Among the Most Beautiful Villages of France and the founder of the organization with the same name, is the small town of Collonges-la-Rouge.
The town is sometimes referred to as the Ruby of the Dordogne Valley, due to the characteristic red color of its buildings.
They are made from red sandstone that has a high concentration of iron oxide in it, which is atypical for most areas of France but somewhat common in parts of the Dordogne region.
The village is located sort of mid central in the country of France, about two hours away from Toulouse and two and a half hours from Bordeaux.
The village was first established in the the 8th century and the entire town became a historical monument in 1942.
We spent a long weekend in the Dordogne region back in June and made a brief stop over in Collonges-la-Rouge while on our way to our first destination, Sarlat-la-Canéda.
We arrived very early in the morning (before 9am) and there weren't a lot of people in town so for a brief moment it almost felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.
The village is quite small so we didn't stay for too long, but I did see that it has quite a few restaurants and artisinal shops that make it a worth while stop over if you're in the area or passing though.
There are also a few camp grounds located near by and plenty of hiking trails in the area if you're the outdoorsy type.
We mostly just wandered the streets a little, taking photos while we waited for the shops and cafes to open.
We loved all of the flowers throughout the town, and the grape vines.
We stopped at a cafe for a coffee and a croissant once things started to open up.
I believe that we also got ice cream on our way out. It was still super early in the day but it's never too early for ice cream. Especially on weekends or when you're on vacation!
After we finished our ice cream we jumped back in the car and drove to Sarlat, which was only about an hour away.
As you can see, the dog was super excited, so much so he could barely keep his eyes open or hold his own head up.