andibrown9172

I am planning to rent a vacation home with friends in the Dordogne in September or October. None of us wants to drive in France. I have several questions:
1. Without a car, what 's the easiest/fastest way to get to the region from Paris? Is it train to some connection point, then hire a car and driver? Are there buses from CDG?
2. Again, without a car, how easy it to get around? I am only looking at properties that are either in or at the edge of a village we could walk to, and i have found several.
3. How easy is it to rent a car and driver for the day for excursions? Do you have to book much in advance or can you decide the day before? And how much would it cost for say, half a day? And for shorter trips, like to a local restaurant, are there taxis?
3. Given the carlessness, are there specific villages you'd recommend? So far, I'm considering Domme, Sarlat, Daglan and Beaulieu sur Dordogne.

bilboburgler

The main fast stations are Périgueux, Bergerac, Sarlat and Brive.

I like Bergerac a lot Sarlat is probably the prettiest of the four.

If I was doing this I would stick google maps on the Dordogne and search on "Gite" near each town, then do similar for railways

shelemm

I would think you'd have to plan well for a driver. Car rentals are more expensive without planning. On-the-spot rentals tend to be expensive.

StuDudley

You really need to a car to get to the places most people want to visit. There are no "easy" trains to/from Sarlat from Paris. And once you get there - trains don't really provide good access to other popular close-by destinations. Buses are geared to take people to/from work & school. There are no huge cities near Sarlat, so hiring private drivers like you might be able to do in Provence will be more challenging in the Dordogne. There is a dinky Europcar office near Sarlat.

Stay within about 20K from Sarlat. My recommended areas for "bases" are Sarlat, Roque Gageac, and Beynac (latter two are directly in the Dordogne River).

We're going back to the Dordogne in Sept for our 14 & 15th week there. S

See attached

Stu Dudley

FTOttawa

If you were willing to get around by bike, Daglan would be doable as it is on the Céou bike way and has a shop and restaurant. There are other places that Aquitaine Bike recommends if you rent from them.

We did pretty well by bike out of St Julien de Lampon, which also offers an artisanal butcher, a bakery and a terrific gîte complex, Les Coquelicots. Honesty compels to admit that we arrived by car and did several days’ touring by car.

Domme is up a steep hill.

Sarlat is likely your best base, with some bus service (less outside of the summer months), a train station, plentiful restaurants and shops, as well as two markets a week.

The tourist office in Sarlat has some ideas.

https://www.sarlat-tourisme.com/blog...without-a-car/

Ophorus runs a number of tours out of Sarlat.

https://www.ophorus.com/destination/...rlat-la-caneda