Parking at Beynac-et-Cazenac
Arriving without a car?Every car park in the village is paid, all year, and the top one fills first in summer. A half-day tour from Sarlat drops you in the village and takes you on to Domme and the river; every option cancels free up to 24 hours before.
Check availabilityThe tariff, in words
The commune charges by the block. Two hours is the minimum and costs three euros; four hours costs four euros, six hours five euros, eight hours six euros. Above that there is one more step, an eleven-hour ticket at thirty euros, which is the maximum the machine sells. Non-payment carries a thirty-euro penalty. The practical reading is simple: buy the hours you need. The castle takes about an hour, the village and the walk up add most of another, and the two-hour block is the one most visitors put on the windscreen. What a full visit actually takes.
The upper lots
Parking du Château sits on the upper part of the route du Château and La Dîme on the place de la Dîme. From either, the castle entrance is a one to two minute walk, which is why they are the lots that fill first on a July morning and why the nine o’clock summer opening is worth the alarm. There is no shuttle from below, so a full upper lot means driving back down and walking up. What the walk up is like.
The lower and village lots
- Place d’Alsace — in the village.
- Le Capeyrou, rue de Sundhouse — below the cliff.
- La Balme, on the D703, route des Gabarriers, by the river.
- Les Escassols — village level.
- Le Crouzet, on the lower part of the route du Château, forty spaces.
All of them charge the same tariff as the upper lots, so parking low and walking up costs the same money and buys ten to fifteen minutes of village each way. That is not a bad trade: the lane past the golden-stone houses and the barris is a large part of why people remember Beynac at all.
Campervans
Campervans pay the car day rate and then eight euros more for the night block between seven in the evening and eight in the morning, and only two lots take them: Le Crouzet and the place d’Alsace. Neither is one of the upper lots, so an overnight stay means the walk up in the morning like everyone else.
If the driving and the parking are the part of the day you would rather not do, the half-day tour from Sarlat sets down in the village and picks up again, and adds Domme and an hour on the river. The guided options from Sarlat.
Let someone else do the parking
Four hours from Place Pasteur in Sarlat: Beynac on foot, a gabarre at La Roque-Gageac and Domme, with no car park to find. From around a hundred and ten euros, free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
Frequently asked questions
Is parking free at the Château de Beynac?
No. Every car park in the commune of Beynac-et-Cazenac is paid, every day of the year, between 08:00 and 19:00, and there is no free lot anywhere in the village. Machines take coins, cards and EasyPark.
How much is parking at Beynac?
The commune sells blocks: two hours as the minimum, then four, six and eight hours in single-euro steps, with one much larger eleven-hour block above them. Buy the hours you need — most visitors need two.
How far is the car park from the castle entrance?
One to two minutes from the two upper lots, Parking du Château and La Dîme; ten to fifteen minutes uphill from the riverside and village lots. The climb, described.
Is there a shuttle up to the castle?
No. There is no shuttle between the lower car parks and the castle, so the choice is the upper lots or the walk. The upper lots fill first in summer. When the village is quietest.