Dordogne village base for family with a car

We stayed in Sarlat for one week. It's not a big village. We did canoe down the river. Hightlight of the trip!! We stayed at a cute bed and breakfast, only a 20 minute walk to town. We were there the first week of September 2012. The weather was very warm.

We stayed at La Barde in Montford. About a 5-10 minute drive from Sarlat. There are a lot of places just outside of Sarlat that are nice. With a car it is easy to visit some of the smaller towns like Beynac and Domme. I think Rocamadour is too far for a base but still worth a visit. I found it a scenic drive.

We used Beynac as our base for our 3 days in Dordogne-but we were going on a float trip (pick up/shuttle and pull out was there), which was spectacular in June, and not visiting the caves. I don't think Sarlat is too big, but agree that Rocamadour is too far. Our canoe trip took us past La Roque Gageac, which is wonderful. We went ashore for lunch, not something that can be done in the Ozarks of Missouri. Definitely not the shops of Riquewehr. We stayed outside Beynac, and had great food at a restaurant there (twice) but would choose Sarlat next time-we didn't think it would be too big (great market) but it is certainly bigger than Riquewehr. Happy travels.

Thank you for your replies. It's good to hear from people who have been there already. I think we are settling in an apartment in the old town market area of Sarlat. I always think there is some wonderful memorable little b and b or charming little town where we could have some great memories, but may be it is Sarlat.

I stayed in an apartment in Sarlat last September and loved it. It's not all that big, but it's certainly not a village. The old town area is fairly compact but big enough to have lots of restaurant choices and big enough to stroll around in after dinner. Beynac could be nice too, but much smaller and hillier. Rocamadour is definitely too far out of the way.

We found Sarlat to be a great size with some very good value gourmet restaurants, endless picture-taking buildings and a fabulous farmer's market. Totally Charming!

You can't beat Sarlat. Rocamadour is worth seeing because it's so spectacular, but the village is basically a tourist trap. And it's out of the way.

Hi Carol We stayed outside Beynac last Sept - convenient to there, of course, but also to the caves & Sarlat. Rocamadour is a problem - too far for a day trip - too close to overnight there. Sarlat is not that big a city - none of them are in that immediate region.

It only takes an hour to drive from Sarlat to Rocamadour. The enroute scenery, alone, makes the trip worthwhile.

I agree with Ed. We stayed in Rocamadour one night, and it was fine, but about 1/2 day too much. Better to drive there from Sarlat, not use it as a base.

We stayed in Montignac, at Le Lascaux Hotel Montignac, which was small and well priced. At night the hotel opened their excellent restaurant. We did the day trips with the car and enjoyed returning to a small town at night where the 15 year old could wander freely across the bridge, to the stores and the internet cafe. An exceptionally nice couple owned the place and worked for hours every day. They knew us by name right away and could answer every question with recomendations. If you have a room in the front you might need earplugs but rooms are quite pleasant, pretty, and has free parking. They had one family room as I remember.