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Jeff Rasley
"YOU HAVE TO GET LOST BEFORE YOU CAN BE FOUND."
Grand Days Out
Perigord Blanc (white Perigord), situated in the centre of the department, is a
land of limestone plateaux and wide grassy valleys, criss-crossed by the Auvezere and Isle rivers. This area is dotted with towns and villages such as Montpon, Savignac-les-Eglises, Sorges (renowned for its truffles), St. Astier, Neuvic and Mussidan, as well as Perigueux, the capital of the Dordogne.
Historic Brantome & Bordeilles
Brantome, with its abbey reflected in the river, grassy banks on one side and restaurants overlooking the scene from the other, is a lovely place to spend the day. Take a boat ride through the town in the morning, enjoy a riverside lunch, then you can shop for bargains as well as novelty gifts through the town's little lanes and along the riverside, where there are some excellent shops selling food, wine, clothing and jewellery. Most Sundays they hold an artisan market with music and food to be had from local producers.
Bordeilles is more of a village than a town, with narrow lanes crossing the river to a picnic area on the other side, where you can BBQ a lunch and sit and watch the world go by if you don’t want to indulge in the cafes and restaurants in the charming centre. It has its own chateau, which overlooks the river and often hosts a vintage car cavalcade.
Glorious Bordeaux
Arcachon Bay & the Atlantic Gateway and only an hour away by train or 1.5 hours to drive, this wonderful city has everything to offer with art galleries, museums, riverside location, an excellent tram system that can take you across the city in minutes, as well as beautiful architecture and of course the famous mirror lake. You can park on the outskirts of the city of Cenon and take the tram in. A 30 minute train ride from St. Jean station will take you out to the pretty Atlantic coast town of Arcachon and the bay. We prefer to drive it so we can visit the Grand Dune of Pilat nearby, which you can climb and walk along. It is 1.5 kilometres in length with views across the Arcachon bay to Cap Ferret, at the point where the wild Atlantic meets the calmness of the bay and its sandbanks and bird sanctuary.
Fabulous Biarritz
Glitz & Glamour mix with surfers, sunbathers and those who just want to stroll in the fresh air
and sea spray. This hilltop town stands proud above the Atlantic Ocean and if you're staying in town you're just around the corner from a sea view no matter where you are. Biarritz Casino stands along a wide sandy bay on one side with smaller bays to the south side where the tide can quickly swoosh its way up the beach in a spectacular fashion, ideal for the surfers and
strong swimmers amongst you.