Some 26km up the Vézère valley, MONTIGNAC is the main base for visiting the Lascaux caves. It's a more attractive place than Les Eyzies, with several wooden-balconied houses leaning appealingly over the river, a good weekly market (Wednesday morning) and a lively annual arts festival in mid-July, featuring international folk groups.The tourist office is on place Bertran-de-Born (July & Aug daily 9am–7pm; Sept–June Mon–Sat 9am–noon & 2–6pm; tel 05.53.51.82.60, www.bienvenue-montignac.com). At certain times of year, tickets for Lascaux II can be bought from a separate office next door. Accommodation, as everywhere around here, can be a problem. The Hôtel de la Grotte, on rue du 4-Septembre (tel 05.53.51.80.48, [email protected]; €40–55; restaurant from €16.50), is the cheapest in town, with a pleasant stream-side garden. Then it's a big leap up to the three-star Soleil d'Or, also on the main rue du 4-Septembre (tel 05.53.51.80.22; €70–85; closed mid-Jan to mid-Feb), whose restaurant menus start at €21. For not much more, however, you can stay in the pretty, period rooms of the ivy- and wisteria-clad Hostellerie de la Roseraie, across the river in quiet place d'Armes (tel 05.53.50.53.92, www.laroseraie.fr.st; €70–85; closed mid-Nov to March; restaurant from €22). And finally there's a cheap municipal campsite on the river bank 500m downstream (tel 05.53.51.83.95; closed mid-Oct to March). There are other worthwhile hotel options in the area. Two of the most attractive are La Table du Terroir at LA CHAPELLE-AUBAREIL, about 15km beyond the Lascaux caves (tel 05.53.50.72.14, fax 05.53.51.16.23; €55–70; closed Dec to mid–Feb), which has a swimming pool and an excellent restaurant (menus from €11.40), and Hôtel Laborderie, further south at TAMNIÈS on the Les Eyzies–St-Geniès road (tel 05.53.29.68.59, [email protected]; €40–55; closed Nov–March) offering equally good food (menus from €17.50). For other possibilities, ask the tourist office in Montignac for their extensive list of B&B and farm campsites. A particularly good spot for campers with a taste for luxury is the Le Paradis site (tel 05.53.50.72.64, www.le-paradis.com; closed Nov–March) near the exquisite riverside village of ST-LÉON-SUR-VÉZÈRE, some 9km south of Montignac.
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