This is a four day Dordogne tour to tour the villages of Dordogne from Sarlat to La Roque Gageac, Beynac, and Domme. The tour will depart from a central location in Sarlat each morning and will return in the evening to Sarlat. Tours begin each Wednesday and Saturday from April through October. NOT AVAILABLE IN AUGUST.

• Tour dates: April through October; tours start every Wednesday and every Saturday, except August when this tour is not available
• Duration: four days (Wednesday - Saturday and Saturday -Tuesday)
• Included: Tour stops in La Roque Gageac for a Gabarre boat ride, Padirac Abbyss, Rocamadour, Beynac, Gardens of Eyrignac Manor, Les Eyzies for Museum of Prehistory, Rouffignac Caves, Lascaux II Caves, Castlenaud, Milandes, Marqueyssac Castle and gardens
• Tours require a minimum of two people to take place
• Not included: accommodations, entrance fees to other monuments, museums, meals, drinks

Day 1: In the morning, you will have a guided walking tour of historic Sarlat, a rich merchant town of the 18th century. Famous for its typical market, your guide will introduce you to all the local specialties.  Then you will drive to the beautiful village of  La Roque Gageac, one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France. There you'll have a boat ride on the Dordogne River to see castles perched above the river and troglodyte dwellings in the cliffs. Then you will visit the small villages of Beynac and Domme for walking tours in the villages and to enjoy some free time in the towns.

Day 2: You will depart Sarlat for an excursion to the Padirac Chasm, a natural, 75 meter chasm. You'll tour here and do a boat ride in the Abyss. Next stop will be the medieval village of Rocamadour to visit the renowned Notre Dame Chapel, part of an extraordinary 13th-century chapel complex perched on a cliff and one of the most dramatic pilgrimage sites in Europe. The final stop today will be at the Gardens of Eyrignac Manor, which are among the most famous and beautiful in France.

Day 3:  Today, you will visit  Les Eyzies. In Les Eyzies, our ancestors lived over 460,000 years ago, so it's appropriately called the Prehistoric Capital of the World. This is a fitting town to house the National Prehistory Museum where you will have a guided tour.

Rouffignac Cave is an important place you will visit. In the Rouffignac Cave is the most extensive cave system in the Perigord with more than five miles of underground passage ways. An electric train takes you more than a mile into the interior of the cave. There are representations of mammoths, bison, horses, capricorns, and woolly rhinoceros.

No Dordogne tour is complete without a visit to the Lascaux II Caves. The original Lascaux caves were first discovered in 1940, but closed to the public in 1963 in order to preserve the art (which was being destroyed by the carbon dioxide produced by the visitors). Lascaux II has a replica of two of the original cave halls, The Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery.

Day 4:  This is castle day. Your tour will take you to visit Castelnaud, a medieval castle overlooking the Dordogne Rive facing its rival, the Chateau Beynac. Then you will visit Milandes Castle. Built around 1489, it was the main house of the lords of Caumont until 1535.  In 1940, the entertainer Josephine Baker rented the chateau and bought it in 1947.

The day will end with a visit to the Castle and Gardens of Marqueyssac.

This privately owned castle was built by Bertrand Vernet de Marqueyssac who was Counselor to King Louis XIV. The present owner has restored the gardens and they are primarily clipped boxwoods. Pruning more than 150,000 boxwoods into a variety of shapes and sizes results in a serene landscape. The views surrounding the castle towards Castelnaud Castle and Fayrac Chateau are very special, too.

Your Dordogne tour to the villages is based in Sarlat and will begin and end in Sarlat. (We will happily make your hotel reservations.)

Please note: Order of the days can be modified except for Day 1.