Château de Beynac tours and tickets, five listings compared

In short: one of the five includes admission to the castle, and that is the castle’s own entry ticket. The half-day tour from Sarlat walks the village of Beynac and rides a gabarre at La Roque-Gageac; the private tour is the only one with a guide beside you inside the castle, with the admission settled at the door; the two canoe routes pass under the cliff on the water. The castle itself opens every day of the year and takes individuals without a reservation, so what these listings solve is the journey and the shape of the day. Every card below says where it stands on admission.

Admission includedThe entry ticket

Inside the castleAbout an hour

Guided hour insideThe private tour

From SarlatHalf-day and private

On the waterTwo canoe routes

CancellationFree up to 24 h before

What a listing does at Beynac

Beynac-et-Cazenac sits about 10 km from Sarlat-la-Canéda, under twenty minutes by road, and the castle stands more than 150 metres above the Dordogne on its cliff. It opens every day of the year, and individuals cannot reserve a slot because none exists. So a product on the booking platform is never a way through the door faster. It is the date fixed and the cancellation free; or a van from Place Pasteur with a guide, a gabarre and Domme in the same four hours; or a private vehicle with a guided hour in the rooms; or a canoe that gives you the elevation the other way round, looking up. What the ticket covers, tariff and all, has a page of its own, and so do the car parks in the village. This one sorts the five by the kind of day you have.

Which one, by situation

You want to go inside, at your own pace

The castle’s entry ticket, around seventeen euros, and the only listing here whose price carries admission. It covers the castle, the exhibition on Beynac in the time of Richard the Lionheart and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the bookshop, and it is valid one day from first use. The visit is self-guided and takes about an hour — the castle’s own wording is a good hour at most — through the hall of the guards, the Salle des États du Périgord, the oratory with its 15th-century frescoes, the 17th-century apartments and the kitchen, up to the spur terrace where five castles are in view at once. Booking ahead buys a fixed date and free cancellation up to 24 hours before, and nothing to arrange on the morning. It is rated 4.4 from 13 ratings, a small base, which is a thin sample; Matthieu, from France, calls it “a site to discover for its history, in magnificent surroundings”, and V., from the United Kingdom, came away with the views and an outing that suited the whole group.

Check dates for the castle entry ticket

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure on most tours — book now, decide later.

You are staying in Sarlat and not driving

The half-day tour, around a hundred and ten euros, rated 4.6 from 162 ratings. Four hours from Place Pasteur: twenty minutes in the van to Beynac and a 45-minute guided walk of the village, then La Roque-Gageac and an hour on a gabarre, then Domme for a hundred minutes with the guide. The Beynac leg is the village and the view up at the walls, not the rooms; the listing says so in its own exclusions, and this site repeats it because it is the thing people most often assume. Gudmundur, from Norway, put the afternoon down to what the guide knew. The half-day tour and the private tour, side by side.

You want a guide with you in the rooms

The private tour, around a hundred and sixty-three euros and rated 5.0 from 33 ratings, a small base. Three and a half to four hours in a vehicle that is yours alone, with pickup in Sarlat, Les Eyzies or Saint-Cyprien, a viewpoint stop, a traditional village, half an hour at Domme, half an hour at La Roque-Gageac, Beynac seen from below, and then a guided hour inside the castle with the admission paid at the door on the day. From January to mid-February that guided hour happens at Castelnaud instead. How the private tour is put together.

You want the cliff from the water

Two routes from Vitrac, both self-guided, both with the shuttle in the price. The three-hour rental, around twenty-nine euros and rated 4.7 from 274 ratings, is the most-rated listing on this site: La Roque-Gageac, Castelnaud and then the Beynac cliff overhead. The 15 km châteaux route, around twenty-eight euros, takes about two and a half hours with a bus transfer to the start and adds the Pendoilles cliffs and the châteaux of La Malartrie and Fayrac. Both need paddlers over 5 who can swim 25 metres, and both want shoes rather than sandals. The two paddling routes, compared.

