Rocamadour

Rocamadour does not sit in its landscape so much as cling to it: a medieval village built straight up a limestone cliff above the Alzou gorge, its single street, sanctuaries and crowning chateau stacked one above another like a carved altarpiece. For eight centuries it was one of Europe's great pilgrimage stops - kings and saints climbed the Grand Staircase on their knees to the chapel of the Black Madonna, a small dark walnut Virgin that still draws the faithful - and the sword lodged in the cliff above the chapel door is said by legend to be Durandal, hurled there by the dying Roland. Seen from the opposite side of the gorge at dusk, lights coming on layer by layer, it is one of the most theatrical village views in France.

What you actually see

• The Black Madonna chapel - the ancient carved Virgin at the heart of the sanctuaries.
• The Grand Staircase - the pilgrim climb of over two hundred steps through the village layers.
• The Durandal sword legend - the blade in the cliff above the chapel door.
• The gorge viewpoint at L'Hospitalet - the full stacked-village panorama, best at dusk.

When to go

Late spring and early autumn give warm light on the cliff without the July-August processions of visitors. Morning belongs to pilgrims and photographers; by midday the single street fills. Winter is strikingly quiet, with some businesses shuttered.

Honest expectations

Rocamadour is vertical - the visit is essentially one long stair climb, though lifts shortcut the steepest sections for a fee. The single street is unabashedly touristic, all goat-cheese shops and souvenirs; the sanctuaries above it remain genuinely moving. Parking sits at the top or bottom, never the middle. The famous view is from across the gorge, so budget the short walk or drive to L'Hospitalet for it.

Nearby

The Gouffre de Padirac cave river, the Dordogne valley's chateaux and the honey-stone villages of the Lot are all close.