Sarlat is the ideal base for the Dordogne and Vézère valleys, and most of the region's best sights are within half an hour's drive. The clifftop châteaux are the classic outing: Château de Castelnaud, with its excellent museum of medieval warfare, and the rival Château de Beynac glowering at it across the river — the two are 10 to 12 kilometres west of town and easily combined in a single day.
North of Sarlat, in the Vézère valley, is the region's other unmissable trip: Lascaux IV, the full-scale replica of the prehistoric cave paintings near Montignac. Allow most of a half-day and book ahead in summer. A car makes all of this far easier; public transport in the valleys is sparse.
