cave dwellings of Belvès — Attraction in Sarlat-la-Canéda

Strolling through the pretty village of Belves the ‘troglos’ are an interesting addition to the experience. We went to the tourist office and were given tickets for the (just after lunch) afternoon tour, good we did this first, so we could explore the town and had time to enjoy a local lunch.

The 9 underground dwellings are part of a larger grouping on both sides of a ditch protecting the original castrum of Belves. Overtime natural caves were enlarged and housed soldiers and poor people. However, somewhere in the 1700’s the ditch (and dwellings) were filled-in and forgotten. An accident with a loaded truck brought them back to light. It was decided to excavate first three, later 9 of them, on the halle side of the original ditch. The ditch itself however remains filled in. So the site is interesting, but lost some of its original geography. You pass for one dwelling to the next through openings made in the original walls.

Although the visit was supposedly in French, our guide practically gave a bilingual tour being able to communicate (and joke) well in English. Interesting little site which gives an insight into the life and living conditions of a portion of the population that left behind...

First the good…. The dwellings themselves are very interesting and well worth the entrance fee, however we found the experience very frustrating due to the surprisingly poor effort at catering to non French speaking tourists. The guide spoke no English and the few sheets of written information were extremely poor quality with only very limited information and were hard to follow particularly so in the poorly lit dwellings. We spent all of our time in the experience feeling a mixture of frustration and boredom. So much, no doubt very interesting information, that was completely unavailable to us. Sadly I would not recommend this attraction to non...

A fascinating exploration below street level and a real insight into the horrendous living conditions of the poor in the middle ages. While an English language folder is available for those not speaking French, our guide was very informative and kindly translated additional details. Tickets can be bought at the tourist office and in high season booking ahead is advisable as numbers per tour are limited by space. Highly recommended! (And I have finally found out why French butchers sell rabbit with...