Things to do in Sarlat-la-Canéda
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Sarlat-la-Canéda
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Truffle season and quiet town, cold and short days, best for truffle devotees and empty lane photography.
Fest'Oie in early March opens the season, celebrating goose with tastings and workshops.
First sweet spot, gardens freshest, strawberries arrive and canoe season opens. May can be wet.
Everything open, June glorious, July candlelight and festivals, August peak crowds, heat and prices.
Connoisseur choice, early September warmth with fewer crowds, October walnuts, ceps and golden light.
The trough, cool, damp and short days with many closures and the smallest markets. Avoid if possible.
What's on
- Fête de la Truffe mid-January
Truffle dog demos, aroma workshops and truffle menus town wide.
- Sarlat Fest'Oie early March
Goose festival with tasting stalls, brass bands, workshops and traditional carcass soup.
- La Ringueta late May/early June in edition years
Biennial Occitan games and culture festival, check Sarlat Tourisme for edition years.
- Marqueyssac aux Chandelles Thursday evenings in July and August
Two thousand candles and live musicians in Marqueyssac gardens until midnight, book ahead.
- Sarlat Night Markets summer evenings in season
Evening food markets in the centre, eating at communal tables from stallholders cooked dishes.
- Festival des Jeux du Théâtre typically late July into early August
Open air theatre festival staging performances in the old town squares and gardens.
- Walnut and ceps autumn markets October
Autumn markets for walnut harvest, ceps, mushrooms and chestnuts.
- Christmas Market December
Christmas market by Sainte-Marie in December.
Best things to do in Sarlat-la-Canéda
Vieux Sarlat
Sarlat itself in honey coloured limestone lanes, best walked early and again after dark under the lamps.
Sarlat Market
The Wednesday and Saturday food market for truffle, foie gras, walnuts, cheese and Bergerac wine.
Ascenseur Panoramique
A glass lift in the Sainte-Marie bell tower giving a 360 degree view over Sarlat roofs and hills.
Manoir de Gisson
Sarlat best small house museum, a furnished noble town house with a cabinet of curiosities.
Cathédrale Saint-Sacerdos de Sarlat
A cool, quiet Gothic cathedral on Romanesque foundations, free to enter behind the busy market streets.
Lanterne des Morts
A strange 12th century conical stone lantern tower behind the cathedral, in Sarlat most atmospheric corner.
Jardin des Enfeus
The old abbey cemetery with arched wall tombs behind the cathedral, often missed by day trippers.
Château de Beynac
A 12th century fortress on a cliff 150 metres above the Dordogne, austere and almost perfectly preserved.
Where to stay in Sarlat-la-Canéda
Inside the medieval centre
first trip, all-round base
Walk to dinner and the market, with the night walk home part of the holiday, but parking is scarce.
Just outside the walls, Grande Rigaudie and Petite Rigaudie edge
best all-round compromise
Five minutes from Place de la Liberté on car reachable streets, with larger rooms and drop off access.
Countryside 5-10 min, Vitrac, Vézac and Carsac
families and 4+ nights
Gardens, pools, free parking and quiet nights, at the price of driving to dinner.
A valley village, Beynac, La Roque-Gageac and Domme
return visitors and a quieter, view-led trip
Magical evenings after day trippers leave, but dining choice is small and Sarlat means a drive.
Think twice about
- Commercial strip on the approach roads, D704 and Avenue de Selves
Charmless, car dependent and viewless, cut off from everything you came for, though not unsafe.
- Isolated rentals 20+ minutes out marketed as Sarlat area
Nightly drives on unlit lanes after dinner, far from the town and villages you came to see.
- Place de la Liberté on Saturday market and in August
Congestion and noise for light sleepers. Ask for a courtyard or rear room in the centre.
Best restaurants in Sarlat-la-Canéda
Restaurant Le Grand Bleu
Sarlat gastronomic reference point, refined Périgord cooking in a stone house with its own parking.
Le M
The Rochebois restaurant, a destination for contemporary French cooking and truffle menus on the terrace.
Restaurant L'Esprit Sarlat
The mid range star, cooking the regional repertoire with a lighter modern hand at fair prices.
Le Présidial
The classic Sarlat dinner in the former royal court building, with garden terraces in season.
