Exploring the magnificent River Dordogne Valley
The Dordogne is a classic French beauty that is hard to match… in fact it’s easier to see why the Lonely Planet recently voted it the 4th best destination across Europe.
With impressively steep gorges, gorgeous cliff top towns and an unquestionable heritage as one of Europe’s most important ‘prehistoric sites’… we really haven’t found too many places to rival this across our entire ‘European Road Trip’.
It’s charming festivals, unique but delicious local food and it’s abundance of family friendly outdoor adventure activities make this the perfect place to ‘stop the van’ and enjoy the summer sun
The Dordogne region is split up into many smaller regions under the capital Perigueux. Such as ‘Périgord Vert‘, ‘Périgord Noir’ or ‘Périgord Pourer yet our favourite is ‘La Roque-Gageac‘… a stunning ‘Les Plus Beaux Villages’ much like the previously visited Talmont sur Gironde.
With echoes of Tuscany (Italy) or the Cotswolds (UK) across both the stone, architecture and local farmland, it really adds a stunning backdrop for a family holiday.
We’ve taken advantage of the opportunity to finish ‘Kayaking the Dordogne River‘ something that created this ‘wanderlust’ that has provided us with this amazing family adventure across Europe. Yet we’ve also enjoyed a wonderful fete /illumination of LaRoque Gageac (each Friday night in summer)
Seeing hot air balloons drift lazily across the gentle countryside obviously heading for some impressive aerial views of the many chateaus that line the banks of the river.
We’ve stayed close to La Roque Gageac at Camping La Plage… a small yet brilliantly located campsite that sits alongside the river, has all the facilities we need and a swimming pool for the girls (if they get bored of the river!)
This type of stay shows just how easy it is to take a road trip and go onto enjoy some of Europe’s most amazing sights… the campsite is highly reasonable at under 30 euros a night, the fuel costs have been minimal as we have used our bikes on the river side paths or driven the short distances to nearby attractions…
The entertainment of the river (swimming, jumping, kayaking) has been very cheap and the evening entertainment (fete/illuminations) has been free… it really has been a wonderful few days with more kayaking to come tomorrow!!!
la roque gageac
so where did we park the bus for the night?
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