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Hi, we finaly made our booking, due to go to le dague campsite in dorgodne, it has everything we are looking for. We are driving down and have a week to travel and stop over at campsites on the way. We wondered if anyone knew of cheaper easier routes and good campsites on the way and also any tips on the dordogne would be welcomed.

cheeeeers

The best route (presuming your coming from Calais/Dunkerque is to head to Abbeville, then Rouen, Chartres, Orleans (then the N154 rather than the autoroute), Vierzon, Limoges, Brive, Le Dague!

Good campsites - Pont de l'Arche just south of Rouen,  Salbris on the N154 south of Orleans, Vatan on the A20 between Vierzon and Limoges, then there are also sites in Vierzon, Chateauroux, and many other places en-route.

It's a route which isn't short of campsites near to the road you're on - except between Chartres and Orleans.

Dordogne tips - do the canoe trip - walk up to any of the castles overlooking the river, market day in Sarlat (or others recommend St Cyprien as being just as good and easier to park), La Roque Gageac, Domme for the magnificent views, the Bastide of Monpazier, La Roque St Cristophe for a whole pre-history rock town, and lots, lots more.

The first time we went to the Dordogne we were in a tent and did several stops on the way. We vowed "never again" afterwards. The Dordogne really isn't *that* far and we ended up just feeling like we were killing time waiting to get to the site, also we had horrendous rain in the Loire region so had to pack up and unpack wet tents, which was horrible. The next time we just did one overnight in a budget hotel, we had more time at our end campsite, more time to relax and it was much more of a holiday.

Obviously, it's horses for courses, we've now got a caravan so we can do the occasional overnight without having to entirely unpack our entire lives for one or two nights with a three hour set up and the same to pack it all up again but that was our experience.

The Dordogne is lovely, we're off again this year as our kids are now old enough to canoe, we're really looking forward to it. What's your family set up -little/big kids? Just adults? something else? then we give you more of an idea of good places to visit that are suitable.

Quote: Originally posted by isobella on 08/5/2011

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hi, my children are age 3 and i have twins aged 9. We are bringing our tent with us to use when we fing a nice campsite but when we get to our final destination in the dordogne we will be using vacansoliel's tent and equipment so looking forward to more of your lovely experiences and tips. 

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Right. I'd definitely recommend the following then if you have kids that age:

Castelnaud castle. Free for under 10's. On most days in the summer they do some acting things, all in French but the one we saw was very funny, lots of slapstick and the kids loved it.

 http://www.lebournat.fr/  A recreated village from the 1900's. Loads of olde worlde fairground rides and so on, a really fab day out. Mine loved it.  

The caves at Padirac.  http://www.gouffre-de-padirac.com/ A bit of a trek from the Dordogne, but well, well worth it. You go on a boat ride underground. Narrative in English if needed by the guides.

Domme, go early or late and have a wander. The views are fab.

Boat trip along the Dordogne. You can pick up from Castelnaud/Beynac. Really pretty and relaxing. Your youngest is too young to canoe (they have to be about 6 which is why we're going back now my youngest is 7) so a good way to see the river.

Beynac and La Roque Gageac, climb to the top of the castle at Beynac -it's a trek but well worth it and there's some houses built into the cliff at La Roque. The patisserie at the end of the main street in La Roque is unbelievably good!

 

Just playing around in the rivers, long lazy picnics and watching the world go by!

Quote: Originally posted by exessexmum on 08/5/2011

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Right. I'd definitely recommend the following then if you have kids that age:

Castelnaud castle. Free for under 10's. On most days in the summer they do some acting things, all in French but the one we saw was very funny, lots of slapstick and the kids loved it.

The caves at Padirac.  http://www.gouffre-de-padirac.com/ A bit of a trek from the Dordogne, but well, well worth it. You go on a boat ride underground. Narrative in English if needed by the guides.

Domme, go early or late and have a wander. The views are fab.

Boat trip along the Dordogne. You can pick up from Castelnaud/Beynac. Really pretty and relaxing. Your youngest is too young to canoe (they have to be about 6 which is why we're going back now my youngest is 7) so a good way to see the river.

Beynac and La Roque Gageac, climb to the top of the castle at Beynac -it's a trek but well worth it and there's some houses built into the cliff at La Roque. The patisserie at the end of the main street in La Roque is unbelievably good.

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Agree with Castlenaud  and Gouffre de Padirac. The boatman we had was French but spoke reasonable English, he asked us where we were from and when we said 'Leeds' he just kept saying Leeds United, Leeds United!!! When we got back on the boat he remembered us as the Leeds United people!! We don't even like football, but it was really funny.

If you go to Sarlat market (Wednesday and Saturday) or St Cyprian (Sunday) get there early as parking can be a problem.

You can pick up boats at Roque Gagac too and agree about the patisserie, just don't park outside the shop as she gets upsat!!

When are you going? We are going in July for the 10th time, we just love it there, but stay in Les Eyzies.

St Cyprian is very similar to the Sarlat one, mainly the same people (having been so often, we get recognised as regulars!!), but St C is just along the main street, which is long. I prefer Sarlet as there are more restaurants and shops to look at. There is less parking is St C unless you park right down at the bottom, we have been a couple of times and given up trying to park in the top carpark as it gets very full and people park on the grass etc. Never had a problem in Sarlat, but we know where to park and get there before 8am and have breakfast at our favourte patisserie whilst they finish setting up the market.

St C all tend to close down at about 1 whereas only the food close at lunchtime in Sarlat.

When going into St Cyprien from Beynac direction you fork off to the right -  if you go along to where the road bends lsightly uphill and to the right - then turn left and downhill - there is a shady carpark near a small medical centre - usually space there at all times. 

Personnally I would take this market over Sarlat every time, but do be there early.  Get some 'nems' from the vietnamese lady who pitches where the main street narrows.  The butcher's van about three quarters o fthe way along where the street opens out to a triangle is very good too.

Le Bournat (above) in le Bugue is really good.  There's also a brill picnic spot at St Cybranet alonside the river Céou by the bridge, shallow water with fish to catch.