I have rented a campervan on several occasions to visit my parents or my brother (and not have to sleep on a mattress on the floor nor have to live out of a suitcase), but this time, with my husband, Roger, and my daughter, Emilie who is 20, we decided to have a proper campervan break.
I rented this campervan in England where I live, and I first drove it, with Emilie as a passenger and navigator, in the Gard where we spent some time with my parents. Roger met us there and the holidays could start.
Fist of all, I must say that being 7.43 m long for only two berth, this camping is the longest I have driven so far, and I don’t think I will do it again.
Day 1 : Calvisson – Carcassonne – Montclar
Day 3 : Vitrac, campsite domaine Soleil plage – Monfort
Day 6 : The gardens of Eyrignac and the evening market of Saint Léon sur Vézère
List of the campsites and the campervan car parks
Day 1 : Calvisson – Carcassonne — Montclar
I have often driven on the A9 motorway, near Carcassonne, and I have admired this place from afar. This was the opportunity to visit it. It is as beautiful from inside as it is from outside, and it would be a shame not to visit it.
We parked the campervan on the aire de la cité, chemin de Montlegun, GPS: N 43°12’19.55″ E 2°22’23.23″. 
Having been told on the phone that the campsite in Carcassonne was full, we dicided to spend the night in Montclar,
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Day 2 : Montclar – Vitrac
On reason why I love campervans and am planning to buy one is that I wouldn’t have to book our holidays in advance. For some unknown reason, I am never organised well enough in advance and I often book our holidays at the last minute which is a situation I am not comfortable with. An other reason for my enthusiasm for this type of holidays is that I don’t need to pack and unpack my suitcase. At the end of some holidays when we left England to go to a campsite in the South of France, then to my parents, then to a campsite in Slovenia, through a hotel in Milan, then stayed with family in Slovenia, I could not find anything in my suitcase any more. If I had the toothbrush, the toothpaste could not be found, clean clothes got mixed with not so clean clothes… And I realised that I had reached an age when I wanted some comfort. The idea of travelling in a campervan was born!
But, as we are travelling with our daughter who sleeps in her tent, we cannot stay the night on a car park, and Dordogne is a popular destination, so maybe I should have booked a bit before hand.
During our journey on the motorway A61, towards Toulouse, we stopped on the service area of Port Lauragais. Not only there is a free service point for campervans, but it is possible to park near a small lake, there are picnic tables and even loungers. I shall certainly remember it if I need to spend a night in the area.
I had though of staying at the campsite Les Acacias, because there is a shuttle for Sarlat, but it was full. We therefore went to the campsite Domaine Soleil Plage. It is a 5 star campsite and we appreciated the bar with its cocktails and the restaurant and the duck dishes. What we enjoyed less were the 39.40 euros fees to book a place.
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Day 3 : Vitrac, campsite domaine Soleil plage – Montfort
It’s a campsite along the river Dordogne and there is a place where you can rent a canoe right on the campsite. Émilie and Roger did the ‘château’ route, it lasts three hours and they loved it. They went through la Roque-Gageac and found the whole route to be very scenic, and easily done in three hours. Having said that, they are both quite fit. Also there are, if you want to take your time, places where to stop every 20 or 30 minutes and buy some drinks or snacks. When they reached the arriving point, a bus was there for them and brought them back.
They came back around 2:30 pm and after a late lunch we walk to Montfort.
If you are a good walker, it takes about half an hour. There is a path that starts at the campsite, but it is a bit steep in some places, so you should make sure you have good shoes, or you can use the road. If you don’t want to walk, there is a campervan car park in Monfort with a service point.
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Day 4 : Vitrac – Le Bugue
I was planning to go to the campsite Le Paradis in St Léon sur Vézère, but when I called them they told me they were fully booked. We then decided to go to the campsite Le Rocher de la Granelle in le Bugue.
We left the campsite around 10:30 am to go to Sarlat-la-Canéda to spend the day there.
Salat is a stunning town and is worth a day spent to visit it. Moreover, there are a lot of restaurant where you can try the specialities of the region.
In the evening, we then went to the campsite Le Rocher de la Granelle. On the phone I was told that I did not need to book because there was some spaces left and I was sightly concerned that this could reflect the quality of the campsite, as it turned out, that was not the case at all.
The people at the reception were lovely and the campsite itself was very nice, along a river and also a few minutes from the village le Bugue and from an Intermarché supermarket where you can park a campervan. We couldn’t have wished for anything better!
In fact, we stayed in this campsite for the rest of the time we spent in Dordogne.
