Child friendly road trip to the Dordogne, stops?

[PuddingOwl]

Hello. Am driving down to the Dordogne region of France next May to attend an event. It'll be me and DH plus our almost 4 year old.

We were thinking of making a bit of a road trip out of it instead of flying so I'm looking for suggestions for places we could stop on the way for a day or two each time. Ideally some interesting places with family friendly things to do and delicious food!

The way back we are planning to stop in Paris to do Disney and see the sights so I was thinking perhaps a North/mid west France route back.

Has anyone done anything similar that could offer some suggestions? TIA!

Boulogne sur Mer is a nice seaside town. For kids, there’s there Nausicaa Centre National De La Mer.

ZooParc de Beauval isn’t far off your route south and it’s a fantastic place. One of the best zoos I’ve ever been to. The zoo has a few themed hotels and do overnight stay packages.

Stop in Blois and visit Chateau Chambord and Chenonceau. Probably more interesting for the adults, but Chenonceau does have a maze, I don't recall if Chambord had anything for kids. We took our kids to the Loire when they were 7 and 4, there were lots of kids about. We were in Giverny last summer, the gardens at Monet's house are stunning, but probably a bit off route for you.

Near to Saumur in the Loire - there is BioParc de Doue La Fontaine. Most amazing zoo built in an old quarry. There's Puy de Fou near Poitiers too.

This is great if you like monkeys!

la-vallee-des-singes.fr/en/

Puy de Fou! There’s a long thread on it somewhere on mumsnet if you search

Thanks so much everyone!