Featured holiday Dordogne and Black Perigord walking holiday Dordogne, France

You reach your first overnight stop today with your own travel arrangements. Allow time to check your kit, pack your rucksack and study your guides and maps. Dinner is provided tonight at your hotel in Montignac, a 4-star hotel for the luxury option and a 3-star hotel for the comfort option.

On the edge of the town of Montignac is the world-famous Lascaux cave with its prehistoric paintings dating from the time of Cro Magnon man, about 17,000 years ago. ‘Discovered’ in 1940 by local boys, the original cave housing the paintings is closed to visitors to protect them, but there is a world-class visitor centre that holds a replica of the original. After a visit here you continue your walk passing the Chateau de la Grande Filolie, through undulating fields with outcrops of wood, with sight of a few hamlets before reaching the village of St Amand de Coly. The village has an imposing fortified Romanesque church, once belonging to a monastery. The architecture of the village is typical of the region and attractive with its stone and terracotta houses, with steeply gabled roofs and shuttered windows. A taxi returns you to Montignac for dinner at your hotel.
Distance: About 16 kms
Time: About 5 hrs

After breakfast you are taken by taxi to St Leon sur Vezere which has one of the most beautiful Romanesque churches in the Perigord, built on the site of a Gallo-Roman villa as well as two chateaux. Your route today takes you through the Vezere valley or along the heights of the village of Peyzac le Moustier and La Roque Saint Christophe, whose caves overlooking the river were inhabited by troglodytes over many thousands of years. You walk through the villages of Moustier and Tursac, with a massive bell tower, before entering a forest to reach Les Eyzies de Tayac. You check in to your second hotel, a 3-star hotel with pool for the comfort option and a 4-star hotel with pool for the luxury option, and enjoy dinner here.
Distance: About 21 kms
Time: About 6.5 hrs

Les Eyzies sits at the confluence of the Vezere and the Beune, and nestles underneath dramatic grey and ochre cliffs. With its favourable natural location, it’s easy to see why this region was chosen by mankind to inhabit over thousands of years ago. The valley of the River Vezere is a UNESCO World Heritage site as it is one of the largest areas with evidence of prehistory in the world, with at least 15 recognised prehistoric sites. Today you explore locally in Les Eyzies with a visit in the morning of the National Prehistory museum which contains an outstanding collection of prehistoric stone tools, weapons, and artefacts made from stone, bone and ivory. In the afternoon, you are offered a 12 kms circular walk from Les Eyzies through the Gorges de l’Enfer and the Sorcier cave. Splendid views can be enjoyed. Return to your hotel for dinner and the night.
Distance: About 12 kms
Time: About 3.75 hrs

This morning you are transferred by taxi from Les Eyzies to the village of Saint Cyprien, a picturesque, mediaeval village in the heart of the Perigord Noir built around a 7th century abbey founded by a hermit called St Cyprien. From Saint Cyprien you walk along the Dordogne river, crossing it to reach the village of Allas les Mines, on the river and built into the hillside; it is dominated by its church with a turret. Your route continues along the river to the port of Envaux, with its old houses once belonging to the boatsmen working the river. You then climb up to the Chateau des Milandes, a Renaissance castle affording breathtaking views of the valley. The chateau is remarkable for its lauzes-covered roof (flat stones, or thackstones), panelling, large mullioned windows, and wonderfully preserved stained glass windows. Les Milandes is linked to Josephine Baker, originally an American dancer and singer who became very popular in France during the 1920s. The trail then takes you through woods to the castle of Castelnaud, a mediaeval fortress on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Dordogne valley, and standing opposite its great rival, Beynac. The chateau has been restored in recent decades and now houses an extensive collection of weaponry and armour from the Middle Ages. From here a taxi takes you on to Domme at the end of the afternoon. Check in to your 3-star hotel with pool in Domme, for both the comfort and the luxury options. Dinner is included here.
Distance: About 17 kms
Time: About 5 hours

After breakfast at your hotel you are transferred from Domme to Beynac. You’ll discover the village by climbing its sloping lanes lined with splendid old houses and then reach the castle, a true mediaeval fortress which was only ever captured once, by Richard the Lionheart. Visit the mediaeval chapel and the Calvary which overlook the river. Your route takes you through the wooded hills above the river to reach the small valley of Combe de Brague and then the village of Vezac, followed by the Chateau de Marqueyssac. This castle, dating from the 18th century, is renowned for its magnificent park and gardens, full of boxwood topiary. There is a viewing platform offering a marvellous panorama of the area. Then your track drops down towards the river and continues to the splendid village of La Roque Gageac, nestling at the foot of limestone cliffs facing south on a loop in the river Dordogne. This is listed as one of the most beautiful villages in France and it contains historic town houses, troglodyte dwellings and mansions, such as the Tarde manor and the Chateau de la Malartrie. Ochre facades and lauze roofs combine to make it a photographer’s delight. On the hillside is a small church standing in an exotic garden of palms, cactus, bamboo, fig and banana trees, all of which flourish in the village’s south-facing microclimate. You return to Domme through countryside and along the river. Dinner is taken at your hotel again this evening.
Distance: About 19 kms
Time: About 6 hours

Today you visit and enjoy on foot two of the most attractive and well-known towns in the Dordogne. The morning is devoted to Domme which has much to offer in terms of architecture, history, natural geology and local flavour. Domme is a ‘bastide’, fortified, town dating from 1283, changing hands between the French and English several times during the Hundred Years War when this region was so heavily contested. Domme enjoys a commanding position, high above the Dordogne, with outstanding views. As you walk through the town, you’ll discover its fortified gates and towers, such as at the Porte des Tours or the Porte de la Combe, its ancient houses, some half-timbered and some with steep perigordine roofs, the covered market and the governor’s house. Underneath the market square is a cave with stalagmites and stalactites, part of an underground system that was used to shelter the town’s inhabitants during the Hundred Years War. In the early afternoon, you are transferred by taxi to Sarlat. Sarlat is a beautiful, carefully restored town a few kilometres north of the Dordogne river. The old town with its abundance of both mediaeval and Renaissance architecture, is a delight. Don’t miss the streets around the cathedral with the attractive Cour des Fontaines and the Cour des Chanoines. Wander the maze of narrow streets and if there on a Saturday enjoy the colour and life of the weekly market. You stay overnight here in Sarlat, with dinner included, in a 4-star hotel for both options.

The tour arrangements end after breakfast. Own transport onwards.