Lalinde combines the history of an English bastide with the Canal de Lalinde and views of the Dordogne. For planning purposes, you can focus on different things: the regular town layout and its remains of fortifications, the canal with its structures and recreational uses, a one-hour cultural walk, or the Thursday market. The options range from a self-guided tour of the bastide to a marked network of hiking and mountain biking trails covering almost 200 km.
Bastide and historic buildings
Lalinde is an English bastide founded in the 13th century by Henry III of England. Its regular town plan consists of streets laid out at right angles and a central square. The surviving remains of the once-fortified town include the riverbank walls and the Porte de Bergerac. The town plan and the remains of the fortifications thus provide two distinct points of reference for the town’s history.
The market hall can also be placed in its historical context: the current hall dates from the 19th century and replaced a market hall from the 15th century. Together with the bastide’s founding in the 13th century, this gives the townscape a sequence of different periods. The market hall represents a later architectural change, while the bastide recalls the town’s founding.
Canal de Lalinde and trails
The Canal de Lalinde was built between 1838 and 1843 between Mauzac and Tuilières. The canal structures include locks, basins, aqueducts and lock keepers’ houses. The canal is also used for fishing and walking.
The Véloroute Voie Verte V91 runs along the Canal de Lalinde between the locks at Tuilières and Mauzac. The former lock keeper’s house in Lalinde is the starting point for almost 200 km of marked mountain biking and hiking trails. The cultural walk through the bastide offers a different time frame: this free, self-guided tour is designed to take 60 minutes and introduces the legend of the Coulobre. The options differ in type and scale: the V91 refers to a stretch along the canal, the distance refers to the extent of the marked trail network, and the hour refers to the duration of the cultural walk.
Landscape and market
The Chapelle Saint-Front stands at the end of a rocky promontory and overlooks the Dordogne. Unlike the regular streets of the bastide and the canal’s engineering structures, the focus here is on the landscape.
A traditional market is held every Thursday morning in the streets opposite the town hall and in the central square. Regional products include duck, geese, chicken, strawberries and wine. If you want to include the market in your stay, Thursday morning is the relevant time to plan for.
Lalinde’s tourist information office is near the Dordogne, on the square by the market hall, and offers advice on organising your stay.
Discover more destinations: Villetoureix, Peyrignac, Sadillac, Saint-Victor, Saint-Germain-de-Belvès, Saint-Médard-D'excideuil, Nanthiat, Lunas
For the broader travel overview: Dordogne.
