The town of Terrasson is located on the banks of the Vézère in southwestern France, about 150 km east of Bordeaux in the heart of Aquitaine, with which Hesse maintains a regional partnership.
It is named after the type site of La Madeleine, a rock shelter located in the Vézère valley, commune of Tursac, in the Dordogne department of France.
These rocks together with overlying Santonian rocks form the limestone plateau of Légal, the divide between the drainage basins of the rivers Lisle and Vézère.
Tertiary sector jobs are largely found in Périgueux 35 km away, or in the slightly larger towns like Montignac on the Vézère River, 14 km to the south east (the nearest town to the Lascaux caves).