Rocamadour is a beautiful medieval town located in the south of France, in the Lot department of the Occitanie region. Known for its stunning, steep cliff-top location, the town attracts thousands of tourists every year due to its rich history and natural beauty.
In the heart of the Causse de Gramat and at the gates of the Dordogne Valley, the valley that awaited us as we continued this journey through France, Rocamadour, perched on the cliff overlooking the Alzou canyon, seemed to be balancing on the rocks.
Built in successive levels on the side of the cliff, its houses, roofs and churches seem to form part of the rock.
Rocamadour is a stunning place to visit, with a rich history, natural beauty but it is first and foremost a recognized place of pilgrimage. From the twelfth century, it attracted people from all over Europe. As its fame increased, the small town gradually became covered with religious buildings and fortifications. It is advisable to dedicate at least one night to enjoy everything this city has to offer, although it is a destination that many choose to do during the day.
It is one of the most visited places in France, only behind Paris and Mont Saint Michel. So let’s see here how to organize the visit, which will be helpful mainly if you travel in high season, since you will find a more crowded place.
Indice:
How to get to Rocamadour?
We arrived by car, Rocamadour is about 550 kilometers from Paris to give you an idea, but we had been traveling from other parts of France.
You can arrive by train, you arrive at the Rocamadour – Padirac train station, but from here you will have about 5 kilometers to travel by taxi or some other means of transport.
We rented the car in Paris to tour several places in France and we will return it in Paris at the end of the tour. As I always say, it is generally cheaper to pick up and return it in the same place. In this case we did it with Discovercars, check the prices with your dates.
►Find the car for your tour on Discovercars
Where to stay?
Rocamadour has two parts where we can stay, the lower part, the medieval city itself, the Cité, and the upper part, where we find the small village of L’Hospitalet, which has beautiful views of Rocamadour.
L’Hospitalet was the former pilgrims’ hospital, and this is where much of the accommodation for visitors to Rocamadour is located, as well as restaurants.
Because of the charm of medieval towns, we chose to stay in the lower part, at the Hotel Beau Site Notre Dame.
Although we loved staying in this area, having dinner and breakfast at the hotel with views of the canyon, perhaps staying in L’Hospitalet is a better plan, since you have a greater variety of hotels and restaurants, and therefore you can look for better prices as well.
The lower and upper parts are connected by a lift, the opening hours are from 9 am to 7 pm in high season, and from 10 am to 5 pm in low season. The lift costs €4.30 for a return trip or €2.70 for a single ticket. We will then see which levels we have to visit in the city.
Where to park?
There are 5 parking areas in the area.
At the entrance to the Cité there is a car park, but we were unable to use it because the access road was under construction, so early in the morning there could not have been any cars parked there.
There is also parking in the upper part next to the castle (which is where we had to leave it). And in the L’Hospitalet area as well. It depends on where you stay.
The car parks have now been automated and become pay-and-display from April to November. The cost is €6 for cars between 9am and 7pm, and is free outside of these hours. Car parks 1, 2 and 4 are suitable for motorhomes and the cost for these is €8 for the day and €10 for the night.
Now that we have seen how to get there, where to park and where to stay, we will go to the visit itself.
►If you are touring France, a route through the villages of Alsace can be a very good option.
What to see in Rocamadour?
This medieval city, a UNESCO heritage site, is located near one of the Ways of St. James and many people visit its sanctuaries. The consequence is that More than 2 million visitors come to Rocamadour every year, so although you may see that we don’t find that many people, there are dates when you will surely find it very crowded. In any case, we tell you that we visited it in mid-June.
You have three levels to explore: at the bottom, as we said, the medieval city, in the middle part the sanctuary city of Rocamadour and at the top the castle.
We will start the tour from top to bottom to make it more relaxing.
Views towards Rocamadour
If you are staying in L’hospitalet, do not miss the views from here to Rocamadour’.
The castle
And once you’re up there, start with Rocamadour Castle. You can’t go inside, but you can access its walls, from where you’ll get some lovely views of the Alzou canyon. Admission costs €2.
Bring €2 coins because there is a turnstile that unlocks upon payment and only accepts €2 coins.
The castle dates back to the 13th century
After enjoying the views and leaving the site, we will begin the descent along the Via Crucis, the path of the cross that will take us to the sanctuaries.
Way of the Cross and Sanctuaries.
In the Middle Ages, the discovery of the mummified body of a hermit, Saint Amadour, increased the popularity of the area. It became a place of pilgrimage and many sanctuaries were built.
The Sanctuary of Rocamadour is a religious complex built in successive stages since the eleventh century, most of its religious buildings dating from the twelfth century.
We go down the first half of the road until we reach the shrines. We arrive at the courtyard around which are the Basilica of St. Saviour and seven chapels, one of which houses the image of Our Lady of Rocamadour (a Black Madonna of the twelfth century).
We now reach the grand staircase, in our case only downhill, and thus we will arrive at the Cité. The access staircase has two hundred and sixteen steps, which the ancient pilgrims climbed on their knees.
We mentioned the elevator today to access the castle, from here you also have the option of taking it. So if you want to access the sanctuaries from the cite without going through the stairs, you can do so.
Regardless of your religious beliefs or not, the trip is worth it to admire these sanctuaries literally embedded in the rock.
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The medieval city has only one street that crosses it. In it we will find many shops selling souvenirs, some hotels (not many) and some restaurants.
The journey through it is magical, as it always is in this type of town, but we count on the complicity of solitude, because if not, it is certain that this magic will be lost.
Along this short stretch of the main street we will find more than one gate, which at one time served as protection for the city.
There are tourist offices if you want to get information, as you will have seen in the first images there is also a little train that takes you around the town.
Overnight in Rocamadour
The night arrived, we had dinner in the hotel restaurant, a very nice place with outdoor tables to enjoy a nice night, the high prices yes, but it was a good dinner.
The walk before going to sleep was as magical as the town is, and seeing it illuminated was not to be missed. One of those nights that one keeps in one’s memory and portrays in several photos.
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NOTE: The information in this article is based on our own experience, being totally objective. This article contains affiliate links