Gueule & Gosier
A focused traditional kitchen named as the best place in town for duck confit specifically.
Aux 3 Sens
A small refined address on Rue Fénelon for a slower tasting dinner of local ingredients.
Le Bistrot
The honest bistrot lunch by the cathedral, a set menu that can beat grander places for pleasure.
La Table du Chaffour
A working farm auberge serving hearty menus from its own ducks, geese and vegetables.
Outdoor things to do in Sarlat-la-Canéda
Canoeing the Châteaux Route
Paddle from Vitrac past La Roque-Gageac and the castles to Beynac, with beaches for swimming and picnics.
Canosphère
Quieter upstream paddling through the Dordogne Biosphere Reserve, with forest and isolated beaches.
Les Gabarres Norbert
A narrated gabarre cruise from La Roque-Gageac giving the cliff villages and castles from water level.
Gabarres de Beynac
A flat bottomed gabarre cruise from Beynac for the river view without paddling.
Montgolfières du Périgord
Dawn balloon flights over castles, mist and river bends, Sarlat most raved about splurge excursion.
Périgord Dordogne Montgolfières
Dawn and dusk balloon flights over the valley of castles from Castelnaud.
Voie Verte Sarlat
A flat, traffic free former railway greenway south toward Carsac, shaded and ideal for families.
Golf du Domaine de Rochebois
A pretty short 9 hole estate course at Rochebois for relaxed holiday golf without a drive.
Best hotels in Sarlat-la-Canéda
Domaine de Rochebois
Sarlat true luxury resort, a Belle Époque domaine with spa, pool, golf and large garden terrace rooms.
Le Petit Manoir
A small manoir hotel in the old town with walled garden and pool, rare for the centre.
Plaza Madeleine & Spa
The grande dame on Petite Rigaudie, with spa, pools and the easiest car access this central.
Pavillon Clos la Boétie
An elegant annex style luxury stay in the centre at guesthouse scale.
Hôtel La Couleuvrine
A characterful hotel in a medieval building in the old ramparts, strong atmosphere per euro.
La Villa des Consuls
Apartment style suites with old town views and kitchenettes ideal for market shoppers staying longer.
Hôtel Montaigne
A reliable, well run hotel a short walk from the centre with easier access than the deep old town.
Hôtel Le Mas del Pechs
A mas style hotel in greenery with pool and parking, quiet yet walkable to town in daylight.
Is Sarlat-la-Canéda expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €95 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €170 a person |
| Splurge | €350 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Ascenseur Panoramique: a few days ahead
- Jardins de Marqueyssac: a few days ahead
- Lascaux IV: a few days ahead
- Canoeing the Châteaux Route: a few days ahead
- Canosphère: a few days ahead
- Montgolfières du Périgord: weeks ahead
- Périgord Dordogne Montgolfières: weeks ahead
- La Forêt des Écureuils: a few days ahead
- Lascaux IV English tours sell out days ahead in summer and Gouffre de Padirac needs timed entry in season.
- Small centre hotels sell out months ahead for Saturdays, and balloon flights should be booked early in a stay.
- Reserve Le Grand Bleu, L'Esprit Sarlat, Aux 3 Sens and Gueule & Gosier for dinner from May to September.
Is Sarlat-la-Canéda safe?
- Low crime small town, normal precautions suffice, but do not leave valuables visible in castle car parks.
- Real risks are heat, cobbles and steep lanes, river swimming away from recognised beaches, and August wasps.
Sarlat-la-Canéda travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The cheapest fixed menus around Rue de la République and Place de la Liberté trade on location and vary in quality.
- Buy foie gras and truffle products at the market from named producers after tasting, not the first glossy shop.
- Do not visit Beynac and Domme at noon in August, and do not try to do every castle in two days.
Getting around Sarlat-la-Canéda: public transport and more
- A car is practically required beyond the walkable town, for castles, caves, canoe bases and farm restaurants.
- Use Place de la Grande Rigaudie car park as the default, pay on exit just south of the centre.
- Without a car, a two night town break works with organised day tours and the canoe shuttle.
Who Sarlat-la-Canéda suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Sarlat-la-Canéda your trip
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