A weekend in the Dordogne region in France

6 March, 2016

by Julie

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When my friends asked in January if I wanted to go for a weekend in Dordogne I jumped on the occasion and booked some very cheap plane tickets and rented a car for the weekend.

My friends’ parents own a house in one of the prettiest villages in Dordogne: Beynac-et-Cazenac.

This weekend was my third time in the region. I went first in the summer of 1997 for three weeks. I also went for my friends wedding in August 2014. If you would like to make the most of the area, I recommend to go in Spring and Summer where most of the sites will be open. However, I found that our weekend in February had its charm. We only saw locals when we went to the farmers market, there was no one when when we visited the villages and it was so nice coming back to the house and resting by the fire.

In this article, I give  your some recommendations from my visit this year but also some from August 2014.

Places I visited in Dordogne

• The cute village of Beynac with its castle and picturesque streets
• Shopped at the Saturday market in Sarlat-la-Caneda
• Visited the walled town of Monpazier
• Enjoyed the views over the valley in Domme
• Walked through the magnificent Gardens of Marqueyssac

The food of Dordogne

One of the main draws of the region is the food. Dordogne is known for being one of the best regions for food in France. The basics of its cuisine revolves around a few ingredients: duck, goose, truffles, walnut and goat cheese. One note of warning though, do not visit this region when you are on a diet!

Here is a list of the typical dishes I sampled during my break in Dordogne:

• Cabecou, goat cheese

• Walnut cake
• Confit de canard
• Duck breast

All this washed down with beautiful wines from the nearby Bordeaux region.

In Sarlar-la-Caneda, I have eaten at Le Petit Manoir and also stayed at this B&B right in the centre of Sarlat