Walks and hikes in Dordogne

Rando Périgord NoirRando Périgord Noir
©Rando Périgord Noir

Counted among the largest and most wooded departments in France, the Dordogne lists nearly 9,000 km of hiking trails including 8 GR and 2 GR de Pays. This ensemble constitutes an exceptional network of paths marked and maintained that allows you to discover a very rich natural, historical and cultural heritage as well as varied and preserved landscapes.

The Dordogne, a land of hiking

The marked trails and the numerous loops present on the territory allow everyone to organize tours adapted to their level. In Dordogne the hiking trails never present any particular difficulties. Here the relief which participates in the beauty of the landscapes is never abrupt and authorizes the whole of the practices as well family as sporting. Everyone can practice his practice in family, between friends while enjoying a picnic or a beautiful walk on forest trails.

This fantastic mesh of hiking trails offers a vast playground open to all hikers, pedestrians, mountain bikers, equestrians. As for the numerous bicycle routes, they will make cyclists happy, on the greenways as well as on the exceptional network of small roads that crisscross the Dordogne. Finally, lovers of nautical activities can indulge in a water walk in a canoe and enjoy a view of the jewels of the banks of the Dordogne and Vézère rivers such as the village of la Roque-Gageac and its barges, the medieval village of Montfort nestled in the heart of its famous cingle, a large loop of the river or the many castles such as the one of Beynac overlooking the river.

For all information concerning hiking in the Dordogne, you can find all useful information, maps and topoguides in all tourist offices.

Discovering the Périgord Noir by hiking

The Périgord Noir is full of places steeped in history. Major prehistoric sites such as the Lascaux Cave, the Madeleine site, the Roque Saint Christophe, Les Eyzies de Taillac and so many others constitute an exceptional heritage.

Named the department with 1001 castles, the Dordogne counts among them wonders such as those of Biron, Hautefort, Milandes, Beynac or Castelnaud which rival each other in beauty and architectural prowess.

The small villages of the Périgord Noir are also places full of history and culture. Their perfectly preserved centers made up of Perigord houses have allowed some of them to be classified among the Most Beautiful Villages of France. They are part of the remarkable sites of the region and have become high places of tourism in Dordogne :

  • Beynac and Cazenac,
  • La Roque Gageac,
  • Dômme
  • Castelnaud La Chapelle
  • Saint Amand de Coly
  • Saint Léon su Vézère

Without forgetting Sarlat la Canédaconsidered one of the most beautiful medieval cities of Europe. Sarlat is today the emblematic capital of the Périgord Noir. Its celebrated market honors Périgourdine gastronomy through its most refined local products, truffles, ceps, foie gras, and duck confits…

Ideas for hiking trips in the Dordogne

Let yourself be guided to discover these places full of history and live unforgettable experiences, going up the Valley of Man and its exceptional prehistoric sites.
Walk through the Parc Naturel Régional du Périgord Limousin in the heart of the Périgord Vert a rural and forested area and visit Brantôme the famous “Venise Verte”.
Remonstrate the Dordogne Valley to admire its countless castles and medieval and troglodytic villages.

So many prestigious sites that your hosts at Villages de Gîtes will be keen to help you discover by proposing walks and hikes trails of the Périgord from your holiday rental in Dordogne.

Stays hiking in Perigord

From Village de Gîtes de Combas, your hosts organize stays to discover the Périgord Noir in the Sarlat region. Guy, a federal hiking graduate, guides you on the trails, and tells you with passion the history of the Perigord of yesterday and life in the Dordogne today.

Leave on the paths of the Périgord Noir

From le Hameau du Sentiers des SourcesDominique takes you “into unknown lands”. Hikes on the trails around Sarlat tothe discovery of hills and valleys, hamlets and small villages and perched castles.

Walking tours to experience alone or with your family

With more than 300 km of trails nearby des Collines d’Eyviguesyour hosts offer you to discover the paths that each year are the scene of 3 major events. La Ronde des Villages in autumn, a hiking weekend in the Pays de Fénélon, La Ronde des Moulins in spring, Les Estivales in summer. In the town of Eyvigues, a botanical and educational circuit, “the path of the fountains” will delight children.

The Black Perigord on foot

Hubert, your host at La Truffière, is delighted to take you on a walk every Wednesday morning to discover the Périgord Noir in a different way, without a car, starting from your gite.
The exceptional location, at the top of a Pech (hill in Occitan), offers an ideal starting point for multiple hikes with distances and difficulties that can be modulated according to your desires, in varied and splendid landscapes: the oak forests of the Périgord Noir, the Dordogne valley, the Quercy limestone plateaus…

Hiking in the Périgord Vert

Located in a very hilly, green and wooded area, in the heart of the Perigord Limousin Regional Nature Park, thegîtes de Tartou are the starting point for several marked trails. You will discover authentic and still wild landscapes.
Walks along the river the Tardoire are a few steps from the gîtes and the GR4 passes nearby. Maps with itineraries are available in the Village de Gîtes.

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