The Rough Guide to the Dordogne & the Lot

By far the most striking of these is Puy-l’Évêque. An outpost of the bishops of Cahors, the town’s medieval and Renaissance houses jostle for space on a steep incline, reaching upwards like trees for light, though none is equal to the bishop’s thirteenth-century keep towering above. An even more dramatic sight lies in store in the country northwest

The principal northern gateway to the Dordogne and the Lot is the charming city of Brive-la-Gaillarde (usually shortened to Brive), whose cosy café culture exudes the spirit of the south, a hint of pleasures to come. West lies Périgueux, where an extraordinary Byzantine-style cathedral stands

16 St-Antonin-Noble-Val This handsome town, sheltering under towering limestone cliffs, boasts a hoard of medieval houses from its glorious heyday.

the perched village of St-Cirq-Lapopie provides the

Further downstream things begin to quieten down again as the valley flattens out towards Villeneuve-sur-Lot. Despite unattractive modern suburbs, the town has a decent supply of hotels and restaurants, and with the river sliding through

and chambres d’hôtes from Gîtes de France ( gites-de-france.com).

Upstream from Sarlat, the abbey-church of Souillac offers remarkable Romanesque carvings, while the nearby pilgrimage town of Rocamadour, set halfway up a cliff face, is equally compelling.

spectacular St-Cirq Lapopie, while the nearby Grotte de Pech-Merle, with its glittering rock formations and prehistoric cave art, draws almost as many visitors. Pech-Merle lies in the hills above the wild and pretty Célé valley, which leads northeast to lovely, medieval Figeac, the Lot’s second largest town.

17 Cahors Trapped in a tight meander of the Lot river, glorious Cahors is steeped in history, from the richly decorated double-domed cathedral to the fortified Pont Valentré.