lascaux caves. I realize the original is closed, so what is it you actually go see now? I believe a Lascaux IV is being built now, is that correct??? Thanks in advance all.....
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
I have only been to the section called Lascaux 2. It reproduces the majority of the painted cave, with every effort to use natural materials and original methods. It's very impressive! But since you can never really shake the knowledge that you're viewing a reproduction, I recommend visiting one or two of the original caves in the area, as well. They will confirm to you that the ancient works really were that great, and that no modern "artistic license" was necessary at Lascaux 2. Also, if you have not seen The Cave of Forgotten Dreams, about the Chauvet cave, it will certainly whet your appetite.
Posted by
4520 posts
Here's another cave with original paintings, only French language tours (off the usual tourist radar). Not far from Lascaux.
Posted by
Chicago
8060 posts
I have been to the Font du Gaume twice, Rouffignac, Pech Merle and Lascaux II twice. Lascaux is easy to get into -- they run tours in several languages continuously all day; each time we have gone we could get a tour in English within two hours of arrival in Montignac. It is terrific -- but as others have noted -- it is a faux experience. Font du Gaum was hands down my favorite experience and we were lucky to do it before it became so popular and well known. It is now VERY difficult to get in. They reserve one English tour at the end of the day which you can book well in advance but since there are only about 10 or so people on a tour, odds of getting it when you are there are low. They also sell about 50 tickets for that day and people line up at dawn to get them. I would thin it worthwhile to do this, but you have to do it super early and be willing to take any tour you can get French or English. It is the real deal and that makes it special.
Rouffignac is sort of cool. You go in a little train into the mountain. For the most part the quality of the cave art is of '17,000 year old boy scout troop did this on a lark.' Lots of very badly drawn animals; some pretty nice mammoths. In terms of 'art' Lascaux II and Font du Gaume are in an entirely different league.
Pech Merl is a beautiful natural cave with very little cave art. There are a few drawings in addition to the well known spotted horses but mostly it is just cave. The spotted horses are neat to see but again the art overall is nowhere near as stunning as Lascaux and Font du Gaume which are similar. Font du Gaume was exposed to weather and so it is basically black on black but the shapes of the images are magnificent. Lascaux was sealed off and the colors retained and Lascaux II reproduces that experience.
I agree that 'Cave of forgotten Dreams' is well worth seeing. It is now available for live streaming on Netflix. We saw it in 3D which was interesting -- like walking through the cave. It will never be open to the public, but I believe a replica of Chauvet is being built much like Lascaux II. It was supposed to open last summer and perhaps someone who has been can report on the experience.
Posted by
Florida
482 posts
I highly recommend the gardens at the Manoir d'Eyrignac (13 km NE of Sarlat). Another favorite of ours is les Jardins de Marqueyssac (12 km SW of Sarlat). I could rave about each of them but you might do better to look them up yourself and see what's in bloom when you'll be there.
Posted by
California Central Coast
97 posts
When planning our Dordogne trip a couple of years ago, we found these sites really helpful.
Neil