VILLENEUVE-SUR-LOT , 75km west and downstream from Cahors, is a pleasant, workaday sort of town but otherwise does not have a great deal to commend it: there are no very interesting sights, though the handful of attractive timbered houses in the old town go some way to compensate. If you're reliant on public transport note that there's no train station in Villeneuve itself, but SNCF runs regular bus services to Agen, which is on the Bordeaux-Toulouse line.

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The town's most striking landmark is the red-brick tower of the church of Ste-Catherine , completed as late as 1937 in typically dramatic neo-Byzantine style, but rather unusually built on a north-south axis; inside, the church retains some attractive stained glass from the previous fourteenth-century building. In the streets around the main square, place La Fayette , a couple of towers alone survive from the fortifications of this originally bastide town, and to the south the main avenue, rue des Cieutats, crosses thirteenth-century Pont des Cieutat , resembling the Pont Valentré in Cahors but devoid of its towers.     

The tourist office is opposite the theatre on boulevard de la République (June-Aug Mon-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 10am-1pm; rest of year Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 2-6pm; tel 05.53.36.17.30, fax 05.53.49.42.98). The best place to look for accommodation is around the former train station, five minutes' walk south of centre, where the friendly Hôtel la Résidence , 17 av Lazare-Carnot (tel 05.53.40.17.03, fax 05.53.01.57.34; under €24-€34; closed for Christmas & New Year), offers unbeatable value for money. If they're full, try the nearby Hôtel le Terminus (tel 05.53.70.94.36, fax 05.53.70.45.13; €34-46; restaurant from €13.42), or, if you'd rather be closer to the centre, Hôtel les Platanes , 40 bd de la Marine (tel 05.53.40.11.40, fax 05.53.70.71.95; under €24-€34; closed two weeks at Christmas; restaurant from €10.67), north along boulevard de la République from the tourist office. For campers , there's the Camping du Rooy , signed off the Agen road 1.5km south of centre (tel 05.53.70.24.18; closed early Oct to mid-April).

When it comes to eating , Chez Câline in rue Notre-Dame, near the Pont des Cieutat, is a pretty little place offering menus from €11.43. For a bit more luxury and classic cuisine head north of the bridge to the Aux Berges du Lot , 3 rue de l'Hôtel-de-Ville (tel 05.53.70.84.41; closed Sun evening & Mon), which does an €12.96 weekday lunch menu, starting at €19.82 for dinner. Alternatively, head south to Pujols.

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