Périgord Noir, châteaux above the Dordogne and paintings twenty thousand years old.

What is the Périgord Noir like?

It is the south-eastern corner of the Dordogne, around Sarlat. The "black" comes from the dark colour of its forests of holm oak and chestnut, as against the other Périgords of the département. Here two rivers and two different trips meet. The Dordogne valley is the one of medieval châteaux on the cliffs and golden-stone villages at the water's edge. The Vézère valley, to the north, is the one of prehistory: rock shelters, painted caves and Lascaux, with its prehistoric sites on the World Heritage list since 1979.

Base yourself in Sarlat: it has more hotels and restaurants, the market and is half an hour or less from almost everything. With three days you do one day for the town and market, one for châteaux and river and another for prehistory.

What is there to see in Sarlat?

Sarlat is an almost intact medieval and Renaissance town of ochre stone and lauze-slab roofs, which can be walked in a morning. Go to the market: the traditional one is set up in the open air on Wednesday morning and all day Saturday, all year. There is foie gras, duck confit and magret, walnuts, mushrooms, cheese, strawberries in spring and chestnuts in autumn. The covered market is inside the former church of Sainte-Marie, in the heart of the old town, and on Thursday afternoon there is an organic market in the place de la Poste. In winter the truffle market and the foie gras market are added, the latter on Saturday mornings.

There are about 3,500 parking spaces near the centre, free and paid, and the old town is explored on foot. On market days arrive early.

Which châteaux and villages of the Dordogne?

On a short stretch of the river, south of Sarlat, the best-known sights are concentrated:

• Beynac, a medieval fortress at the top of a cliff, with the cobbled village hanging beneath.
• Castelnaud, opposite, the historic rival of Beynac. Inside is the museum of medieval warfare, with weapons, armour and reconstructed siege engines. It opens every day of the year without booking. Admission costs €13.60 for adults and €6.80 for ages 10 to 17; under-10s don't pay. There are trebuchet firings several times a day and a combined ticket with the Gardens of Marqueyssac, the ones with clipped box hedges above the valley, for €24.50.
• La Roque-Gageac, a village stuck to the rock beside the water, with half-troglodyte houses.
• Domme, a royal bastide at the top of a hill, with an open viewpoint over the whole valley.
• Les Milandes, the Renaissance château where Josephine Baker lived.

The best way to see it is from the river. There are canoe and kayak companies that hire out the boat and pick you up at the end, and on the gabarres, the traditional flat-bottomed boats, there are commentated trips.

How do I visit Lascaux?

The original cave, discovered in 1940, has been closed to the public since 1963 to protect it. What you visit is Lascaux IV, in Montignac, the International Centre for Cave Art: a complete replica of the cave with its bulls, horses and deer, made to real scale, and rooms that explain how and by whom it was painted. In 2026 admission costs €23 for over-12s and €15 for ages 5 to 12; under-5s don't pay. The ticket carries a day and time: buy online, arrive twenty minutes early and bear in mind that the last admission is two hours before closing. It opens almost all year, with long hours in summer: if you go in January, check the calendar first. There are combined tickets with Lascaux II and with the Thot park.

Downriver, the Vézère valley continues to Les Eyzies, with the national Prehistory museum and caves with original paintings with very limited capacity.

How do you get there from Spain?

By car. From Irún, on the A63 to Bordeaux and from there towards Bergerac or on the A89 towards Périgueux. From Catalonia, via Toulouse and the A20 northwards. Without a car it is complicated: there is a direct train from Bordeaux to Sarlat, but for the châteaux, villages and Lascaux you need a car, a bike or a taxi.