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Day 5 : visiting Lascaux
We wanted to visit the cave of Lascaux, so in the morning we went to the tourist office of le Bugue to find some information. I think that we made the mistake of going there just before lunch, because it was quite obvious that the young woman working there was more willing to take her break than to give us information. She therefore told us that we had to book on line and that anyway it was very likely that there would not be any space until the beginning of August. I tried to book on line, but the terms and conditions stipulated that I had to print the tickets I would buy on a piece of A4 paper, which was not possible. We then decided to go to Montignac, where the Lascaux cave is, to find more information. This was a good idea, as we managed to get tickets for that same afternoon, and it would have been a shame to go to Dordogne and not visit the cave of Lascaux.
To park in Montignac, we followed the signs for the ‘Parking 2 Lascaux’ which is posted as a campervan car park, but it is a small car park and there was no space left. But there is a beautiful campervan car park in Montignac the aire des Sagnes, free during day time, and that is where we went. It is right in the centre of Montignac and it will take you 10 to 15 minutes to walk to the cave of Lascaux. Otherwise, there is also a big car park where you can park your campervan just next to the cave. I think it’s a car park for a restaurant, but it is huge and even in the middle of July there was lots of space.
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Day 6 : The gardens of Eyrignac and the evening market of Saint Léon sur Vézère
For our last day in Dordogne, we decided to visit the gardens of Eyrignac. The 10 hectare gardens ‘à la française’ feature 300 topiaries.
The car park is perfectly suitable for campervans and is shaded. In fact, after lunch (there is a picnic area if you want to use it), when we defied the heat and went to visit the gardens, lots of people from the other campervans had taken blankets outside to relax under the trees or had produced some folding chairs.
In the evening, we went to the evening market in Saint Léon sur Vézère. St Léon sur Vézère is classified as one of the ‘plus beaux villages de France’ (most beautiful villages in France). There is a campervan car park at the entrance of the village. You have to pay, but it is nice and shaded, you can spend the nigth there and there is a service point.
It was our last day in Dordogne and the next day we hit the road to go back in the Gard before heading back to England.
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List of the campsites and the campervan car parks
Campsite Yelloh! Village Domaine d’Arneuteille in Montclar
Camping Yelloh! Village
Domaine d’Arnauteille
11250 MONTCLAR
Tel : 04 68 26 84 53
Campsite domaine d’Arnauteille (website in English)
GPS : N 43°07’27.52″ E 2°15’39.85″
Campsite les acacias in Sarlat
Camping les acacias
7 Rue Louis de Champagne
24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda
Tel : 05 53 31 08 50
Campsite les Acacias (website in English, choose your language at the top of the page)
GPS : N 44°51’26.60″ E 1°14’13.16″
Campsite Domaine Soleil Plage in Vitrac
Domaine de Soleil Plage
Plage de Caudon
Vitrac
24200 Sarlat
Tel : 05 53 28 33 33
Campsite Domaine Soleil Plage (website in English)
GPS : N 44°49’25.93″ E 1°15’13.46″
Campsite Le Paradis in St Léon sur Vézère
Camping Le Paradis
24290 Saint Léon sur Vézère
Tel : 05 53 50 72 64
Campsite le Paradis (website in English)
GPS : N 45°00’5.80″ E 1°04’16.32″
Campsite Le Rocher de la Granelle in Bugue
Camping Rocher de la Granelle
La Borie
24260 Le Bugue
Tel : 05 53 07 24 32
Campsite Le Rocher de la Granelle (website in English)
GPS : N 44°54’42.88″ E 0°55’0.41″
Aire de la Cité, campervan car park in Carcassonne
Chemin de Montlegun
Tel : 04 68 10 24 30
GPS : N 43°12’19.55″ E 2°22’23.23″
Campervan car park in Monfort Vitrac
D703/
Aire de Montfort Vitrac (website in French)
GPS : N 44°50’8.09″ E 1°14′ 54.67″
Parking in Sarlat
Parking du lycée Pré de Cordy
70 avenue Joséphine Baker
24200 Sarlat-la-Canéda
Tel : 06 72 46 89 28
GPS : N 44°52’09.12″ E 1°12’19.33″
Campervan car park Les Sagnes in Montignac
Aire des Sagnes
Rue des Sagnes
24290 Montignac
Tel :05 53 51 72 00
Aire des Sagnes (website in French)
GPS : N 45°4’4.00″ E 1°9’53.003
The garden of Eyrignac
Château d’Eyrignac
24590 Salignac Eyvigues
Tel : 05 53 28 99 71
The gardens of Eyrignac (website in English)
GPS : N 44°56’20.87″ E 1°18’57.24″
Campervan car park in Saint Léon sur Vézère
Aire de camping car
Le Bourg
24290 Saint Léon sur Vézère
Campervan car park in St Léon sur Vézère (website in English)
GPS : N 45°0’44.71″ E 1°5’24.18″
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Les ballades en camping-car de Véro 