Sarlat's Medieval Old Town (Cité Médiévale)
Sarlat's old town is one of the best-preserved medieval ensembles in France, a labyrinth of honey-coloured limestone mansions, Romanesque chapels and Renaissance courtyards that André Malraux's 1962 restoration law essentially froze in amber. Walking its car-free lanes at dusk, when the tour groups thin and the sandstone glows amber, feels like stepping into a living illuminated manuscript.
The Heart of It All: Place de la Liberté
Place de la Liberté is the grand salon of Sarlat — a wide, café-terraced square presided over by the ornate Cathédrale Saint-Sacerdos, whose mismatched towers hint at centuries of interrupted construction. Grab a table at one of the brasseries, order a glass of Bergerac white and watch the square perform its daily theatre.
Just behind the cathedral, the Lanterne des Morts — a mysterious 12th-century stone rocket-shaped tower — stands in the garden of the former bishop's palace. Scholars still debate its exact purpose; the most romantic theory is that it was lit to guide pilgrims on the route to Santiago de Compostela.
Rue des Consuls and the Mansions
Stroll north along Rue des Consuls and you pass a parade of Renaissance hôtels particuliers — the Hôtel de Maleville with its carved medallion portraits, the Hôtel Plamon with its Gothic shop-front arches at street level and Renaissance windows above, each layer telling a different century's story.
The narrow Rue de la Salamandre, named after the emblem of François I, is the most photogenic alley in town: barely two metres wide, flagstoned, with iron lanterns and window-box geraniums. Come early morning for an unobstructed shot.
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