Pawleys

Help me plan my trip to the lot Valley please. I have rented a house for my family of nine, five adults and four girls 6 to 15. our rental is in a small town in the Lot Valley near Rocamadour. I know we want to see Rocamadour, Sarlat, and one of the caves (which one?) The girls might enjoy kayaking or canoeing. I want to group sites so we’re not constantly on the road. We plan to have plenty of pool time in the afternoon.
Suggestions, please.

StuDudley

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Stu Dudley

tomboy

1. Caves: to me, these break down to mites&tites caves, versus prehistoric caves. Personally, I have no interest in the former (one ..mite looks like another, same with ...tites). I'm fascinated with the prehistorics. Lascaux was great. Pech Merle almost as good, two was enough, though
2. Paddling: if you do it on the Dordogne, while there, see Beynac castle, and 5 miles away, Castlenaud

frenchaucoeur

The Lot is beautiful and so full of wonderful places--

Rocamadour--can be wonderful or a royal pain, depending on the crowds. You may do best if you go early in the day before the hordes descend. Nearby is the Gouffre de Padirac, a set of subterranean caves that are well worth seeing .

Caves--Pech Merle for sure. The kids may be intrigued by the footprints left by prehistoric adolescents that the guide will point out. Very nearby is the very pretty if touristy village of St Cirq Lapopie, which can be combined with Pech Merle and still give you time to enjoy your pool. You can also take a ride on the Lot River; pick up the boat at Bouzies, from Les Croisieres de St Cirq Lapopie.

Sarlat will be a long day, because the drive will take over an hour. But certainly worth seeing, perhaps along with some nearby villages (have you been to the Dordogne region before?).

I agree that if you go canoeing you want to do it in the most scenic area--Beynac, La Roque Gageac. We made the mistake of picking up our canoe near Limeuil, further east, nearer to where we were staying, and ran out of energy before we got that far.

Other possible day trips: Figeac, with its Champollion association (and a gorgeous view over the town from the front of the Eglise Notre Dame de Puy, an easy walk from the center of town); the beautiful towns a bit north of Rocamadour: Carennac, Autoire, and Martel, for starters; a bit further north, the breathakingly beautiful town of Turenne, and tiny Curemonte, in the southern Correze. Collonges-la-Rouge is also a popular destination. We really liked Cahors, which is less glammed up than a lot of other places and has a fascinating medieval section that has not been gussied up but is all the more interesting for that.

A longer day trip is to the gorgeous village of Belcastel, in the Aveyron. It has a posh restaurant but also a casual place right on the water for a sandwich or light lunch.

Have a great trip.

Pawleys

Thank you so much for all of your suggestions. There is more than enough to do there in a week. I need to study all of your suggestions before I make any decisions.
We might visit Rocamadour and Gouffre de Padirac one day. I have been to the Dordogne area and would love to do the Sarlat area another. It sounds like Pech Merle and St Cirque might be a good day as well.

kerouac

The Gouffre de Padirac is unmissable in my opinion.

With children, you might want to spend some time around the town of Gramat, which has an animal park, a "monkey jungle" and an eagle show. As I recall it also has a big municipal swimming pool where I went wih a friend and his 3 sons. Oh, and there is also some sort of cattle market.

rhon

If you do go to St Cirq Lapopie, you could stop at Bouzies where there is a short walk along the towpath of the river. There is a section where sculptures have been carved into the rock of the wall. You can continue on and walk to St Cirq I think, but we just did the short walk, had a picnic by the river and then drove on to St Cirq.

zebec

Hi Pawleys,
You're spoiled for choice yeah?
We prefer smaller places and rented in Loubressac plus Roussilhe, on the outskirts of Figeac. We can recommend all three. Figeac is largest and has a worthy market, while Roussilhe makes for good walking/hiking. Figeac would also give proximity to Capdenac en haut, a great daytrip.
In the event that might want to cross just out of the Lot border, both Caylus and Caussade supposedly have good markets, so claimed a prominent chef in his book about the area. We ran out of time for that pair.
To complicate matters with suggestions that may stretch your map...both Belcastel and Conques are also somewhat nearby. The former is a truly outstanding place to eat while the latter has a famed fest.
Hope all goes well!
I am done. the mileage