Things to do in Montignac

Dordogne is the world capital of prehistory. Here, Cro Magnon, the first early modern humans, settled and left some of the most fascinating artwork inside caves created by thousands of years of erosion. This 9-hour tour will take you to the most famous caves at Lascaux, and to admire the drawings and etchings of Rouffignac Cave. The tour begins at Les Eyzies de Tayac, where the first 5 skeletons of the Cro-Magnons were discovered in 1868. You will take a guided tour of the National Prehistory Museum, which opened in 2004, and possesses the largest collection of prehistoric artifacts in the world. Continue to Montignac, where you will visit the famous Lascaux IV Cave. A perfect reproduction of the original cave and its cave art, Lascaux IV opened in 2016 as a triumph of technology, unique in the world. Rigorous scientific and artistic methods were used to recreate the incomparable atmosphere of the original cave. A reinforced concrete shell was created using shipbuilding techniques, and the relief of the cave was reconstituted down to the tiniest detail. The polychromatic paintings were executed just as the originals were 17, 000 years ago, using natural pigments. End your tour at Rouffignac Cave, to see original etchings and drawings. The Renaissance poet and author François de Belleforest mentioned the Rouffignac Cave as long ago as 1575 in his “Cosmographie Universelle.” The cave paintings proved a popular tourist attraction back in the 19th-Century. Famous archaeologists, such as Henry Breuil, André Glory, and Martel, had visited the cave in the early 20th-Century, but it was only in 1956 that 2 historians from the Pyrenees confirmed the cave art as from the Upper Paleolithic period. Rouffignac Cave, which had once served as a shelter for Resistance fighters in World War 2, was officially opened to the public in 1959, and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

See the famous prehistoric cave paintings and explore the Dordogne region with a private English-speaking driver-guide. Depart from Bordeaux, and drive about two hours east, into the heart of the Dordogne. The first visit is to the Grotte de Rouffignac, the cave of 1000 mammoths. For this visit you'll tale a ride on a small electric train deep into the cave to see some phenomenal drawings of horses, aurochs, bison, horned sheep and mammoths. Then head to Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the first five skeletons of Cro-Magnon, the earliest known examples of homo sapiens were found. This is a good place to stop for a quick lunch. Next, drive to Lascaux to see the incredible new Lascaux international center for cave art, a truly impressive place.