Inside a marvellous modern building alongside the cliffs, this museum provides a fine prehistory primer, with the most comprehensive collection of prehistoric finds in France. Highlights include a huge gallery of Stone Age tools, weapons and jewellery, and skeletons of some of the animals that once roamed the Vézère (including bison, woolly rhinoceros, giant deer and cave bears). A collection of carved reliefs on the 1st floor includes a famous frieze of horses and a bison licking its flank.
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Musée National de Préhistoire
The Dordogne
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Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
11.38 MILES
France’s most famous prehistoric cave paintings are at the Grotte de Lascaux, 2km southeast of Montignac. Naturally sealed and protected for millennia, it…
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0.63 MILES
This extraordinary cave contains the only original polychrome (as opposed to single-colour) paintings still open to the public. About 14,000 years ago,…
10.63 MILES
The massive ramparts and metre-thick crenellated walls of this quintessential medieval fortress (occupied by the English during the Hundred Years War)…
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5.07 MILES
Hidden in woodland 18km north of Les Eyzies, this tri-level cave is one of the most complex and rewarding to see in the Dordogne. Board an electric train…
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22.34 MILES
Part of the park that contains the Tour de Vésone, this sleek museum designed by French architect Jean Nouvel encompasses a 1st-century Roman domus …
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10.68 MILES
Horticulture fans won’t want to miss these famous manicured gardens, stretching along a rocky bluff overlooking the Dordogne Valley. Signposted paths lead…
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10.47 MILES
For an introductory French market experience, visit Sarlat’s heavily touristed Saturday market, which takes over the streets around Cathédrale St-Sacerdos…
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1.52 MILES
This narrow, very long cave 1.5km east of Font de Gaume was the first rediscovered in the valley, in 1901, and is renowned for its animal engravings. Look…
Nearby The Dordogne attractions
0.06 MILES
About 250m north of the Musée National de Préhistoire, this Cro-Magnon abri (shelter) was inhabited over a period of 15,000 years starting some 37,000…
0.46 MILES
Interactive displays trace the history and stories of Cro-Magnon people; there is a small rock shelter accessible above the site.
0.63 MILES
This extraordinary cave contains the only original polychrome (as opposed to single-colour) paintings still open to the public. About 14,000 years ago,…
1.2 MILES
Around 3km northwest of Les Eyzies along the D47, this cave contains an array of glittering stalactites and stalagmites. A joint ticket (adult/child €11/6…
1.52 MILES
This narrow, very long cave 1.5km east of Font de Gaume was the first rediscovered in the valley, in 1901, and is renowned for its animal engravings. Look…
6. Le Village Troglodytique de la Madeleine
2.34 MILES
Many of the Vézère’s caves were used for storage, defence or protection as recently as the Middle Ages. This cave village 8km northeast of Les Eyzies was…
2.47 MILES
About 8km west of Les Eyzies, near the hamlet of St-Cirq, this privately owned cave features several animal engravings dating from around 15,000 BC to 17…
3.52 MILES
This Tursac chateau was built straight into the rock face that used to shelter prehistoric humans. Now it's kitted out with period furnishing and displays…