Visit the Quercy Causses Regional Park: Full Guide

Travel to France and discover its treasures in regional natural parks. Discover one of its places direction the Quercy Black Triangle and visit the Quercy Causses Regional Park.

The Parc Naturel Régional des Causses du Quercy is a natural park in the Lot department that covers about 185,000 hectares. You will enter here in a land of French history and gastronomy.

The place also surnames the kingdom of dry stone. In fact, you will find villages of character with a wide variety of natural habitats such as cliffs, arid plateaus populated with sheep, the region’s emblematic dry lawns, the exceptional gouffs and caves.

It is also a meeting place for lovers of speleology, as it has many archaeological and paleontological sites.

The Causses de Quercy Regional Park is among the must-sees in the Lot. In order to help you discover it better, we inform you in this guide all the ways to visit it.

The Quercy Causses Regional Park in a few words

Located in the Lot department in the Occitanie region, the Causses du Quercy Regional Park was created in 1999. In the middle of several valleys, Dordogne , Célé and Lot, it has one hundred two communes, with atypical villages.

It is possible for a village in the area to return to the park provided that it meets the criteria set out in the park charter.

In recent years, five new municipalities have integrated the park, including Albiac and Cajarc. The Causses du Quercy Regional Park has an outstanding geological heritage. His identity is very marked by the bond that unites man to stone, in this kingdom of dry stone.

The richness and biodiversity present in its natural environment is worth being labeled Regional Natural Park. Since 2017, it has become and integrates the very closed list of the Unesco World Geoparks. There are one hundred and twenty-seven in the world. There are only seventy in Europe, six of them in Europe France .

The landscapes of the Causses du Quercy Park have multiple caves, swells and resurgences that form an essential underground network for all lovers of speleology and underground diving.

Another characteristic of this regional park is its exceptional asset to be the most beautiful sky of Metropolitan France. Indeed, there is little light pollution in the park.

This is how to observe a starry sky as nowhere else in the country. This is why it is called the Black Triangle, because it is easy to see in the sky, stars, planets, and lacked path.

1. By car

Visit the Causses du Quercy Regional Park by the circuit that runs the small roads of the park. Discover the heart of the Causses du Quercy Natural Park with a tailor-made journey that goes through different stages.

You can do it yourself according to the villages you want to absolutely visit. It is the perfect opportunity to see in record time several places and villages of interest .

An interesting ride to drive on a day, you pass from Labastide-Murat to Montfaucon by making a loop of 83 kilometers.

2. Bike

If you are a mountain bike bit, know that it is quite possible to visit the natural park of Quercy Causses by bike. These Lottery loops pass through several circuits.

Thus, you can discover different villages and places of interest depending on the loop you will choose.

You can customize everything starting with the difficulty level from easy to difficult. Then the duration and length of the circuit. On average, these loops last 1 hour to 4 hours and make 10 to 40 kilometres .

Discover the rich heritage of the park also with an electric assistance bike (VAE). It’s a sweeter way to travel around the region. If you prefer to organize your own circuit, it is also possible by simply passing by a bicycle rental on site.

3. In bivouac

Another fun way to visit the Quercy Causses Park. Bivouacs are organized throughout the park, except in regulated areas.

Thus, you cannot use this means to explore the Regional Natural Reserve of the Bonnefont marsh, and the National Natural Reserve of Geological Interest of the Lot.

It’s a real challenge to practice bivouac, but you’ll be happy again.

4. Canoë-kayak

To visit the Quercy Causses Regional Park, you will also have to go through the water. It is not an obligation, but it would be a pity not to explore the immersed part with the Célé and Lot rivers that traverse it. Two circuits are recommended by the park.

The descents in the Géocacha & Patrimoine canoe with the Des Anglades circuit in Conduché for a distance of 14 kilometres and duration 4 hours .

Or the descent in canoe Géocacha & Heritage From Marcilhac Bourg to Anglanat for a distance 13 kilometres for 4 hours .

5. Hiking

The preserved nature and the exceptional relief of the park are a paradise for hikers. So why don't you find out his hidden corners on foot?

To each of its formula given that it is quite possible to make a hike of a few hours to discover a particular area. Or, you can go back to the day, and even for several days.

Day or half day hikes are usually on the side of Lake Saint-Namphaise or a river. There are more than 27 circuits available.

We especially recommend the path of the Moulin du Saut that makes 4.3 kilometres en 2 hours on the town of Gramat. Or the Falaises Trail says the English Trail that makes it 5 kilometres on the town of Brengues.

For a longer hike, you also have the choice between several trails. The loop of the Célé valley makes 124 kilometres between cliffs and troglodyte houses. Another hiking tour on five days between Saint-Cirq-Lapopie and the geoparc of the Quercy Causses is possible.

Download the "Live and Dordogne Circuits" app to discover the park’s main sites. Here are all the tourist circuits of the park to walk, by bike, by car and even by boat. All these circuits are between an hour and a day of visit.

6. Horse riding

What is more natural and ecological to visit the Causses du Quercy park than to ride on horseback? The park is conducive to the practice of horse riding and discovery on horseback.

Thus, different circuits can be offered to you.

• The South Attachment of the Lot En Quercy Blanc. You leave here for five days hiking for 133 kilometres in total;
• The circuit Chemin de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle for 165 kilometres in the Célé valley and its villages;
• Or hiking on horseback From Bouriane for six days epic with 150 kilometres of course. A singular adventure that allows you to discover the Lot differently and to perceive the secret places of the Causses de Quercy Natural Park.

7. By boat

Who says river also says boat. Thus it is also possible to visit a part of the natural park of the Causses de Quercy by boat.

It is a part of the Lot Valley that you can browse on the water before you arrive in the heart of the park where you will have to choose a walking way to continue.