Dordogne Valley Route

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Sarlat-la-Canéda

   Sarlat is built of honey-coloured limestone, and when the evening sun hits it, the whole medieval town glows as if lit from inside. It lies in the Périgord Noir, a region of walnut groves, oak woods and steep green valleys in the Dordogne, and its centre is one of the best-preserved in France, a maze of lanes, courtyards and stone staircases that escaped the demolition fever of the nineteenth century. Pointed turrets, carved doorways and tall slate roofs crowd every street, and filmmakers have used it so often that locals barely look up when a camera crew appears. The writer Étienne de La Boétie, the close friend of Montaigne, was born here in 1530.

   Read the complete Near Sarlat-la-Canéda write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Dordogne Valley Route point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Dordogne Valley Route point 2.

2. 2. Near Cénac

   Planning note

   Dordogne Valley Route point 2 comes up 13 km in. Next is Dordogne Valley Route point 3.

3. 3. Near Sarlat-la-Canéda

   Sarlat is built of honey-coloured limestone, and when the evening sun hits it, the whole medieval town glows as if lit from inside. It lies in the Périgord Noir, a region of walnut groves, oak woods and steep green valleys in the Dordogne, and its centre is one of the best-preserved in France, a maze of lanes, courtyards and stone staircases that escaped the demolition fever of the nineteenth century. Pointed turrets, carved doorways and tall slate roofs crowd every street, and filmmakers have used it so often that locals barely look up when a camera crew appears. The writer Étienne de La Boétie, the close friend of Montaigne, was born here in 1530.

   Read the complete Near Sarlat-la-Canéda write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   25 km in you reach Dordogne Valley Route point 3. Next is Dordogne Valley Route point 4.

4. 4. Domme

   Domme is a fortified town on a cliff, laid out as a bastide in 1281 by Philip the Bold, the king of France, who needed a stronghold against the English in the Dordogne. The plan is as tidy as a chessboard: straight streets, a central square and three great gates in the walls. The bastide stands on a limestone spur some hundred and fifty metres above the river, and the walk to the edge, along the Belvédère de la Barre, gives one of the greatest panoramas of the valley, with the Dordogne winding below through fields and woods and the castles of Castelnaud and Beynac on the horizon.

   Read the complete Domme write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Dordogne Valley Route point 4, late in the day. Next is Dordogne Valley Route point 5.

5. 5. Near Gramat

   Planning note

   Dordogne Valley Route point 5 sits at 85 km, late in the day.