Rocamadour is one of France's most dramatic villages: a medieval pilgrimage site stacked in seven levels up a sheer limestone cliff above the Alzou canyon in the Lot department. From a distance it looks almost impossible — a cluster of chapels, a château, and a village clinging to the rock face, with the valley floor far below.
The site has drawn pilgrims since the Middle Ages, when the tomb of an unknown hermit was discovered in a cave beneath the cliff. A Romanesque chapel was built over it, and the Black Madonna kept inside became one of the most venerated pilgrim images in France. The route up is still walked on foot — there are 216 steps cut into the cliff. The château at the top has views across the canyon to the plateau beyond.
The village is small enough to see in an afternoon, but the setting justifies a night. The cliffs turn golden at sunset, and once the day-trippers leave, the place gets quiet. Cahors, 50 km south, makes a good base.
The local Rocamadour goat cheese — a small round disc of creamy chèvre — is named after the town and has AOC status since 1996. Find it at the village market or in any fromagerie in the Lot.