Barcelona to Sarlat

In this past October I drove the other way, Sarlat/Dordogne to Barcelona and yes there was a fee to drop the car in another country. One way around that would be to take the train from Barcelona into France and rent your car there. The train should be less than three hours and easy. Once into France it is about five hours drive to Sarlat. There is now a web sight to buy tickets to Font De Guame, a very interesting cave with paintings 15,00 years old. They only take 12 people in each hour and tickets must be bought ahead of time. Great tour. Have a nice trip.

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the fee to drop off the car? Was it prohibitive?

We had the car for ten days and the drop off in Spain added close to 200 dollars. A way to find the exact price is to find the company you wish to rent through and fill out their rental form and they will display their prices. If you don't like the costs they display, delete and try another. We used Europcar and they seemed a little less than other companies and the returns are often at train stations or airports. Good luck.

Not only is the drop off fee costly, but you will be shocked at the cost of petrol and parking. And in most towns finding parking can be impossible during some hours of the day.

Over 20 years of travel in Europe, I have given up the convenience of having a car to avoid the excessive cost.

Riding public transportation is easy, convenient and inexpensive wherever you go.

In choosing cities I visit, I always search google for sights and attractions in each one to determine which I want to visit. Only you can decide which ones interest you enough to spend time in.

I suggest you do your own research and not depend on others to suggest cities to see.

Hi David, You could also check out whichbudget.com and skyscanner.net for flights from Barcelona to Bordeaux, then catch a train (or rent a car) from Bordeaux to Sarlat.

We stayed at the Hotel Couleuvrine which is in Rick's France book and thoroughly enjoyed it. We did the "half-board" and the dinner was fabulous. Also had dinner one night downstairs in the bar which was also magnificent with great music and great entertainment by "Fred".

The trip has solidified a little more. We are removing Barcelona from the trip and going to fly directly into Paris. We are then taking a train to Bordeaux and renting a car to travel to Sarlat. After that we are driving back to Paris and going to stop in a bunch of the small towns on the way back. Then we'll probably take a train to Zurich and leave from there.

Thank you for all the help!!