Font de Gaume (5 km from Le Chevrefeuille)
The awe inspiring prehistoric cave of Font de Gaume is the jewel in the crown of the wealth of prehistoric sites.
Font de Gaume in an attempt to slow the deterioration of the only original color cave art examples left open to public in France. have made the decision not to accept any advance sales of their tours. Tickets are only available by queuing on the day of your intended visit and an early arrival outside the ticket office is a must.
Luckily Le Chèvrefeuille is located just 5 kms from the number one tourist attraction of the Vezere valley, and is only a five minute drive by car to reach it. Furthermore should you let us know that you intend to join the queue, we will be offering a deckchair and a Le Chevrefeuille flask for a hot drink while you wait!
Just another reason to add to the list of why Le Chèvrefeuille is the place to stay.
Located in Les Eyzies, on the Sarlat road, Font de Gaume Cave is a showpiece of Magdalenian engravings and paintings from around 14 000 BC. The flints (chisels, scrapers, blades) and other things found in the cave during the excavations testify to a continual occupation since the Mousterian age, or the age of the Neanderthals.
Discovered in 1901 by D. Peyrony, the Cave, 130 m long, contains about 250 paintings. The visitor can only see 30 of them, the most beautiful ones and the best preserved. After 60 m underground, the “Rubicon” is the beginning of the decorated part of the cave, with red dots on the left wall.
Combarelles (7 kms from Le Chevrefeuille)
Les Combarelles is a cave in Les Eyzies, which was inhabited by Cro-Magnon people approximately 13–11,000 years ago. Holding more than 600 pre-historic engravings of animals and symbols, the two galleries in the cave were crucial in the re-evaluation of the mental and technical capabilities of these prehistoric humans around the turn of last century
On the left bank of the Beune River, the group of caves are located at the opening of the small Combarelles Valley. The entrance to the Les Combarelles Caves is located on the right side of the departmental road 47, 2 kilometers after the village of Les Eyzies in the direction of Sarlat. However tickets can only be purchased at the ticket office at Font de Gaume.
The environment of the cave consists essentially of agricultural lots in front, surrounded by a dense tree cover. In order to preserve the natural landscape, there is no picnic area in close proximity. There is, however, a gravel parking lot around 100 meters from the cave entrance.
Lascaux (32 kms from Le Chevrefeuille)
Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the Dordogne département. They contain some of the most well-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be 16,000 years old. They primarily consist of realistic images of large animals, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1979. Tickets can be purchased at the Lascaux site during the season, with the exception of July and August where tickets are only available at the ticket booth opposite the Bureau de Tourisme at the nearby town of Montignac.
Forte de Reignac (13 kms from Le Chevrefeuille)
A stone’s throw from the Vézère, across from a ford, prehistoric men settled here more than 20.000 years ago.
Preserved in exceptional condition and fully furnished with period furniture, it is the only monument of its kind in France, a “Chateau falaise” fully intact. Listed a historical monument, this is the strangest, most secret, most extraordinary, and also the most mysterious of all the Périgord châteaux. Built under the escarpments, this refuge juts out from the rock into which it has been dug and conceals huge rock shelters that have witnessed some interesting events of our civilisation for more than 20,000 years.
Commarque (15 kms from Le Chevrefeuille)
The Beune Valley has been occupied for a very long time. Around Commarque, prehistoric man has left numerous traces of his passage. Not far from the site at Commarque, Paleolithic man left two female statuettes known as the Venus of Sireuil and the Venus of Laussel. On the other side of the valley, in the shelter at Cap Blanc, one can admire a frieze of prehistoric sculptures. Under Commarque Castle there is a cave where Magdalenian man carved animals on the wall, notably a very beautiful life-sized horse (not open to the public).