About The Dordogne

The Dordogne has a deserved reputation as one of Europe's most beautiful river valleys, but the whole story is far more interesting. It boasts some of the world's most spectacular caves, navigable underground rivers and stalactites more than 250ft long.

It is also known as 'The Capital of Prehistory', site of the first homo-sapien in a little village called Cro-Magnon, and of Font de Gaume, the last polychrome cave paintings open to the public anywhere in the world.

Everywhere you look there are great castles and fortified towns and villages. There are forts built into cliff faces, and even fortified churches and farmhouses. The Dordogne river was the front line in the Hundred Years War and the Wars of Religion that followed. This area was at war for more than 400 years between the middle of the 11th century and the end of the 16th - and it shows.

The cuisine is also famous throughout France, particularly as the home of truffles and foie gras, but also for cêpes and for a whole cuisine based on duck and goose.

On top of all that, The Dordogne is a beautiful river, draining the Massif Central into the Gironde where it meets the Garonne.

The Dordogne isn't a gentle, green river valley. It is a spectacular area full of castles, gorges, cliffs, caves and a history that at times seems barely credible. Everyone should visit here once.