Hidden gems of the Dordogne

I fell in love with Sarlat the second I got my eyes on it, I’ve stood in awe at the beauty of the many castles of the Dordogne Valley more than once, and I’ve tasted the best French food at the local markets, but it’s the hidden gems of the Dordogne that genuinely took my heart and made me decide to move here.

From scenic villages of medieval stone houses built against rocky walls to hidden churches lost in the lushest and most untouched countryside, going off the beaten path in the Dordogne truly pays off.

This is what makes the Dordogne so interesting, so enchanting...so much a place to deeply fall in love with.

And, since I moved here 6 years ago, I’ve had the time to discover plenty of hidden gems on the way, especially over our hikes through this astonishing countryside. 

So I have created this list of my personal favourite places that often fall off the radar of the visitor. 

Cheylard Chapel in St Genies

Cheylard chapel, Saint Geniès

The Cheylard Chapel, on its natural promontory, overlooks the village of Saint Geniès and the surrounding countryside. Built in 1329 by Gausbert La Chaminade, it was once the chapel of a cemetery which has since disappeared. Listed as a historic monument in 1899, it owes its fame to the murals decorating the interior.

Outside, it is modest and sober; no sculptures, no pinnacles, just a simple stone house rising a little higher than the village houses towards the clear sky of Dordogne, but, push the old wooden door and enter...

Cheylard chapel

Cheylard chapel

The chapel was covered with frescoes in 1327. Unfortunately, most of the frescoes gradually lost their colours and the whole is very damaged, but some of the scenes are still preserved and some images can be easily guessed. 

You will be able to recognize Saint-Georges slaying the dragon, Saint-Catherine of Alexandria, Saint-Marc and his protective lion, the stigmata of Saint-François or, of course, Saint-Pierre brandishing the keys to Paradise. 

Church of Redon Epic

Redon Espic

This Benedictine priory can be found on the hiking trail Boucle des Fontaines starting from Castels. It was founded in the 12th century and attached to the Abbey of Fontevrault in the 15th century. At the end of the 18th century, the buildings were ruined and the church was already in poor condition. 

It is a beautiful and pure example of 12th century monastic architecture: it has a single nave, a chevet pierced by a triplet and it is covered in slate. Unfortunately, only vestiges remain of the conventual buildings.

Redon Espic

Redon Espic

Redon Espic

A pilgrimage to Notre-Dame de Redon Espic in Castels, in the Dordogne, is organized every year on September 8, since 1862. This Marian shrine remembers the appearance of the Virgin Mary to a young shepherdess, Marie-Jeanne Grave, in June 1814.

Aubeterre troglodyte church

Under the courtyard of the old feudal castle of Aubeterre, dug entirely in a limestone cliff, is the subterranean Saint-Jean church, built in the middle of the 12th century to receive a piece of the cross on the return crusade of the lord of the castle. During the Revolution it was used as a saltpeter factory then converted in a cemetery until 1865.

Its vast dimensions make it one of the biggest and most imposing churches of this kind in Europe, together with that of Saint-Emilion.

The entry is made by the east end of a wide corridor bordered by recesses (one of them on the left serves as an ossuary). Then on the right a vast and high room opens under the arches.

Saint-Jean church, Aubeterre

To the left, two large octagonal columns cut in the rock limit a side of five meters wide, in which begins a narrow staircase going up to a gallery opening very high on three sides of the nave by small arched arcades supported on pillars.

Saint-Jean church, Aubeterre

The ground floor features a semicircular apse with an hexagonal monolith (probably a tomb) serving as an altar. 

Cadouin cloister

Cadouin Abbey has been standing proudly with its old walls since 1115; witness to the art of the builders of the time and isolated at the bottom of a green valley, it is the ideal site to evoke medieval monastic life, architectural styles and artistic practices developed by Cistercian monks. 

Cadouin Abbey

Destroyed during the Hundred Years War, the Cadouin community rebuilt the cloister at the end of the 15th century in a completely new style for the time. It is the only example of the late Gothic period in Périgord.

Cadouin cloister

The ideal location, the serene atmosphere, the architectural richness and the splendor of the decorations make this place one of my favourite in the whole region. 

For more info about the Dordogne region, check out our posts. 

If you are planning a visit in the Dordogne Valley here are our suggestions for a 3 or 5 days itinerary