My wife and I are contemplating a trip to France.

As we're both working, we'll only have 7 - 12 days. The primary goal is relaxation, the secondary goal is photography/tourism. Gastronomy is third. <g> Generally, we like to establish a home base and do day trips from there;perhaps a pension or gris. We'd like to have decent weather/landscape shots and like to avoid crowds and heat. I was thinking of early autumn with some colors, but don't have a reference for that season in these places.

Originally, we were planning to return to Strasbourg and head South (we got to Molsheim a couple of years ago before heading East). After viewing one of the Rudy Maxa's shows, we were struck by Dordogne as a suitable destination for a holiday.

Any input as to which destination would be more suited to our needs, when to go, where to stay what to see/photograph would be appreciated. I realize that this is a rather open question, but this is a great place to find experienced hands.

Thanks!

Dave

Third only? Wee, strangers are sooo strange... But welcome to France anyway!

To be more constructive, I can only point you to this thread that you've probably read.
A local remembering : if you like sweet-but-not-harshly-sweet white wine, go for Saussignac (15km SW of bergerac) and look for the vineyard "Court les Mûts" of Pierre Sadoux : his "vendanges tardives" (late harvest) is outstanding (to the same level of quality of well-heeled Sauternes, imho).

For the color peak, as the summer has been quite dry, it may be a little early, the beginning of October might already be good - hard to tell from now.
If you really aim at those colors, go for the early side, and if it's too early in Dordogne, take a few hours drive to the south to the Pyrénées?

We were in Dodogne area August 28 - Sept 2, stayed just west of Sarlat.

Very hilly and very forested countryside with limestone cliffs/caves especially along the river valleys. I found it tough to find places to pull over to safely take landscape photos - the regional roads (90 kmh types) I found narrow, windy, hilly with no shoulders to pull off, especially where a scenic vista presented itself - but inexplicably, they have pull-offs in the middle of forests (go figure). The back roads (really narrow, windier, hillier) are less traveled, and I would hope locals don't try for 90 kmh on these, and so less worrisome to pull off to the side for photos, but I found less opportunity for scenic vistas if that is your thing. I was also with family (incl. small kids) so there was always the pressure to "Can we now move on to ..." to contend with so taking time to explore/scout ahead was not much of an option for me.

Some places with decent vistas I came across:

- Village of Domme (at north end, near Church/Tourist centre looking North) - I submitted a pano in User critiques.

- By chateau de Beynac (in Beynac-de-Cazenac-NW of Domme) - looking out south over Dordogne River - good lookout up trail leading away from entrance to Chateau past the cemetary (under the Crucifix at the end of the trail noting the trail actually passes over someone's house built into the side of the cliff (it's for sale too))

- I drove out for early sunset shot of the Chateau Rocamadour about 1 hour east of Sarlat that is said to be fantastic looking in early morning (from L'Hospitalet) - maybe it was lighting on the day I went out but it was nothing special (not worth the 1 hour drive). But scenery in the area was less wooded than around Sarlat so more possibility for vista shots.

Other things we found that were pretty good:

- Masion de Reignac - on the D706 between Les Eyzies (cool cliffs around here) and Montignac
- Lascaux II Caves (reproduction of the original cave which is denied access to protect the paintings from decay caused by people entering the caves) - 40 min. guided tour (13C inside and no photos which we were only told after entering the cave) was worth it – other thing to note – you buy tickets at the tourism Office in Montignac not at the cave site itself and they (the cave) are closed over lunch (12:00 – 2:30) – also confirm hours of operation as summer season hours ended the day before we went and looking at their hours of operation their may hours of operation may lessen more as October approaches.

- Sarlat was at the time nowhere near as busy as could have been the case – was a very nice spot and most of the towns/villages have good photographic opprotuntites.


Food overall in France – we were actually disappointed, particularly my Mother who hails from France, in the overall quality of the food at the restaurants, even higher end places my parents had eaten at last year when they were in France. My wife's opinion was we had our overall best food in Paris.

- We tried to go to the Criquettamus in Sarlat as recommended in that other thread. Showed up on a Tuesday but found that was the day they were closed. It looked really good – instead we tried the place next door which was open and it was okay.


There was slight hint of colours starting to change while we were there but what I saw it was shaping to be kind of a burnt out fall colours though I have no firsthand knowledge of what fall colours are even like in the Region. I base this on the observation in the previous post about the dryness of the local summer and(we had a really dry summer in Southern Ontario in 2007 and fall colours were pretty blah that year in the areas around Toronto - burnt out browns instead of bright yellows, oranges and reds.



Andrew

several years ago my wife and i rented an old farmhouse in the Lot valley (parallel to and south of the Dordogne) for a week and a half and not much money. the Lot is less touristy than the Dordogne, but in late sept, early oct that shouldn't be much of an issue. the area is scenic and centrally located in southern France - not far to Toulouse or Bordeaux - there's not much traffic on the well maintained b roads and at that time speed limits weren't an issue except in towns. there are other caves in the area such as Peche-Merle (although access was restricted even then)

i don't recall being impressed by the food compared to other areas of France (not just Paris), but you're certainly not going to starve - the fresh produce is great

can't remember any outstanding photo locations, but lots of little towns nice countryside

very pleasant area of France

It is a beautiful area of France. Pech Merle is very interesting but, since you can't take photographs, a tad frustrating. Rocamadour is well worth a visit.

Jeremy

you can take an hotel in Les Eyzies http://www.dordogne-retreats.com/les%20eyzies.htm

One nice place is the Chateau Rouffillac. The owner is a very nice woman and the chateau is huge and well-kept. Check out http://www.chateaurouffillac.com/uk/index.html. If your budget would cover it, you can go to Saint Cirq LaPopie and stay at the Sombral, an outstanding small hotel (http://www.lesombral.com/sombral_gb.html).

There are many towns to visit in the Dordogne region, as well as caves like Lascaux. Visit Sarlat during the Wednesday market, when the giant church doors are open. Don't forget all the little towns!

Thanks, everybody, this has certainly been helpful.

Prior to access to information like this, it often took me a couple of trips to an area to find those 'right' spots. A few words from people with experience is most helpful.

Dave