The Dordogne
France’s most famous prehistoric cave paintings are at the Grotte de Lascaux, 2km southeast of Montignac. Naturally sealed and protected for millennia, it…
Andrew Montgomery
The Dordogne, Limousin & the Lot
The Dordogne, Limousin and the Lot are the heart and soul of la belle France, a land of dense oak forests, winding rivers, emerald-green fields and famously rich country cooking. It’s the stuff of which French dreams are made: turreted châteaux and medieval villages line the riverbanks, wooden-hulled gabarres (traditional flat-bottomed, wooden boats) ply the waterways, and market stalls overflow with pâté, truffles, walnuts, cheeses and fine wines.
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Must-see attractions for your itinerary
The Dordogne
This extraordinary cave contains the only original polychrome (as opposed to single-colour) paintings still open to the public. About 14,000 years ago,…
The Dordogne
The massive ramparts and metre-thick crenellated walls of this quintessential medieval fortress (occupied by the English during the Hundred Years War)…
The Lot
This museum is named after Figeac-born Egyptologist and linguist Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832), whose efforts in deciphering the Rosetta Stone…
Limoges
The city’s wonderful art museum is inside the beautifully restored 18th-century bishops’ palace. Get an overview of the town's history through Roman…
Limousin
Beaulieu’s most celebrated feature is this 12th-century Romanesque abbey church, with a wonderful tympanum (c 1130) depicting incredible scenes from the…
The Lot
High on a hilltop 150m above a hairpin bend in the River Aveyron, Najac’s fortress looks as if it's fallen from the pages of a fairy tale: slender towers…
The Lot
Enter the historic centre of Figeac at place Vival, where the tourist office occupies the Hôtel de la Monnaie, an arcaded 13th-century building where…
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