Beynac or Castelnaud: which castle to visit
Arriving without a car?Every car park in the village is paid, all year, and the top one fills first in summer. A half-day tour from Sarlat drops you in the village and takes you on to Domme and the river; every option cancels free up to 24 hours before.
Check availabilityWhat each one is
Beynac
- Never fell into ruin: one of the best-preserved fortresses in the region
- Furnished seventeenth-century apartments, woodwork and painted ceilings
- Fifteenth-century frescoes in the oratory, and a thirteenth-century kitchen
- The Salle des États du Périgord, where the four barons met
- A spur terrace with five castles in view at once
- Self-guided, about an hour, commentary on your own phone
- Privately owned and privately run, independently of any group
Castelnaud
- Ruined by the Revolution, then restored over the twentieth century
- The Musée de la guerre au Moyen Âge fills it
- Full-scale siege engines: trebuchets and mangonels in the open
- Historic arms and armour, displayed as a collection
- A son-et-lumière model of the siege of 1442
- Hands-on and interactive: the family half of the pair
- Run by the Kléber Rossillon group, as Marqueyssac is
The frontier, and the battle that is not documented
The two face each other across the Dordogne because the river was the front line. In the Hundred Years War Beynac held for the French crown and Castelnaud, on the far bank, for the English. That part is solid. What is not solid is the duel: no battle between the two castles is documented, and the siege that is on record in this pair is the siege of Castelnaud in 1442, the one its own model reconstructs. The frontier is a fact, the face-off is a story. The war, year by year.
Which to choose if it is only one
Choose Beynac for the building itself: rooms that were lived in, a kitchen that still reads as a kitchen, and the best view in the valley. Choose Castelnaud for machinery and for children who want to see how a wall was brought down. Families with a mixed group often do Castelnaud in the morning and Beynac after lunch, because the hour at Beynac sits well at the end of a day and the terrace is at its best in afternoon light. What each offers a child.
Doing both
They are across the river from one another and both are a short drive from Sarlat, so a day holds the pair with lunch in between. Each sells its own ticket at its own gate. If the driving is the problem, note that the private tour from Sarlat includes a guided hour inside Beynac for most of the year, and from January to mid-February that guided hour is at Castelnaud instead. How the private tour is built.
See the valley without the driving
The half-day tour from Sarlat walks the village of Beynac, rides a gabarre at La Roque-Gageac and spends a hundred minutes in Domme. From around a hundred and ten euros, free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Frequently asked questions
Is Beynac or Castelnaud better?
Neither, in the abstract. Beynac is the preserved and furnished fortress with the great view; Castelnaud is the restored ruin with the medieval warfare museum and its siege engines. A day holds both. The rest of the valley.
Did Beynac and Castelnaud fight each other?
They were on opposite sides of the frontier in the Hundred Years War, Beynac French and Castelnaud English, but no battle between the two castles is documented. The siege on record is the siege of Castelnaud in 1442.
Which castle is better for children?
Castelnaud, for the full-scale trebuchets and the arms collection. Beynac answers with the kitchen, the keep and the terrace, and a games booklet at the desk. Beynac with kids.
Can you visit both Beynac and Castelnaud in one day?
Yes. They stand across the river from each other, each sells its own ticket at its own gate, and Beynac takes about an hour inside. How the timings work.