The village of Saint-Cirq Lapopie is perched on a cliff 100 m (330 ft) above the river and is one of the major beauty spots of the Lot valley. Saint-Cirq Lapopie is dominated by a fortress made up of a number of castles and towers. Below the fortress, the village streets lead down to fortified gates. Many historic houses have stone or half-timbered fronts going back to the 13th-16th centuries.
The houses are narrow and have steep tiled roofs. Some street names have kept the memory of the crafts that were once the wealth of Saint-Cirq Lapopie. Beneath the Saint-Cirq Lapopie cliff there are watermills, weirs, harbours, locks and towpath to recall the days when river transport was the glory of the Lot Valley.
