Despite touring France for many years, we had never ventured into the Dordogne in southwest France, nestled between the Loire Valley and Pyrenees mountains, probably because we tend to gravitate to the coast. In 2022 we found ourselves with 2 weeks to spare out of an 8-week trip, and decided we would dip our metaphorical toes into the river instead of the sea.
I’ve decided to split our Dordogne trip over a couple of blogs because the places we stayed and visited would be unjustifiably diluted if not. We literally scratched the surface of the ‘plus beaux villages’ (most beautiful villages in France), with their gorges and rocky plateaux that make up the Dordogne’s diverse natural landscape encompassing caves, medieval churches and renaissance architecture that amazed and left us in awe of this beautiful region.
Brantome
We arrived at our campsite in Brantome coming over the stone bridge on the edge of town and already it looked amazing. Our plan had been to stay here for 3 nights, that turned in to 7 once we realised how fabulous the area is, and how gloriously hot and sunny it was for May.
Brantome sits on a bend of the river Dronne which circles much of the town. You can swim, fish and canoe on the river as it is crystal clear and very safe. The 8th century Benedictine Abbey is the historical highlight of the town, built on the river in 769 by the Charlemagne it has troglodyte caves behind it. Alongside is the abbey church, some of which dates back to the 15th century and the belfry is the oldest in France.
There are a mix of renaissance and medieval buildings in the town, lots of delightful restaurants and the Jardin Des Moines which is a lovely park where we had a picnic lunch on one day overlooking the old stone bridge, weir and pretty mill which is now a hotel and restaurant. From here you can take a short boat trip which meanders up the river and turns at the campsite we stayed on.
We ate lunch one day on the abbey side of the river in one of the caves set into the rock face which house shops and restaurants. I highly recommend La Mandoline Creperie, I had an amazing Galette Norweigien filled with smoked salmon, spinach and crème-fraiche. Hubby had a top-notch burger, and we both followed up with a delicious Dame Blanche for dessert. This is one of my favourites in France, made with 3 scoops of vanilla ice-cream, lashings of chocolate sauce (sometimes hot), topped with fresh cream and a cigarillo biscuit; very naughty but soooo nice!
The cycling around here is great, we took the cycle path along the river, past the Aire de Camping Car. Going out of town we joined the quiet back lane up into the cooler hillside to visit Les Jardins Tranquilles, an arboretum and park set in 12 acres of land. Unfortunately, it was closed unexpectedly on the day we went, but the cycle ride was great and the beer at the local hostelry at the bottom of the hill on the way back was well earned.
Where to Stay in Brantome
We stayed at Camping Brantome Peyrelevade Dordogne which is a 15-minute stroll or a 5-minute cycle ride on the designated path from the site right into the centre of town. This path passes through the town car park, canoe hire shop and once-weekly market.
The owner and staff were super-friendly and spoke amazing English putting my practicing French to shame. There is a wide entrance and large parking area where you wait whilst booking in at reception. There is a shop and bar attached to reception, and out of season they sell home-made take-away pizzas to order most evenings which were delicious. In season they have a small restaurant as well as the take-away. There is a nice swimming pool with plenty of sunbeds and splash area for small children, we used the pool daily as it was unexpectedly hot for May, it was heated but not overly warm. There is a good outdoor play area, and you can fish in the river that edges one side of the site.
There are indoor and outdoor facilities, only indoor were open out of season, they were very clean and showers hot. There are a lot of shaded pitches, all of a good size and would be welcome in the heat of summer. We chose a large pitch in the sun to use our solar rather than ACSI as these were mostly shaded and not much different in price. Our 7m van was dwarfed in the middle of it, and easily had 3 metres at either end in length, hedged on three sides. I highly recommend this site, a great base for Brantome area and so close to the centre of town.
If you don’t want a campsite then the town has an Aire De Camping-Car which is fully barriered, with water and waste disposal. It is a 5-minute walk from the town centre on the opposite side to the campsite and has a wide entrance from the main road. It backs directly on to the cycle path that we took out of town so you can get about easily without moving your unit. There are good sized spaces, with some grass, separated by hedges in part, a bit like a small campsite but without facilities. It was very busy out of season, so I’d advise arriving before lunch to get a space. There is also a motorhome car park next door if you only want to visit for the day, and you can use the services of the aire for a small fee. The town caters really well for motorhomes/campers, well worth a visit or longer stay.
Perigueux
We had a few hours to kill moving from Brantome to Sarlat (covered in Part 2 of Dordogne) so decided we would stop off for a few hours, grab some lunch and have a mooch around. We were not expecting it to be so architecturally amazing as we’d not really done much homework on this place. The landmark domed Saint-Front Cathedral, which is a 12th century UNESCO World Heritage site is worth the visit alone, and there are remains of the defensive wall and towers that once protected the town. We didn’t look inside as we were short on time, but it would be something we’d do next time.
We walked through the narrow streets up towards the cathedral and found a great restaurant to have lunch tucked in the shade of the awning and alleyway buildings; Little Cocotte, which I recommend and would seek out on future visits. Despite it being almost 30 degrees, I had to try the local cassoulet which has two duck manchons and small fat sausages slow cooked with white beans and veg. Oh my days, it was delicious and well worth the hot flush, but I could have done with a lie down afterwards!
There is an ice-cream shop two doors down from the restaurant, so we grabbed a cornet and headed further up into town. There is an array of larger shops in the modern town area, but we were happy to mooch around the older areas and admire the buildings. We were only there for 3 hours but glad we had stopped to see the place; you could stay for a couple of days to explore more of the town, the cathedral and the river by bike or walking.
We parked in the aire on the River Isle which is a 10-minute walk along the riverside cycle path then up the hill into town. It is called Aire Camping-Car Perigueux and had space for roughly 30 motorhomes in a car-park style set up. Entry is via the barriered card machine, and it has water and waste disposal. You can stay up to 48 hours, it cost 7 euros per 24 hours which we had to pay for just a few hours, but we thought it was worth it to have secure parking, a rare thing so close to a beautiful town.
Summary
For our first taste of the Dordogne, it was absolutely amazing, we loved it and still wonder why we hadn’t visited before. It is a truly remarkable place which I can’t recommend enough, and it converted us from being coast huggers, although there was still water involved so maybe that's cheating? I’m sure you agree from the photographs just how beautiful and pretty this area is. We were blown away by its uniqueness, stunning architecture and scenic landscapes.
We didn’t take a canoe trip on this leg of the trip but that will follow in Part 2: Sarlat, not to be missed as you can’t go to the Dordogne and not canoe down the river! We left plenty to see and do across the region in 2022, and we will be returning later in 2024 to seek out more Dordogne gems.
Enough waffle for this week, I hope this helps some fellow campers on future trips. If you have been to the Dordogne, please drop me a comment on the blog letting me know what your must see/do's are so I can maybe include them in our 2024 trip.
If you enjoyed reading this blog, please like and subscribe to my website so you get notified when the next blog is published. It’s completely free, I don’t fill your inbox with unwanted spam, and it really means the world to me to know my experience has helped someone else.
Happy Travels
Very interesting, helpful and well written. Thank you.
Very informative, thank you….we are looking forward to visiting the are in April.