Dordogne Activities

The holiday overall was very good, with some excellent and some distinctly average hotels. The holiday overall is about the activities and the surroundings that you are in and in this respect the holiday was excellent. The reps were excellent and no complaints there at all. The quality of the equipment was excellent and the introduction to the use of was also excellent. Two things to note, the walk from the river to the hotel in Souillac does take the a while and although flat, carrying all the equipment and if you have young ones is a task in hot temperatures. Secondly the position of the hotel in Sarlat is stunning for the views but is overall poor and is situated as stated out of town. After a hard day walking or cycling, to walk into town and and back (back is uphill and 2.8 k ) is not easy in heat, and the hotel said that it was almost impossible to get taxis to do the short distance (for them) to and from the hotel. These two things aside the holiday is a good one and we would reccomend to others and Headwater are a good company, we have had two holidays with them now and would use again. To clarify the earlier statement about some of the hotels being average, we have had several of this type of holiday with other companies as well as Headwater and they all seem to throw in one hotel that is a bit of a let down, we are now used to this and it becomes a bit of a game to guess which it will be. As with this type of holiday you are only in one place for a couple of nights before moving on you can put up with a poorish hotel as you are not spending that much time there, but if you like top notch all the time then research the hotels closely.

A super family break with relaxed canoeing and more challenging cycling. The pool at every hotel was very welcome, the bag transfer service slick and efficient and nothing was too much trouble for the reps. Chateau de Monrecour was a particular highlight, as was trying the via ferrata above the Dordogne!

We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday. Château Monrecour was the highlight for accommodation and food but we also found Relais Saint Anne to be very special. Our tour reps Janet and Andrew were fantastic. They went above and beyond to help us out and make sure everything went well. Everything went very smoothly with luggage transfers, bikes and canoes.

We had a fantastic holiday. We stayed in some great places, had some wonderful food and cycled / canoed through some fantastic scenary. The local reps Janet and Andrew were superb and always available to help if needed. The bags, bikes and canoes were always in the right place at the right time. All we had to do was enjoy ourselves.

Superb holiday! Andrew and Janet were extremely helpful and made for an extremely relaxing holiday. Accomodation and food was generally excellent, with some really exceptional meals (wine lists were extensive but quite expensive, generally minimum about €20 a bottle). Activities were well planned and clearly explained. Holiday does require a good level of fitness for the activities and the hotels, twice we were on the third floor but no lift (lots of stairs to carry suitcases up). Would highly recommend this holiday.

An excellent week mixing Canoeing and biking around the Dordogne with our 11 year old son. There are loads of places on route to stop off for a swim in the river, which is beautifully clean. There are also plenty of places to stop for drinks and a bite to eat.

We travelled by ferry and car with our two children aged 14 & 12 for the Dordogne Activities holiday, a total of 8 nights in the Dordogne. Two days canoeing and 5 days cycling. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We are used to cycling at home and have also done a fair amount of canoeing previously. The quality of the bikes was very good, the cycling was about the right level for us, a few hills, mainly quiet lanes and roads but there were a few fast and busy ones. The canoeing was enjoyable too, the water level was very low in places in the Dordogne due to the prolonged drought making the canoeing harder due to less current and needing to navigate to deeper water. The accommodation was on the whole very good and also the food, although menu options were a bit limited at times. We would definitely use Headwater again for a cycling holiday.

Thank you for a wonderful holiday. The Dordogne region is a beautiful part of France, and lent itself well to this type of activity holiday. We were very impressed with the hotels, all with swimming pools, which were very welcome after hot days walking, cycling or kayaking. Staying in the luxurious Chateau Monrecour was a particular highlight.
Christine explained everything perfectly, and was even able to swap two of our individual kayaks for a double after the first day, which made the second day on the river easier.
This is quite an active holiday – perfect for my 15 year old, but some of the up-hill cycling (mostly just the last day – we are from a flat part of the world!) and kayaking on his own was sometimes a bit of a stretch for the 13 year old, although we got there in the end. The Headwater App made navigating on the bikes very easy.
Lots of happy memories of a fantastic week.

The Dordogne activities holiday was well thought out and put together. The staff on the ground wee helpful and available. The accommodation was uniformly excellent and baggage transport efficient and problem free. Equipment was good quality and well maintained. Be aware that e-bikes need to be pre-specified, which is a detail that had passed me by and if walking any stages, the instructions are sketchy. Other than that, a lovely experience and a good holiday.

Lovely holiday, well organised, mostly very good choice of hotels and activities very enjoyable

The holiday overall was very good, with some excellent and some distinctly average hotels. The holiday overall is about the activities and the surroundings that you are in and in this respect the holiday was excellent. The reps were excellent and no complaints there at all. The quality of the equipment was excellent and the introduction to the use of was also excellent. Two things to note, the walk from the river to the hotel in Souillac does take the a while and although flat, carrying all the equipment and if you have young ones is a task in hot temperatures. Secondly the position of the hotel in Sarlat is stunning for the views but is overall poor and is situated as stated out of town. After a hard day walking or cycling, to walk into town and and back (back is uphill and 2.8 k ) is not easy in heat, and the hotel said that it was almost impossible to get taxis to do the short distance (for them) to and from the hotel. These two things aside the holiday is a good one and we would reccomend to others and Headwater are a good company, we have had two holidays with them now and would use again. To clarify the earlier statement about some of the hotels being average, we have had several of this type of holiday with other companies as well as Headwater and they all seem to throw in one hotel that is a bit of a let down, we are now used to this and it becomes a bit of a game to guess which it will be. As with this type of holiday you are only in one place for a couple of nights before moving on you can put up with a poorish hotel as you are not spending that much time there, but if you like top notch all the time then research the hotels closely.