Nice stop between Loire Valley and Black Perigord?

We are going to France in July and we%26#39;ll be staying 4 nights in the Loire Valley and 5 nights near Sarlat. I%26#39;d love to find a city in between these areas to stay for other two nights.

My 1st idea was to stay in a small village called St. Benoit du Sault (listed one of the most beautiful villages in France), but I can%26#39;t find a lot of information about it, so I thought I%26#39;d ask here if you have any other ideas.

Thank you!

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Bump...

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Do you mean Sarlet-la-Caneda??

IF so, it is not vastly far away from the Loire region anyway!

You could consider somewhere on the coast, like La Rochelle or Royan, for a change of scene.

INland you have Limoges, which is sure to be interesting for a day or two:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limoges

YOU have not said where in the Loire Valley you are leaving from, the Loire is quite a long River - the longest in France, in fact!!:

la-loire.info/images/loire_map_france1.jpg

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If I were you, I%26#39;d start heading for St Benoit du Sault - if it%26#39;s not what you%26#39;re after, there%26#39;ll be plenty of other nice villages and places to stay in the region and some of them will have a room available, even in July! Or you could visit a site like gites-de-france.com/gites/uk/bed_breakfasts or www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/index.htm and book ahead.

(To be honest, I am a little dubious about the %26quot;most beautiful villages%26quot; tag - the ones I%26#39;ve seen have been lovely, but then so are many other villages in France. Some of the most memorable and picturesque places from our trips are those we%26#39;ve stumbled upon by chance.)

That said, I can recommend a stop for a night or two over towards the coast near Niort in the Poitou-Charentes region. We stayed at a small B%26amp;B outside Coulon and it was a great base from which to explore the Marais-Poitevin area known as the %26quot;Venise Verte%26quot; or Green Venice. Lots of lazy waterways on which you can go punting. It%26#39;s a bit of a dogleg from the Loire to Dordogne, but not too bad - you could spend one night there, then another in a village en route to Sarlat, or just two nights there then drive straight to Sarlat afterwards.

My two cents%26#39; worth!

:)

halwimsey

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Thanks for the ideas. I%26#39;ll check La Rochelle and Niort out, but I think they are quite a detour from my original route (Cour-Cheverny, in the Loire, to Sarlat-le-Caneda).

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