Dordogne with toddler (3yo)

[varsitychic]

Going in July. Looking for ideas for nice places to go suitable for 3yo. Staying in Sarlat near Bergerac. Thank you.

We went last year with a 4 and 7 year old. Swimming lakes - there are loads around there, beautiful deserted Sandy banks and clean water. Kids had the best time.

https://www.guide-du-perigord.com/en/tourism/discover/tourist-sites/nature-reserves-parks/la-jemaye-212/les-etangs-de-la-jemaye-7800.html

La Jemaye is lovely and great for kids but might be a bit far for you.

Sarlat is so lovely. Just be prepared for the heat. Have you a pool where you are?

@AlisonDonut yes we have a pool thankfully, and a hire car. So we are thinking every other day spent out and about, and the rest playing at our gite. Do you know any specific river beaches or other places suitable? Our nearest city is Bergerac.

Cahors. Lascaux caves. Roque gageac. Domme. Monkey forest. Rocamador.
We used to have a gite there.
Sarlat had a grocery market day on a Wednesday and an all sorts market day on a Saturday.
They also used to have a festival during July, loads of street artists and butter and sugar crepes.
Interesting tidbit: the original les miserables was based there.

I know I live here!

When you get there, there will be a plethora of leaflets I'm sure, with all the local attractions. But it gets so hot you may find that you can't do much in the day anyway so will spend your time in the pool. It's already too hot here after 10am to do much outdoors. Evening markets are everywhere, and Sarlat usually has evening stuff going on all summer.

Likely to be so hot. I wouldn't camp.

Bergerac has an aqua park and also lac de pombonne. Domme and Beynac are lovely (Domme has a little tourist train as does Bergerac). The train journey between Sarlat and Bergerac is lovely (and you get to cross the viaduct!)

Sarlat isnt that close to Bergerac...they are over an hour from each other.

Chateau de Bridoire, south of Bergerac, near Ribagnac is great for children - there is a maze and loads of garden games set up, plus 'try a knight's helmet' on sort of stuff.

The Lascaux caves are special, and good to do when it's hot...but there are so many lovely towns and villages to potter in, I'm sure you will have a great time.

There's the chocolate museum in Terrasson Walter Bovetti. The chocolate tastes a bit more mass produced than it used to, but not bad for presents.

There is the Zoological Reserve Calviac fairly close to Sarlat, which is a zoo/wildlife reserve, very good for the little ones.

Sounds great! Thanks for the ideas! We are used to heat so fine with that and happy to have air con and a pool. I will look up all these places.

Perigord aquarium. An unexpected highlight of our trip.

Following this thread because we’re visiting the area with our 2 teenagers. Some great suggestions here! Does anybody know if mosquitoes are a problem in this area?

We stayed near the Dordogne a few years ago and visited Parc Le Bournet which was lovely and great for a toddler. It's a heritage park with animals, old buildings and vintage funfair rides.

We visited Domme and did a tour of the caves there, the village itself is beautiful.

As a PP mentioned, Chateau De Bridoire was also good.

We spent some time in Bergerac and took a boat trip on the river. Bergerac itself was fine, we had a lovely lunch but not particularly exciting for a toddler.

Does anybody know if mosquitoes are a problem in this area?
It's very green, very warm and there's a whole lot of water! So do pack insect repellent etc.

We had a warning last week about Tiger Mosquitoes - yes they are and yes you need insect repellent. Be more aware near standing water.