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- Vieille Ville (the medieval old town) — A compact warren of golden stone streets, carved facades and unexpected courtyards; wandering without a map is the point — you’ll find butcher shops, hidden stairways and architecture from the 12th-17th centuries that make Sarlat feel like walking inside a film set.
- Cathédrale Saint-Sacerdos — The town’s cathedral/abbey church combines Romanesque and Gothic layers and sits right in the heart of Sarlat; worth visiting for its stonework, interior atmosphere and the role it plays in the town’s skyline and history.
- Les Halles (covered market) — A lively iron-and-stone market hall where local producers sell foie gras, walnuts, cheeses and seasonal produce; great for tasting regional flavors, people-watching and planning picnic supplies for a day in Dordogne.
- Vieille Ville (the medieval old town) — A compact warren of golden stone streets, carved facades and unexpected courtyards; wandering without a map is the point — you’ll find butcher shops, hidden stairways and architecture from the 12th-17th centuries that make Sarlat feel like walking inside a film set.
- Cathédrale Saint-Sacerdos — The town’s cathedral/abbey church combines Romanesque and Gothic layers and sits right in the heart of Sarlat; worth visiting for its stonework, interior atmosphere and the role it plays in the town’s skyline and history.
- Les Halles (covered market) — A lively iron-and-stone market hall where local producers sell foie gras, walnuts, cheeses and seasonal produce; great for tasting regional flavors, people-watching and planning picnic supplies for a day in Dordogne.
- Place de la Liberté & the Tour de l’Horloge — The main square where cafés spill onto the pavement, flanked by elegant Renaissance façades and the old clock tower; it’s Sarlat’s social hub and the best place to soak up the town’s rhythm.
- Maison de La Boétie — The family house of Étienne de La Boétie (the 16th-century thinker) that’s part history museum and part architectural curiosity — a tidy slice of local intellectual history in its original streetscape.
- Renaissance hôtels particuliers (private mansions) — Sarlat has an unusually dense concentration of preserved town mansions (Hôtel de Maleville, Hôtel Plamon and others); poking at the façades and small courtyards gives a real sense of how prosperous the town was in the Renaissance.
- Sarlat markets (Wednesday and Saturday outdoor markets) — Beyond the hall, the outdoor market days flood the squares with stalls: truffles in season, charcuterie, local wines and street-food bites — an essential, sensory experience of Périgord gastronomy.
- Les Toits de Sarlat (roof-top guided visits) — A unique guided climb onto selected rooftops for panoramic views over the medieval skyline; it’s the best short tour if you want postcards of the whole town rather than another street-level photo.
- Chapelle des Pénitents (exhibition space) — A small, atmospheric chapel often used for temporary exhibitions and concerts; quiet, off-the-main-track and a nice stop to see how historical spaces are reused locally.
- Specialist food shops and small producers — The town is full of family-run foie gras makers, walnut and truffle shops, tiny épiceries and chocolatiers — visiting them is as much cultural as culinary, and you can bring proper local goods home.
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Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve backpacked through 90+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.