Cave / Rocks Sights in Dordogne

This rock shelter houses outstanding prehistoric animal sculptures, the most significant being eight figures carved into the rock, which are thought to have been there for over 15,000 years. 

Accessed today by a small electric train, these caves were discovered in 1902 by Armand Vire and at the time required a descent of over 60 metres. 

The caves at Villars were only discovered in 1953 by a team of pot holers from the Périgueux Caving Club who were wandering around the Cluzeau coppice. After many expeditions, over 13 kilometres of galleries and chambers were discovered with some impressive stalactites and stalagmites as well as prehistoric paintings which are thought to date to the Magdalenian period, 17,000 years ago.

This is an impressive honey-stoned troglodyte house built within large cave shelters. Its relatively modest exterior disguises the space within, which is decorated in a grand style, with original medieval furniture and tapestries. 

This cave houses an impressive collection of prehistoric paintings and engravings dating from the Magdalenian period. Through its winding passageways, there are over 600 engravings of animals and stylised humans.

The Grand Roc cave, registered with UNESCO as a World Heritage site, is a true mineral forest, including crystallizations, calcite flows, stalactites, stalagmites, pillars, eccentric stalactites, draperies, and more. 

Only discovered in 1995, by the caver Jean-Luc Sirieix, these caves have some impressive stalactites and stalagmites along its tunnels over 20 metres below the surface.

The walk through this park will take you past rock shelters, caves and dwellings where a great number of tools and weapons, dating back over 12,000, have been discovered.

Now you can come and discover the famous decorated cave near Montignac in its entirety. But that’s not all; the opening of the International Centre for Cave Art marks the beginning of a new adventure combining the emotion of ancestral art and an important technological achievement.

These caves were originally discovered in 1825 and house some impressively large stalagmite pillars reaching up to 10 metres in height and varying in colour. 

The most famous cave in Europe the Gouffre de Padirac is also considered to be one of the most important and interesting geological sites in France.

The Pataud Shelter (or Arbi Aptaud) is one of the few prehistoric sites in the area which also shows how it has been dug and the archaeological techniques used.

A 450m long cave filled with stalactites, stalagmites and colonnades, deep underground, under the bastide town of Domme in the Perigord Noir.

Formed in the Middle Jurasic period as much as 150 million years ago this cave offers the chance to see nature at her best. Rock formations, calcified pillars and cave paintings are amongst the sites to be seen here.

The largest cave in the Périgord region, close to the pretty and tranquil town of Le Bugue. Proumeyssac has a vast subterranean grotto reaching 40 metres in height.

Built on the location where the first burial site was discovered by modern man in 1868, the Museum of CRO-Magnon Shelter offers the public the chance to interact with our ancestors and to (re) discover our history.

The southernmost of all the caves of the Vézère valley, Bara-Bahau was classified as an historic monument in 1961.

This rock shelter was discovered in the late 19th century, but its fascinating engravings of prehistoric fish were not identified for some 20 years.