The Lot Valley in South West France is a popular holiday destination for couples, families and groups of friends. Set in beautiful, unspoilt rolling countryside of gentle hills and valleys, it is made up of green fields, oak forests, vineyards, farmland and historic hill-top Bastide towns.

The region benefits from a warm sunny climate, making it ideal holiday weather and perfect for relaxing by the pool, eating alfresco and taking long leisurely walks in the beautiful countryside.

There are a range of interesting activities for all ages. Leisure lakes which offer excellent sun bathing, swimming and watersports are the area's local alternative to the seaside. You can also play golf, go wine tasting at the many chateaux, explore the local bastide towns or enjoy the hustle and bustle of the French markets. It is equally an excellent place to take a family holiday with plenty of action to keep the children amused including quad biking, visiting caves and exciting theme parks! Click here to read our guide to activites in the Lot Valley.

WHERE IS THE LOT VALLEY

The Lot valley is situated South of the Dordogne and North of the Gers, near the rivers Lot, Dordogne & Tarn and Garonne in a beautiful and temperate area of South West France.

about 600 miles: Calais     -     490 miles: Le Havre
420 miles: Caen and Saint-Malo.

Kingfisher Holidays offers properties to let in a circle of about 50 miles from the Lot River between Cahors and Villeneuve-sur-Lot – in the Lot Valley. The Lot Valley includes three French departments: Lot et Garonne (Department 47), Lot (Department 46) and tarn et Garonne (Department 82).

The landscape is greener than other typical holiday areas. The terrain is a mixture of rolling hills, wide valleys, small farms, and pretty market villages. Visiting the Lot valley, where there are few main roads and almost no traffic, takes you back to a rural England of 30 years ago yet with all things French that so many of us dream of. The oak woods and walnut groves, river valleys and limestone cliffs topped with ancient fortified towns and villages of the north, give way to the open, hilly green farming country.

The French have different ways of defining the same areas of their country. We tend to use the term Lot Valley but our properties are also in Quercy, in South West France, in parts of Aquitaine (Lot et Garonne, Dordognes, Pyrenees-Altantique, Gironde and Landes) and parts of Midi Pyrenees (Lot, Tarn et Garonne, Gers, Tarn, Haute Garonne, Haute Pyrenees, Aveyron, Ariege).

The properties, give or take, are (approximately):

½ to 1 hour north of Agen TGV railway station
½ hour west of Cahors
½ hour south of Dordogne River at Sarlat
1 ½ hours north of Toulouse Airport
1 to 2 hours south of Bergerac Airport
2 hours east of Bordeaux Airport
2 hours west of St Antonin Noble Val
2 hours south of Brive Railway Station – arrival of car train
2 ½ hours east of Atlantic coast at Archachon
2 ½ hours north west of Carcassonne
3 hours north east of Atlantic coast at St Jean de Luz and Biaritz
3 hours west of Rodez Airport
3 ½ hours east from Spanish Border
3 ½ hours north from Pyrenees
5 ½ hours from Paris
6 hours from St Malo
7 ½ hours from Calais

Aquitaine lies in the south-west of France, spreading from the Dordogne in the north of the region to Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast and down to the Basque country (Pyrénées) and the Spanish border. Aquitaine was in years gone by (in the 13th Century on the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitane to Henry II) owned by Britain and is steeped in history being part of the battlefield of the Hundred Years War. Many of the castles, villages and towns were built by the English. You will find the region dotted with bastides or fortified hilltop towns and villages, the ancient strongholds of Richard the Lionheart, the Black Prince and Charlemagne.

Aquitaine is a huge and diverse region with a wealth of places, cultures and cuisine to explore. Rolling hills, medieval châteaux, prehistoric caves and rivers of the Dordogne, to the pine-covered sandy terrain of the Landes and the long stretches of sandy beaches along the whole Atlantic coast from Bordeaux to the Spanish Border.

Bordeaux is the capital of Aquitaine, and is a cosmopolitan and lively city, with majestic old buildings and glamorous shops. It has been an important town for centuries, and played a significant role in the Napoleonic wars.

The Midi Pyrénées region, the largest region in France, is situated in the south west of France, bordered by Aquitaine stretching as far north as the mountains of the Auvergne and east to the neighbouring region of Languedoc-Roussillon.

The remote, rocky, mountainous area of the Pyrenees, adjacent to Spain, is the home of the Basque people. To the east of the Basque country is Toulouse, the large capital city of the Midi-Pyrénées, and then further north the landscape turns to rolling hills and castles bordering the Dordogne, with yet more remote mountains to the east.

The diverse scenery of the Midi-Pyrénées is stunning and is still relatively undiscovered. The roads are quiet the people welcome tourists, agriculture (foie-gras, duck and figs, cheese, sunflowers,fruit and vegetables) and markets dominate the area not to mention some renowned local wines.

Towns in South West France | Food and Drink | Local History & Architecture | Climate | Things to do | Getting to the Lot Valley

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