Camping du Port

This is first-rate territory for kids, with a good selection of family-friendly attractions within easy reach: Reptiland, the animal park with the largest collection of venomous reptiles in France, is within 15 minutes' drive, and the Rocher des Aigles bird of prey park, famed Monkey Forest and the splashtastic Quercyland waterpark are all within half an hour. If you're off to Reptiland, stop off just outside for a ride on the Haut-Quercy tourist railway, a steam railway chuffing along six and a half kilometres from Martel to St. Martin de Martel from April to September. Stop off for a look at the 'town of seven towers' Martel after your railway ride: there's a covered market here every Wednesday and Saturday, a wool fair in July and a museum with exhibits from the local Gallic archaeological site of Uxellodunum. Anyone anywhere in the Lot should also schedule in a day each at Rocamadour and the Gouffre de Padirac, two of the most visited destinations in France. For a more peaceful time, have a hike, hack or bike ride in the nearby Causses du Quercy Natural Regional Park, a vast space covering the countryside from the north of the Dordogne valley to the south of the Lot.