If you have your own transport you could easily make a side trip from Cahors to the cliff-edge village of ST-CIRQ-LAPOPIE , 30km to the east, perched high above the south bank of the Lot. The village was saved from ruin when poet André Breton came to live here earlier this century, and it is now an irresistible draw for the tour buses with its cobbled lanes, half-timbered houses and gardens; but it's still worth the trouble, especially if you visit early or late in the day. Public transport in the form of an SNCF bus will get you from Cahors to Gare-St-Cirq in the valley bottom at Tour-de-Faure; thereafter, there's no alternative but to leg it up the steep hill. For accommodation , there is the very pretty Auberge du Sombral on the central square (tel 05.65.31.26.08, fax 05.65.30.26.37; €46-61; closed mid-Nov to March), whose excellent restaurant (closed Tues & Wed out of season) has a menu at €15.24, and La Pélissaria (tel 05.65.31.25.14, fax 05.65.30.25.52; €61-76; closed Nov-March), in a sixteenth-century house perched on the cliff at the eastern entrance to St-Cirq. There is also a very comfortable gîte d'étape in the village centre (tel 05.65.31.21.51), and two well-run campsites : Camping de la Plage (tel 05.65.30.29.51; all year), down by the river with swimming and canoeing possibilities, and La Truffière (tel 05.65.30.20.22; closed Oct-April), 3km to the southeast over the rim of the valley.
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