Getting to Dordogne from Scotland

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Have posted this in the short haul section too.Fancy the Dordogne for our summer holidays. Booking late, I know. Bergerac is obvious place to fly into but Jeez the cheapest flights on Skyscanner are about £2.5k for the 4 of us (2 adults and 2 teens). And that would involve us getting to Edinburgh! We can do direct to Bordeaux for much cheaper (£850 inc baggage) but is that too much of a schlep to the Dordogne? I know the area is vast but just want a villa with a pool somewhere pretty (ie. not next to a cow shed or motorway) We’ll obviously hire a car but it not being too far from a local village would be good. Prepared to drive up to two hours from Bordeaux airport in any direction. Other option is to fly direct to Carcassone and will consider that if we draw a blank in Dordogne. Last time I went to Dordogne I hitch-hiked from Amsterdam as a teenager. Not an option this time 😄

Personally, I don't think it is too much of a schlepp - but then, I like driving in France

Db lives in the Dordogne and will use Bordeaux as one of his options if he can't get cheap flights to Glasgow/Edinburgh when he needs to come back.

The whole region is nice so there should be plenty of options within 2 hours of the airport.

Drive! It's a great journey.

We flew Flybe from Edinburgh, via Southampton then hired a car.

Stayed in a Eurocamp site (St Avit de Loisirs) & used that as a base. Nearest town was Le Bugue.

There was quite a lot to see locally - nice vineyards, chateaux, caves.

I'd drive. Make the UK driving bit part of the holiday. Dover > Dordogne isn't that far (less than a day, and a car is handy when you get there. Dordogne is a fairly big area.

I agree about making the drive part of the "holiday": we used to drive regularly to the Alps and enjoyed it (used to pay extra for "Club Class" and priority boarding/disembarkation, which was well worth it).

But the only major negative was coming home, when you get off the ferry in Dover and you still had an 8+ hour journey (assuming good traffic conditions and minimal stops) ahead of you - and that's just to Glasgow (Don't know where you are). The drive down was ok as you had the excitement of the holiday to look forward to.

Thanks all! We drove from Glasgow to Cornwall last year and vowed never again 😄 Glad to see Bordeaux isn’t that much of a schlep so think that might still be an option. It’s sooooooo expensive though, even Eurocamp (although the Speedo rules and horror stories about mozzies is putting me off!!)

I think the hideous part of driving would be the drive from scotland to calais. The french bit would be more straightforward, but its still a big trek. I would fly to bordeaux if its cheaper, or even limoges and hire a car to drive a couple of hours, or maybe limoges and then stay in the Charente or limousin instead of dordogne. Limoges usually has cheap flights as its not as touristy

limoges to dordogne is only an hour and a half drive

Bordeaux is fine to fly to . I checked distance from Bordeaux airport to Sarlat ( lovely town in the centre of the Dordogne) and it's only 2hrs 20 mins away.

We live in Scotland and certainly wouldn't be driving to Dordogne - we have friends that drove to a nearby region (slightly closer) and they drove down then got the overnight boat, then drove the next day.
Said it nearly killed them and they'd never do it again. So if you don't do it that way, then you're having to stay at hotels and have meals etc. etc. which means it's no cheaper than flying.

We also drove from Edinburgh to Cornwall last year - had a stop for a week at Ludlow so it's not as if we even did the journey straight - and it was horrendous, the roads are so busy it takes much longer than it says it will.

Hi OP, my DParents live in the Dordogne so I know all about flight options! Flights are often sooooooo much cheaper to Bergerac from East Midlands airport - could this be an option, if you used long-stay airport parking?

If not, I recommend flying into Bordeaux. As other posters have said, it's approx. 2 hours to the Dordogne from there, and it's a very pleasant drive - it doesn't feel like 2 hours, if you know what I mean. The roads are big and well-maintained, and there's a lot less traffic than in the U.K.!

I've just checked Flybe's website and you can also fly from Glasgow and Dundee (to Bergerac), which are a lot closer for you! I hope you find something

Optionstime I found Eurocamp expensive for the summer holidays and actually it was cheaper to rent out a cottage www.cheznous.com has a good selection.

I see that you can fly to Bergerac from Glasgow
but you have to change at Southampton and it's quite pricey. July fares are coming out in the region of £450-500 before you factor in baggage and seat reservations. SO if we find somewhere we'll probably stick to the Bordeaux route. Am going to look at www.cheznous.com now thanks. rookiemere it took us 12 hours to drive back from Cornwall, admittedly with a few stops but the traffic was just appalling. Everything just ground to a halt round Birmingham for no apparent reason! Good to hear that the road from Bordeaux to Dordogne isn't such a nightmare. Flights to Limoges are a no no. Need to get to Gatwick and the prices I'm coming up with are horrendous!

We stayed at this place www.lepavillondestagnan.com/en/ a long time ago when DS was younger. Accommodation was not luxurious, but it ticked a lot of boxes as had an outdoor heated pool, play area and was within walking distance of a small village that did pizzas and a lovely restaurant ( longer walk). Might not be as good for teenagers.

This year we're flying down to Cornwall for a week - priced it up and by the time we'd paid for petrol and an overnight stop - refuse to drive all that distance in one day - it was just as cheap to get the flights.

Then in August we're doing a week at Simply Morzine - it's a ski centre in winter and in summer they have activities such as mountain biking and water sports. Price includes half board and transfers from Geneva so its working out not too bad for us. Just another option if you can't find what you want in Dordogne - but I'm sure you will and it is a lovely part of the world, we went there about 4 times when DS was younger.