Loire to the South of France in 13 Days Tour - Cave Art

We were on the tour a few years ago and as I remember the free day is on the Sarlat market day. Even walking slowly and looking at every booth it's going to be hard to spend more than an hour or two and there isn't much else to do/see in Sarlat. Seeing Lascaux probably has a fair amount of overlap (I've never been) but it may be a once-in-a-lifetime chance unless you spend a lot of time traveling to France. On the forum I've since read that some guides will help arrange transportation for those who want to see Lascaux, but ours did not. If you don't go to Lascaux I suggest planning a train trip to another town after visiting the market.

Thanks Bll G. We've been to Paris a few times and in 2023 was on the RS Paris and the Heart of France. We are leaning to visit Lascaux and we may never get another chance. We appreciate your input!

Yes, visite Lascaux. It’s completely different from Ruffignac.

I agree with Bill. We were done with the market after an hour and just walked the perimeter of the town. Part of our group put together a picnic dinner but we had dinner reservations. I would have loved to have seen Lascaux instead of a down day.

To me you can't visit too many caves with art! I, too, found Lascaux different from Rouffignac so I would do that.

When are you going? A friend has stayed in Sarlat and visited some of the caves with a private driver. If you like I can get the name for you.

Thanks to everyone for their responses. The suggestions have been encouraging. We will make the visit to Lascaux :-)

Pam, I sent you a private message.

That's what we did in 2019. I asked our guide about it on the first day of the trip and then she asked the group if anyone else would be interested. She then arranged a ride and tickets for us for the afternoon of our free day in Sarlat. Cost was about €25 per person-I think there were five of us. Lascaux was spectacular and well worth the time.

I was on this tour in April and our guide was able to arrange a ride to/from for a number of us to go to the Lascaux cave on our free day - for me it was an absolute highlight of the trip. Completely amazing. It was actually helpful to have seen the Rouffignac Cave the day before because they are pretty different and incredible in their own ways. Definitely do not pass up the chance to go!!!

Thank you everyone for sharing. We are looking forward to visiting Lascaux.

I agree with the others - do it! Earlier this year, our guide arraigned transport to/from Lascaux (don't remember our cost) on our free day. While Rouffignac is the real thing (drawings, bear claw marks and "nests", photos not allowed), what many of us have in our mind are the drawings from Lascaux (colorful drawings, painstakingly reproduced for both Lascaux and the museum where photos are allowed). Two very different but complimentary experiences.

Thanks for sharing. We do plan on visiting Lascaux.

Everyone has been extremely helpful!