Swimming and Beaches

Winding through the magnificent landscapes of Southwest France, the river entices visitors with its lazy swims between mighty cliffs and picturesque villages and castles.

With some popular supervised river beaches disposing of a carpark and/or bar, the wilder beaches and creeks offer no more than sandy islands and ferny caves to swim into and explore…

Although the Dordogne Valley’s impressively high waterfallsaren’t swimmable, they do make great paddling material. Visitor’s looking to get more than their feet wet can head along to the smaller ones for a jump in the pools and down the natural slides. An afternoon of canyoning is a great way to explore forest streams, scramble through canyons and shoot down waterfalls with the help of a guide.

Rivers and waterfalls aside, many of the region’s leisure lakes or plans d’eau boast family fun activities with beaches, playgrounds, restaurants, picnic areas, fishing facilities and water sports often up for grabs. If these don’t do the trick, head to one of the Dordogne’s outdoor swimming pools or even better, water parks!