Located in 17th Century cloisters, there’s an extensive library of regional wine which you taste, tour and buy. Maisons des Vins is a lovely spot in the old town centre. Going back as far as the 2nd Century, Bergerac’s ancient cellars and neat vineyards are great for a day tour. The vine-covered hills near beautiful Bergerac have long established themselves as a tour de force in the region’s wine-making industry. Make this a Thursday evening visit if you’re coming to the Dordogne between July and August – the views get more magical when the gardens are illuminated by candles at twilight. On reaching the Belvedere viewpoint, soak up the views that drink in the incredible châteaux-studded valley. Stroll along pretty cliff walks and meander the maze of box hedge swirls, taking snaps of the waterfalls and parading peacocks as you pass. Perched on a rocky spur just south of La Roque-Gageac, these 19th Century gardens are spectacular. If your villa is leaving you itching to stretch your legs, a worthy road trip is the brilliant hanging gardens of Jardins de Marqueyssac. This pretty pocket of southwest France has one of the loveliest natural settings in the country. The original paintings are actually protected from the viewing public – but you can see extraordinary reconstructions at Lascaux II, including the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery’s nine friezes. Lascaux is a complex of caves that boasts the highest concentration of stone age art in Europe. There are troglodyte settlements, caverns filled with stalagmites and stalactites, and an incredible complex of intricate cave decorations. Pitch up close to the towns of Les Eyzies and Montignac, and stand in awe – there’s nothing that can really prepare you for the prehistoric sites here. There are plenty – genuinely more than 1500 – of châteaux decorating the hillsides, or you can make the longer trip to the Vézère Valley to see Europe’s most spectacular ancient cave paintings.
![dordogne france dordogne france](https://storage.googleapis.com/hippostcard/p/7ffb2b802955370361fcea4e57a290df.jpg)
Swap your villa views for a delve deeper into the history-heavy past of the Dordogne. Both a place of legend and history, this town is an important pilgrimage spot thanks to its sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s one of France’s most fantastic UNESCO sites which teeters on a cliff, and is topped with a castle that’s withstood more than a thousand years of attacks. Straight out of the history books is the vertical village of medieval Rocamadour.
![dordogne france dordogne france](https://idata.over-blog.com/1/42/13/13/perigueux---villefranche/18.jpg)
There are plenty of river cruises here to while away an afternoon, or delightful riverfront houses to stop and take some snaps of. One of France’s oldest bell towers watches over the small island-town of Brantôme, so enchanting it’s been nicknamed the ‘Venice of the Périgord’. It’s golden and gorgeous, and is the perfect departure point if you fancy a canoe jaunt along the Dordogne River. Impossibly quaint La Roque Gageac is a huddle of waterfront houses that straddle the riverside cliff face.
![dordogne france dordogne france](https://www.cap-voyage.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Carsac-Aillac-France.jpg)
It’s a tangle of elegant mansions, café terraces and so many secret squares for you to get lost in – but it also has an incredibly lovely medieval and Renaissance centre that showcases some of the region’s best heritage architecture.
#DORDOGNE FRANCE MOVIE#
The perfectly-preserved streets of Sarlat-la-Canéda are a movie set favourite. There’s an extraordinary prettiness to the old towns in the Dordogne – some are UNESCO sites, others delightfully medieval, but all are a joy to wander if you’re feeling like heading out of your villa. Things to do in the Dordogne TEMPTING TOWNS