Bergerac is a lovely old riverside town with small specialist shops, supermarkets, a large farmers market on Saturday mornings and numerous cafes and a variety of restaurants in the old quarter that holds a succession of events throughout the year.
Péchamant is a small group of vineyards tucked away to the north of Bergerac, produces a particularly good red wine and Monbazillac to the south, produces a semi-sweet white wine, delicious on its own and especially good with foie gras or pastries. Another to look for are the Saussignac vineyards near here. The Bordeaux vineyards, Pomerol, St Emilion and Pauillac among them, are only an hour away.

Issigeac has a teeming Sunday morning market, spreading through a warren of streets from the market square, where you can find piles of fresh fruit and vegetables, stalls with local wine and farm cheeses, sometimes a dozen different kinds of country bread, smoked duck breast and foie gras, basketware and pottery, or garden plants. There is also an excellent restaurant opposite the old château.

Sarlat, further along the river with its maze of narrow streets, medieval and Renaissance houses, is pleasant to walk around and worth a visit. Not far from there are the extraordinary prehistoric caves that surround the village of Les Eyzies.