The Périgord and the Dordogne Valley

The Périgord by car

The Périgord is visited at the pace of its rivers. The road follows the Dordogne and the Vézère, below limestone cliffs, and goes from one village of pale stone to the next, a few kilometres apart. You stop for a castle, a cave or a market, then drive on. In La Roque-Gageac, the houses stand in a line between the cliff and the water. Below the village, gabarres, flat-bottomed boats that once carried wine and timber down to Libourne, take visitors out on the river.

Sarlat is one of the best-preserved medieval and Renaissance towns in France. On Saturdays, the market fills every square in the centre.

Just over the border of the Lot, Rocamadour is built on the side of a cliff above the Alzou canyon: a village, sanctuaries and a castle, one above the other. Close by, the Gouffre de Padirac leads to an underground river, about a hundred metres below ground, which you travel by boat. In a week, the loop crosses the four Périgords: the green in the north for its meadows, the white around Périgueux for its limestone, the purple around Bergerac for its vineyards, and the black around Sarlat for its holm oaks.

In Les Eyzies, Font-de-Gaume is one of the last caves with colour paintings still open to the public, in very small groups. The Cro-Magnon rock shelter, which gave its name to the first modern humans in Europe, is also in Les Eyzies, as is the National Museum of Prehistory, built under an overhang of the cliff.

On the same river, the Roque Saint-Christophe is a cliff cut with terraces for almost a kilometre. It was lived in from prehistory until the end of the 16th century.

The castles of the Hundred Years’ War

During the Hundred Years’ War, the Dordogne was a frontier. On the north bank, Beynac held for the King of France; opposite, Castelnaud fell to the English several times. A French fortress on one side, an English fortress on the other. The two castles can see each other across the river. Castelnaud now houses a museum of medieval warfare.

Before the war, both kings had founded bastides, new towns with a regular street plan. Domme, founded in 1281 under Philip III, stands on a headland above the valley. Monpazier, founded in 1284 for Edward I of England, has kept its arcaded square.

What not to miss

1. 1Lascaux IVThe full-scale replica of the cave, as close as you can get to the original paintings.
2. 2La Roque Saint-ChristopheA cliff lived in along nearly a kilometre, from prehistoric shelters to a medieval fort.
3. 3The gardens of MarqueyssacBox hedges clipped into waves along a spur, and a viewpoint hanging over the Dordogne.
4. 4Beynac and CastelnaudThe two rival fortresses of the Hundred Years’ War, face to face across the river.
5. 5RocamadourThe sanctuary town clinging to its cliff, best seen at sunset from L’Hospitalet.
6. 6BrantômeThe “Venice of the Périgord”, with its abbey set against the cliff and the arms of the Dronne.

The Périgord in pictures

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Beynac castle on its cliff.

The Périgord table

The Périgord is the land of the duck and the goose: foie gras, confit, magret, and pommes de terre sarladaises, potatoes sautéed in duck fat with garlic and parsley. In winter, the black truffle is bought at the markets of Sarlat and Sainte-Alvère.

The walnuts of the Périgord have their own designation of origin, as does rocamadour, a small goat’s cheese. Around Bergerac, the vineyards make reds and monbazillac, a sweet white wine served with foie gras.