Walking holidays for over-60s

What matters more than age

Most of our holidays are graded moderate. That suits people who walk regularly and are happy with 4 to 6 hours on their feet. If that sounds like you, the age on your passport makes little difference.

Dordogne Experience is a family business, owned and run by Cassie, creating walking and cycling holidays in the Dordogne for over 40 years. Every holiday is private, so there’s no group to keep up with.

Daily distances and climbs, holiday by holiday

• Premium Périgord (easy to moderate): 4.6 to 14.1 km (2.9 to 8.8 miles) a day, with climbs of up to 210 m (about 700 ft). Some short climbs on rocky paths.
• Castles & Caves of the Dordogne (moderate): 12.8 to 17.8 km (8 to 11 miles) a day, climbs up to 450 m (about 1,500 ft), with a few short steep sections. A free day in Sarlat, with an optional 8.3 km (5.2 miles) walk.
• Exploring Rocamadour (moderate): about 14.1 to 20.1 km (9 to 12 miles) on the main walking days, climbs up to 400 m (about 1,300 ft). Two nights in Rocamadour, with a free day and an optional 10.8 km (6.7 miles) circular walk, then two nights in Loubressac.
• France’s Most Beautiful Villages (moderate): 15.5 to 23 km (10 to 14 miles) a day, climbs up to 560 m (about 1,850 ft). The longest days of our Dordogne holidays, balanced by a rest day in Beaulieu and optional walks on day 7.
• Ardèche Adventure (challenging): 13 to 23.2 km (8 to 14 miles) a day, with climbs of up to 1,070 m (about 3,500 ft). This is our most demanding walk, for fit, experienced walkers used to 6 or 7 hours on their feet. There’s a rest day in St Agrève.

The fitness guide explains each grade in more detail.

Premium Périgord, the gentlest option

If you’d like shorter walks and a little luxury, Premium Périgord is the gentlest of our holidays. Your arrival taxi from Sarlat is included, and you stay three nights at the 4★ Hôtel Le Périgord at Le Port de Domme, with indoor and outdoor pools and a spa, then two nights in Sarlat.

On day 3 you choose between 4.6 and 10.7 km (2.9 to 6.6 miles). Treats include a lunch platter in Domme, a tour and tasting at Sarlat’s Truffle Museum, and a private wine tasting in a 15th-century cellar that was once a chapel. It runs for 6 days from £950 per person, with 7 and 8 day versions too.

Your luggage, your pace

Your bags are moved each time you change hotel and are waiting when you arrive. Leave them in reception by 9am, one bag per person up to 20 kg, and carry just a daypack.

You follow detailed route notes and GPX files, so you can stop as often as you like. We’re on the phone and WhatsApp from 9am to 7pm, UK or French time. If a day feels too long, or the weather turns, ask your hotel in the morning to book a taxi to your next hotel (you pay the fare locally).

Many of our hotels are in old buildings and some have no lift, so expect the odd flight of stairs with your bags. If stairs are a concern, mention it when you enquire. If you like walking poles, bring them: many walkers find them a help on the steeper descents.

Rest days, shorter days and extra nights

Several holidays already include a free day: Sarlat on Castles & Caves, Rocamadour, Beaulieu on France’s Most Beautiful Villages, and St Agrève in the Ardèche. Some days also have a shorter option, such as the 4.6 km (2.9 miles) walk to Domme on Premium Périgord.

You can add an extra night anywhere on the route, and we’ll send you a price. Longer versions are ready made: Premium Périgord runs to 7 or 8 days, Castles & Caves to 9 or 10, and France’s Most Beautiful Villages to 9, 10 or 11.

Choosing when to go

If you don’t enjoy walking in the heat, avoid high summer: July and August average afternoon highs of around 28°C at Bergerac and Brive, and hot spells go well past 30°C. April and October are cooler, May averages highs of around 22°C, and June and September are often warm and settled. Small hotels fill first, so book early for May, June and September. Our when to go page goes month by month.

Prefer two wheels?

On Cycling in the Dordogne, a hybrid bike is included and an e-bike is a £140 per person upgrade, with your luggage moved just the same. See E-bike holidays in the Dordogne.

Travel insurance and the GHIC (UK travellers)

Travel insurance isn’t included, and we strongly recommend it. GOV.UK advises buying it as soon as possible after booking, and declaring any existing medical conditions or pending treatment or tests, because not declaring something could invalidate your policy. It also suggests checking for age restrictions, particularly on annual policies, and points travellers over 65 to MoneyHelper’s guidance.

A UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) gives you access to medically necessary state healthcare in France, on the same basis as French citizens, though it isn’t always free. It’s free to apply on the official NHS website, and the NHS warns that unofficial sites may charge a fee. The NHS says it should arrive within 15 working days of approval, so apply in good time. GOV.UK is clear that a GHIC is not an alternative to travel insurance: it doesn’t cover private treatment or medical repatriation to the UK.

If you take regular medicines, TravelHealthPro, the UK’s National Travel Health Network and Centre, advises carrying them in your hand luggage, in their original pharmacy packaging, with a copy of your prescription. In an emergency in France, call 112.

Travelling from the US, Canada, Australia or New Zealand? Check your own government’s travel advice and your insurer’s cover for France.

Which holidays go there

NewPremium · Walking

Premium Périgord

A Gourmet Journey

6 days · from £950 per person, sharing a double/twin room

The gentlest, 6 to 8 days

Walking

Castles & Caves of the Dordogne

8 days · from £995 per person, sharing a double/twin room

8 to 10 days

Walking

Exploring Rocamadour

8 days · from £975 per person, sharing a double/twin room

8 days

Walking

France’s Most Beautiful Villages

8 days · from £965 per person, sharing a double/twin room

8 to 11 days

Photo: Havang(nl) / CC0Walking

Ardèche Adventure

8 days · from £985 per person, sharing a double/twin room

The most demanding, 8 days

Cycling

Cycling in the Dordogne

8 days · from £1,250 per person, sharing a double/twin room

E-bike upgrade available