Discovery of Périgord Noir
Do you want to spend your next summer, Easter or All Saints’ holidays in Périgord Noir in the Sarlat la Canéda area? What a great idea! If this geographical area is classified as a Major Site of Aquitaine under the name “Golden Triangle of the Dordogne Valley”, it is because it is of unusual richness. For a weekend or for three weeks, it’s impossible to get bored!
We love our territory and our greatest joy is to help you discover it. Moreover, we send you when you book a tourist document allowing you to prepare your stay, because the choice of visits is so vast that if you do not organize yourself a little, you may leave disappointed not to have did what we wanted. On site, of course, we advise you in your choices.
And then, in these few pages, you will find a taste of what you can discover during your stay in Ventoulines. Enjoy reading and don’t hesitate to interact!
An extraordinary territory!
The heritage is incredible in this little corner of France: castles, towns and villages, gastronomy… Nature too, with its landscapes, its caves, its rivers. And men of course, through their know-how and their history which can be discovered here very far back, even in Prehistory. Not to mention numerous festivals and votive celebrations!
There is so much to see and do, from unmissable discoveries to good, more intimate places.
And this is valid all year round, not just summer! Many tourist sites in the area are open from January 1 to December 31, which is rare enough in France to be noted.
You may be wondering “but where to start?” » and it’s a wise question, because some vacationers leave disappointed not to have done all the outings they wanted, simply because they didn’t organize themselves at the start of their vacation. So…action!
First of all, we need to know what Périgord Noir is. Is it the same as the Dordogne? Well no, it’s a region in the south of the Dordogne. This department takes its name from the two torrents creating the Dordogne river, the Dore and the Dogne, a lovely marriage for a very beautiful river which has created magnificent landscapes. Périgord, for its part, is an old county which more or less follows the administrative limits of current Dordogne.
There are four quite different zones in the Dordogne: the Périgord Vert in the North, wooded and rich in meadows, the Périgord Blanc in the center, including Périgueux, with its very light limestone soil, the Périgord Pourpre in the South-West, and its famous Bergerac vineyard , and finally the Périgord Noir in the South-East, with its dark earth and its dark forests of holm oaks. The fact that we find good black truffles there has nothing to do with it, but it is a good mnemonic!
Now that we’ve got our bearings a little, let’s get organized. We will have to manage priorities: rather castles or prehistory? Rather caves and chasms or nature sports? More history or more farm visits? More museums or wide open spaces? Or a little of all that at the same time?
In Ventoulines, we accompany you in your visit to Périgord, whether it is focused on the discovery of the territory, sport or family well-being. We give you the best deals, based on your tastes, the age of the participants, and the kilometers you may or may not want to do by car.
This information is provided by a short tourist guide we have created which is sent to you before your stay, and on site by personalized advice.
We can also direct you to tourist partners where you will have price reductions for bike tours, discovery canoe trips on the Dordogne or horseback riding..
For holidays or weekends, in groups or with family: multiple accommodation solutions
Once the Périgord destination has been chosen, there remains a big question: where are we going to sleep? To choose, you must first of all define your budget, which will allow you to determine whether you will rather be at the campsite or at the hotel, in classic or unusual accommodation, and above all in which area, the prices in Sarlat not being the same as on the edge of the neighboring department, the Lot.
Montignac, Marquay, Sarlat la Caneda, Beaulieu, Saint-Vincent, Privat, Argentat… so many towns and villages which are centers of tourism. To choose the HQ that will allow you to discover the Dordogne, two possibilities: either you choose to be in the heart of the event, with slightly higher prices, but less travel, or you take your residence in an area less touristy, but you will have up to an hour of travel each time and you are obliged to leave for the day, which is not always very relaxing. To negotiate with your teammates!
Another question: the type of stay. This site is here to inform you of accommodation options. There is no shortage of choice in our department, whether for families or groups. You will find in our pages the questions to ask yourself, to help you define which residence is for you.
And once the question of “where?” ”, all that will remain is to ask “when?” “. Please note that in the Périgord Noir, good places go quickly, and that for very popular dates such as the first half of August or Pentecost, it is better to go in January (and even in September if you are in a group!). Then, you will have many months to dream about your vacation… and prepare for it!
Gastronomy, a real plus!
Eating is good; eating well is much better, especially for conviviality! So when you announce that your next destination is Périgord, there is generally a renewed sense of attention in the eyes of your interlocutors who immediately start salivating and are ready to hit the road straight away.
Your stay, from caves like Lascaux to visits to castles, will be very pleasantly punctuated by nice or even gourmet meals (we are here to give you the right addresses and avoid tourist traps!), visits to markets including the simple evocation of smells and colors will give you memories for the whole year, and farm visits with succulent tastings and anecdotes.
In addition, you will find during your stay in the Dordogne, many gift ideas, enough to be ready for Christmas from August, without stress, in the sun, far from the overcrowded stores of mid-December.
In short, holidays in the Dordogne, we have everything to gain !
