Sarlat-la-Canéda, France

[battybobo1]

Hello,
I'm hoping to go on holiday here in the summer holidays with DH, our 10 year old daughter and another couple.

I'd be grateful for any ideas about things to do in the area, please.

Thank you.

It has been a few years since I was there but my family liked the Prehistoric caves (Depending on if they are open atm, make sure you know how to book as tickets are limited for most of the caves) and medieval castles (I like Beynac) Gouffre de Padirac, Rocamadour, both a short drive away, hiring a kayak and going down the dordogne river or just swimming in it (it’s very clean). Also market in Sarlat as well as some great restaurants. There really is lots to do there and it depends on your interests. Would recommend the green Michelin guide for the region.

I love round there. Just beat in mind it can get very busy with tourists.

Definitely canoe down the river and visit the caves. We thought rocamadour was a long way for what was there tbh.

It’s extremely pretty but does get a lot of tourists! It’s on a good train line so you can do easy day trips to places like Bergerac.

It’s a lovely region to visit- just hard to know what impact of covid19 will be on tourist attractions. Lots to do in terms of the Dordogne (and at 10 your dd will be allowed to do it) and caves. However caves are usually underground taken around in small groups of visitors and not sure how those would operate as not so much fresh air or distance. Similarly for seeing chateaus etc. And lovely restaurants too but again don’t know how restricted. I think best bet is to assume a lazy self catering holiday focused on the river and if there’s the odd thing open, then it’s a bonus.

There is a monkey Park near Rocamadour, you used to be able to feed them popcorn (it's not fattening apparently) but with Covid they have stopped that, and you have to wear a mask. (I bet the monkeys don't though)
Actually probably not as much fun if you can't feed them

We had a great week close to Sarlat with hard to please teens. We also did Gouffre de Padirac, Rocamadour and the monkey park nearby was a surprise hit. We also did a kayaking trip nearby which was great too. Loads to do round there and Sarlat itself was lovely.

Oh and also, on the way home, from a recommendation I saw on here we stopped at Oradour sur Glaine which was deeply moving and quite surreal. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane_massacre

Just north of Périgueux there's a town called Brantôme en Perigord which is beautiful - you can hire a canoe on the river, have lunch overlooking the river and also visit the caves underneath the abbey. It's a fabulous town.

North west of Périgueux there's a town called Aubeterre-Sur-Dronne which again is beautiful and has an underground cathedral.

These are both a good 1.5 hrs drive away though so there may well be just as pretty places nearer to where you're staying, as when all is said and done, they're just pretty French villages with a river!

Thank you everyone. There are some great ideas here and I shall be compiling a list and doing some more research. A few weeks ago, we didn't think we'd be able to go and now it's looking more and more likely. I need to find out about France's social distancing rules too.

I mean, it's looking more and more likely that we will be able to go.

Sarlat Is beautiful and here are lots of lovely places for "wandering" about in the region - Somme, la Roque Gageac, Beynac. You can also canoe on the river. From what I've seen, lots of tourist venues, and certainly indoor attractions, require face masks but it's not required for walking about or to go in shops unless the specific shopkeeper requires you to.

Lovely area, we have been a couple of times before and still haven't seen everything. Canoeing/kayaking is a must. It's really fun and beautiful, so shallow so not scary. I'm not at all sporty or fit and loved it, although it was a very hot day and I was sweating like a pig at the end of it!

If it's open there is a really good tree trekking type place just outside Sarlat, they call it accrobranche. It's bigger than anywhere we' ve been in this country. Our 12 and 14 year olds were on it for a couple of hours. DH and I just watched from below (sweating again - it can get very hot. Was 32 degrees that day, I think)

We were due to go there over summer and cancelled as a lot of the things we were considering doing would have been affected by Covid. I’d wait til next year.

Perigueux has a wonderful food market and the Versunna museum (Roman Culture) was good. Cathedral is nice too.