Pale stone, lauze roofs and preserved medieval lanes: the Périgord (Dordogne) is among the regions of France most densely endowed with characterful villages, often nestled in the hollow of the Vézère or Dordogne valley.
This selection brings together essentials of the Périgord Noir and the Périgord Pourpre, several of them listed among the Most Beautiful Villages of France.
The town of Sarlat is a medieval town that reached its peak in the thirteenth century. The Carolingian abbey of Sarlat is the only one spared by the Vikings because it lay away from the Dordogne and its tributaries.
View full page →
In the Middle Ages, La Roque-Gageac had 1,500 souls. At that time, the Dordogne supported the fishermen and gabariers of the port.
View full page →
Ringed by ramparts, the thirteenth-century bastide tells a tumultuous past illustrated by its fortified gates and towers that served as prisons.
View full page →
Seat in the Middle Ages of one of the four baronies of the Périgord, the castle withstood every assault and was taken only by Richard the Lionheart and Simon de Montfort.
View full page →
Fortified in the Middle Ages because of its strategic position and nicknamed "the Pope's town" under the protection of Pope Clement V, Belvès keeps the remains of a tormented past: ramparts, Auditeur tower, bell belfry, town hall tower, former bell tower of the Dominican friars' convent, Hospital tower…
View full page →
This thirteenth-century fortified town founded by Edward I of England has seen some thirty of its buildings listed as historic monuments.
View full page →
Overlooking the village square, the château de Marthonie combines in its two wings sharing a magnificent straight-flight staircase the elegance of the Renaissance with the rigour of the classical period.
View full page →
Inhabited since the dawn of time, the caves and caverns formed perfect natural shelters for our ancestors, the Cro-Magnon people.
View full page →
Set on an island, at the gates of the Périgord Limousin nature park, the charming town of Brantôme is one of the prettiest towns of the Green Périgord.
View full page →
Formerly, the village occupied a strategic site on the border between English-held Guyenne and the kingdom of France.
View full page →