sand and river swimming in dordogne

[SparkyUK]

So, per my last thread, I still haven't organised my trip to dordogne for which we are due to depart in about 10 days. I'm waivering between a few different sites but the top contenders are Domaine de Mathevies and Vitrac, Soleil Plage. My instinct says I will not like the largeness of Vitrac and that Mathevies is much more our style, which it is. However, I keep getting pulled back by that mini beach on the river.

Are there places not attached to campsites where we can find swimming like that in the Dordogne? If so then I would be more than happy to stay at Mathieves (if there is room for us!), and travel (within reason) to find lake or river beaches. Where does one find them though?

[IloveJudgeJudy]

We've quite often stayed at campsites with beaches at lakes and rivers. Imo it's nicer to have the beach actually on your site as you can come and go as you please. When you get there, you can always look around for other beaches/rivers to check out.

Have you looked on UKCampsite at their campsite reviews? Or at the Alan Rogers website? Good luck.

[Lucycat]

Port de Limeuil is right on the river. The village of Limeuil is just across the bridge and it's a bit away from the rest of the English in the Dordogne. Really nice looking site, we haven't styed there but drove round one day being nosy.

We ae still thnking of going back to Les Valades again for a few nights next year as the lake is lovely & there is lots of non-organised play type stuff for the dd's to do.

[happyfeet666]

Les Valades is lovely, our children really enjoyed the lake when we were there last year. The private toilet/shower pods were great too!

[Quenelle]

I can't answer the river swimming question but we stayed at Mathevies in June and loved it. Have a great time wherever you end up. I'm very .

[SparkyUK]

Just got back from 5 days at Mathevies and really loved it. Very low key and easy going place. Great for our boys as they could just wonder off to their play area of choice while we got on with drinking our wine cooking dinner, reading etc. We were there the last week of the season and the place was half empty so I'm sure that contributed, but still it was just a lovely place.

Also, we randomly ended up in Vitrac and after a wrong turn, ended up on the spot on the river pictured in my original link. Turns out that a. it is across the street from Soleil Plage rather than within the campsite so we were able to spend a half hour there b. the sand was a bit less golden, more dirty/mucky. I'm so glad we happened upon it as it confirmed we had made the right choice. :)

[Quenelle]

Glad you had a good time. If we go back to the Dordogne while DS is still young we'll definitely stay at Mathevies again.

[MummyPigsFatTummy]

Another Mathevies fan here! We were there the week before you I think Sparky, encouraged by a great review from Quenelle. We had a lovely week, one of the highlights of which was pony trekking organised by Nathalie. We were really surpised that DD (2.10) took to it but she really did, bless her. A lovely afternoon. Toasting marshmallows on the campfire on our last night was great fun too.

I am sure we will be going back, though maybe earlier in the season, late June perhaps, as some things were clearly winding down when we were there. Wonderful place and relaxing atmosphere and we loved the Dordogne. I see now why so many English people buy properties down there.

[Quenelle]

Ah that's great MummyPigsFatTummy. I would have felt terrible if you'd had an awful time! We thought late June/early July would be a better time to go, early June was a bit iffy weather-wise.