Hotels in Les Eyzies

Les Eyzies

Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil sits at the confluence of the Vézère and Beune rivers in the Périgord Noir, flanked by pale limestone cliffs that shelter some of the oldest decorated caves in Europe. In 1868, railway workers uncovered Cro-Magnon skeletal remains just metres from the village centre — a find that shifted scientific understanding of early Homo sapiens. The National Museum of Prehistory, built directly into the cliff face above the main street, holds one of the world's densest collections of Palaeolithic artefacts, including engraved bones and flint tools spanning 400,000 years.

Visitors come primarily for the caves. Font-de-Gaume, a 15-minute walk from the village, is the last polychrome painted cave in France open to the general public — its bison and reindeer date to roughly 17,000 years ago. Cap Blanc shelters a rare sculpted frieze of horses. Rouffignac, 15 km north, offers an underground railway past 250 mammoth engravings. Lascaux IV, the full-scale replica of the most celebrated cave of all, is 25 km north-east at Montignac. The UNESCO-listed Vézère Valley corridor concentrates 15 classified prehistoric sites within a 30 km radius of Les Eyzies.

The village itself has a single main street lined with restaurants serving Périgord staples — foie gras, black truffle, walnut oil. The nearest rail connection is Le Buisson, 12 km west, on the Bordeaux–Sarlat line. Peak season runs July–August; Font-de-Gaume entry is capped at 78 visitors per day, so advance booking is essential.