Discover Excideuil

Excideuil offers several specific highlights for a stay: the historic town centre, Château d’Excideuil, Église Saint Thomas and the weekly market, which takes place all year round. There is also a puzzle trail, a mountain biking route and Les Roches Enchantées, a place for climbing and geological discovery. When planning your trip, it is worth noting the different focuses and time details.

Explore the historic town centre

The Circuit Découverte du Bourg Historique offers a free, self-guided tour of Excideuil’s historic town centre throughout the year. A short visit takes about one to one and a half hours. This gives you a specific indication of how much time to allow, while leaving the pace of the visit up to you.

The approximate duration helps you fit the walk into your day. You can also tailor your visit to your own interests. For planning purposes, this is a different kind of guide from activities whose details mainly give a route length or a day of the week.

Château and church: history and views

The municipal section of Château d’Excideuil is free to visit all year round. This access applies to the municipal section of the château. The château offers panoramic views over the Loue valley. A visit to this historic site therefore combines with views across the valley.

Église Saint Thomas was built in the 12th century on the site of a chapel that was probably dependent on Saint Médard Abbey. The church houses the gilded wooden altarpiece from the Chapelle de Sainte Constance; it comes from the Chapelle des Cordeliers. The site of the church and the altarpiece offer two distinct historical points of reference: the presumed predecessor chapel and the origins of an item of church furnishing now housed in the church. If you are interested in history, you can combine your visit to the church with questions about the town’s origins and the altarpiece’s provenance.

The Marché d’Excideuil on Thursdays

The Marché d’Excideuil takes place in the town centre every Thursday morning throughout the year. If the market fits your travel plans, you can schedule your visit for that day of the week. The market and the walking tour offer different points of reference for planning your day: for the market, Thursday morning is key; for the Circuit, it is the approximate duration of the visit.

Puzzles, mountain biking and karst

At Tèrra Aventura, participants follow puzzles on a smartphone, either alone or with their family, leading to a hidden treasure they need to find. The “le grand trouveur d’Excideuil” trail launched in June 2019. This puzzle trail offers a different way to explore from a visit to the historic town centre: here, the puzzles determine the sequence of steps, while the guided tour can be tailored to your preferences.

The blue mountain biking route No. 2 is 26.6 kilometres long and starts in Excideuil. The blue rating is part of the route description. As the route may change in the future, check the latest route information before setting off. This makes the distance a useful planning guide without implying a specific riding time.

Les Roches Enchantées is a place surrounded by karst cliffs that offers opportunities for climbing and geological discovery. These two aspects provide different ways to explore the rocks: you can experience the site from a climbing perspective or focus on its geology. Alongside local history and the puzzle trail, there are also sporting and geological activities to choose from.

If you are looking for a hotel for your trip to Excideuil, the focus of your planned activities can help guide you—for example, the historic town centre, the Thursday market or an activity related to cycling and geology.

Discover more destinations: Pontours, Chassaignes, Vitrac, Castelnaud-La-Chapelle, Carlux, Saint-Germain-Des-Prés, Lalinde, Saint-Germain-de-Belvès

Go to the main travel overview: Dordogne.