Discover the top Dordogne towns and villages
Explore some of the loveliest towns and villages around Dordogne.
Find loads of top tips and local insights in our Dordogne Destinations Guide.
Limeuil is a picturesque old village which features on the list of 'Les Plus Beaux Villages de France'. It has a pretty park on the top of the hill and some ruins from its medieval past.
The largest town in the area, Bergerac, still retains a quaint old feel, with a change in pace in the summer months.
Very much a textbook bastide village, it's laid out in a grid fashion around a central square. Eymet, as it exists today, was founded by Alphonse de Poitiers in 1270.
Formerly the capital of the old province of Quercy, Cahors is the largest town in the Lot valley. The site was inhabited by the Cadurci tribe in Roman-Gaul times.
Located on an ancient Roman road, the town of Brantôme on the Dronne river is centred around its 8th century Benedictine abbey.
Sainte-Foy-la-Grande sits on the south bank of the Dordogne river. This attractive walled bastide town still has some of its medieval houses and is a good base for visiting the surrounding Sainte-Foy-Bordeaux wine region and nearby Château de Montaigne, home of Michel de Montaigne.
Picturesque village typical of Quercy. The traditional houses have corbelled fronts, brown-tiled roofs and pigeon lofts built into their walls.
Standing out as one of the most charming towns in the region, this medieval dwelling remains much as it was when it was built in the 14th century.
The town and the surrounding prehistoric sites have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Nearly 150 sites have already been discovered and contain significant finds dating back as far as the Middle Stone Age - about 300,000 to 40,000 years ago.
The pretty old town of Montignac serves as a good base for visiting the nearby prehistoric caves.
The village of Beynac-et-Cazenac is thought to date back to the 12th century when its imposing cliff top château was constructed.
You get a sense of this town's history as soon as you arrive, with are flags and coats of arms lining the roads that lead you to the main square.
It's hard to imagine a nicer village than La Roque-Gageac, with its huge limestone cliffs that tower behind the Renaissance-style houses built in creamy stone with burnt red roofs.
This medieval town on a bend in the Dordogne grew around its 9th century Benedictine abbey of Saint-Pierre.
Carennac has been previously voted 'One of the 'Most Beautiful Villages in France' and it's easy to see why. The blonde stone and red-brown roofs of its buildings have tall chimneys and are adorned with creepers that turn red in the autumn.
A base for exploring the region, Souillac has a medieval past and is filled with Romanesque-style sculptures.
The town of Martel is not, in fact, famous for the brandy (that's Martell with two ll's) but is well known as the capital of truffles and a great producer of walnuts, two of the region's specialities.
Couze used to be a paper-making village and a number of its old mills are still in existence, using the power of the Couze river to turn the water wheel.