Dordogne recommendations with 8 and 6 yo

[KronkeyCroc]

We’re traveling to France in the summer and planning to spend a week in the Dordogne. I’ve never been and don’t really know where to start as the region is quite large.

can any one recommend a good location with lots to do? We’d like to just have accommodation in one place for the week so somewhere close (ish) by to lots of things would be great. We will have our car.

Obviously can’t see it all but if anyone has any must sees that kids would enjoy that would be great! Also if anyone has recommendations on a campsite to stay that would be much appreciated. I’m doing some research as well but recommendations are always nice 😊

We’ve had a good holiday at Saint Avit Loisirs and took the dc to Jacquou Parc, an aquarium in La Bugue, Prehistoparc and Gouffre de Proumeyssac.

We love St Avit Loisirs too - you can book through Eurocamp or direct with the site (or various other companies). We went when our DD was 6-7, and had brilliant days out to:
Le Bugue aquarium
Maison Forte de Reignac
Les Eyzies (including National Museum of Prehistory)
Sarlat

Brilliant thanks guys. I was looking at St Avit Loisirs so I think we are going to book there. It looks lovely and quite close to lots of things.

Did either of you bother with Parc du Bornat? In Le Bugue?

We didn’t visit that park - I’ve not heard of it, maybe it wasn’t open when we went 10 yrs ago. Looks nice for younger kids 👍 We went to the dinosaur place mentioned by the PP, which was fun but not ideal on a 40 degree day due to lack of cover!

Sarlat.
Lascaux caves.
A canoe down the Dordogne (or a boat trip).

We stayed nr St Emilion in a chalet on a fairly quiet site, but Campsite as all French campsites are, was set up for children, think water slides and pizza's & you can drive into the Dordogne or head west to the coast, huge sand dunes and water parks which the kids loved more than anything else.

For us, the kids (7, 9 and 10) very quickly became bored with caves and canoe trips.

Just bear in mind some campsites will run late night disco's which you might find v annoying.

Definitely a canoe down the Dordogne. I stayed further East in Cenac, in a simple municipal campsite (so no bells and whistles), and they have canoes available there. It's also right next to Domme which is well worth a visit for the views. You go past La Roque-Gageac which is gorgeous. Go in the morning and stop for lunch on the way.

An hour and a quarter or so drive further East is the Gouffre de Padirac https://www.gouffre-de-padirac.com/en/home which is a spectacular underground river trip. Also near there is the town of Rocamadour which is built up a cliff.

Ah that river trip sounds great my kids will love that. Thank you for the recommendation @HannibalHeyes 😊

@Vaccances we are thinking g of heading to the west coast for a week (we have 3.5 in total). Any suggestions on areas? I’ve only ever been to the South of France so most of the country is an unknown to me.

Lacanau is where we stayed, camping, then went down to the Arcachon Basin, that area was beautiful and relatively safe for the children.

Be warned though, its very popular in july august, the water parks a queuing nightmare :(

When we stayed at St Emilion, it was day trips only to the coast & it was in Sept so we avoided all of that.