Which of the five include castle admission

What each listing’s own inclusion list says about getting into the Château de Beynac.
Listing	Length	Castle admission
Château de Beynac: Entry Ticket to the Castle	About an hour on site	Included — this is the castle ticket
From Vitrac: Dordogne River Canoe Rental	Three hours on the water	Not included — the cliff is seen from the river
Vitrac: Canoe/Kayak Dordogne Châteaux Route (15 km)	About two and a half hours	Not included — the châteaux are passed, not entered
From Sarlat: Beynac & Domme Tour & Dordogne Boat Ride	Four hours from Sarlat	Not included — the Beynac stop is a walk through the village
Sarlat: Private Tour to the Dordogne Valley	Three and a half to four hours	A guided hour inside, admission paid at the castle on the day

Only the first row is the castle ticket. The private tour puts a guide beside you in the rooms and settles the entrance at the castle on the day, which is a different arrangement and worth reading as one. The other three are the valley rather than the interior, and pair naturally with a ticket bought for another part of the same day.

All five listings

Castle entryCastle entry included

The three most people weigh up

The ticket that gets you in, the half day that solves the driving, and the private tour that brings a guide inside. Every row is read off the listing’s own page.

	Castle entry includedChâteau de Beynac: Entry Ticket to the Castle	From Sarlat: Beynac & Domme Tour & Dordogne Boat Ride	Sarlat: Private Tour to the Dordogne Valley
Price per person	~€17	~€110	~€163
Length	About an hour on site	Four hours	Three and a half to four hours
Castle admission	Included	Not included; village walk	Guided hour, paid at the door
Starts	Place du château, Beynac	Place Pasteur, Sarlat	Sarlat, Les Eyzies or Saint-Cyprien
Guide	Self-guided, phone audio	Live guide, English	Private guide, English and French
Also covers	The exhibition and the bookshop	Gabarre and Domme	Domme, La Roque-Gageac, a viewpoint
Rating	4.4 from 13 ratings, a small base	4.6 from 162 ratings	5.0 from 33 ratings, a small base
Free cancellation	✓ Up to 24 h before	✓ Up to 24 h before	✓ Up to 24 h before
	Book this →	View →	View →

Worth knowing

All five cancel free up to 24 hours before, so the date can be fixed while the rest of the week is still loose. If you are driving, read the parking page first: every lot in the commune is paid, all year, and the upper one fills earliest in summer.

Read the listings before you choose

Each of the five has a page on this site with its own inclusion and exclusion lists printed as the listing prints them, and real reviewers quoted rather than summarised. Start at the reviews hub. If the shape of the day is still open, the river half of it is the other place to start.

Frequently asked questions

Which Beynac tour includes entry to the castle?

One of the five: the Château de Beynac entry ticket, around seventeen euros, which covers the castle, the Richard the Lionheart and Eleanor of Aquitaine exhibition and the bookshop. The private tour from Sarlat adds a guided hour inside with the admission paid at the castle on the day. The half-day tour walks the village, and the two canoe routes pass below the cliff. What the ticket covers.

Do I need to book a Beynac tour in advance?

The castle opens every day of the year and takes individuals without a reservation, so nothing here is a way past a queue. Booking ahead fixes the date, cancels free up to 24 hours before, and leaves nothing to sort out on the morning. The tours from Sarlat run on set departures and fill in summer, when the valley fills up.

Can I do the castle and a canoe trip in one day?

Comfortably. The visit inside is about an hour, canoe departures run between 09:30 and 14:00 daily, and the paddle is three hours or about two and a half on the 15 km route, shuttle included. Most people paddle in the morning and climb to the castle after, or the reverse, leaving the ticket for the other half of the day.

Which tour is best if I do not have a car?

The half-day tour from Sarlat picks up at Place Pasteur and covers Beynac, a gabarre at La Roque-Gageac and Domme in four hours; the private tour collects you in Sarlat, Les Eyzies or Saint-Cyprien and includes a guided hour in the castle. Outside July and August no scheduled bus stops in the village at all.

Is the entry ticket worth booking with only thirteen ratings?

Thirteen is a small base, said plainly, on a listing that sells entry to a castle anybody can also walk up to. What the booking buys is a fixed date, free cancellation up to 24 hours before and nothing to arrange on the day. The reviews that exist are warm about the state of the place and the explanations given inside it.