Bordeaux is one of the most elegant cities in France and it has so much to offer visitors.
It’s not only the beautiful Baroque architecture of its riverfront that will make you fall in love, but also its bustling urban atmosphere, delicious cuisine – and, of course, its wine châteaux.
For us, Bordeaux was the last stage of a 1-week road trip in the South of France during the lockdown break, starting in Toulouse. It was our first time there and the only thing we regretted was not having been there before!
We stayed for 3 days in Bordeaux. Is it enough? There are always things to do and beautiful areas to visit in this city, but we did have time to explore and live the city centre, a fair share of wine tourism and a trip to beautiful Arcachon Bay nearby.
In this post we tell you what we did and give you travel tips so you can learn from our experience and make the most of your time in Bordeaux!
If you prefer to know about the city right away, click here to jump to our 3-day visit of Bordeaux!
Bordeaux-Mérignac airport (BOD) has direct connections to over 30 Western European cities, and beyond. If you don’t have a direct flight to Bordeaux, you can transfer in Paris – there are 16 daily flights from Paris to Bordeaux.
To arrive in the city centre from the airport, Bus 1 (officially Lianes 1+). This bus has the same fare as the rest of the public transport system (no surcharge) and it takes 35-40 minutes to the centre.
You can check the best flight deals to Bordeaux from your nearest airport using the search form below:
If you arrive by car, Bordeaux is well connected by road. It lies on the motorway axis connecting Paris to the Atlantic Coast of Spain (A63-A10), and it is the starting point of A62 to Toulouse.
Bordeaux is 250 km from Toulouse, 590 km from Paris and 240 km from San Sebastián in Spain.
If you are travelling by car, we highly recommend you to read our next section on how to park for free in Bordeaux!
Bordeaux is also well connected by train: 2h10 from Toulouse. It takes also a bit over 2h to Paris with high-speed TGV. Follow this link to check train schedules and prices!
Including cities in your road trip can be very annoying and expensive! In Bordeaux, car parks charge over 25€ per day and most hotels do not have a free parking for their guests.
If you don’t want to lose money just to keep your car parked while you enjoy the city, check out these tips! This is information that we couldn’t find anywhere, we found out ourselves and now we are sharing it with you.
Parking on the street in all Bordeaux is limited to 4h and hourly rates increase with time. You can, however, park your car for free on Sundays and every night from 7 pm to 9 am.
The vast majority of the municipality of Bordeaux (all the area between the boulevards and the Garonne river + La Bastide) is covered by this system. Furthermore, the neighbouring municipalities have similar systems.
So where can you park? We had this same question and found out two alternatives:
There are 25 P+R car parks that the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area public transport company TBM has opened next to tram and bus stops.
If you buy a 24 hour public transport ticket, the parc-relais are included in the price (5€ per person).
Otherwise, parking costs 4.50€ daily and includes a return public transport ticket for up to 5 people to be used on the same day (to get to the city centre and back). There are a few car parks with a reduced fare of 3€.
You can find the location of all the P+Rs and related information in the TBM website.
This sounds like a pretty good way to park your car during your stay in Bordeaux… until you read “Overnight Parking Forbidden”. The P+R is thought for commuters so they close from 1 am to 5 am (from 2 am on weekends). And you can get fined if you leave your car there overnight…
Sure, after 7 pm you can just take your car and park it in the street free of charge until the next morning. But this makes you lose a lot of time. This is why we only used the P+R during our first day.
The next day, we found an even better alternative: parking in the University area.
In the Arts et Métiers ParisTech Bordeaux Campus there is plenty of parking space, and it’s one of the few areas in the urban area where you can park for free!
This is located in the municipality of Talence and just next to the Arts & Métiers Tram C stop. You can park your car there until you need it and arrive in the very centre of Bordeaux in 20 minutes by tram.
We know there are a few other areas in the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area where you can park for free, but they are not easy to find. If you have been to Bordeaux and know other areas where you can park for free, please leave us a comment.
If you stay for 3 nights like we did, this will save you 75€ – you can have lunch and dinner for two with that money!
While the pedestrian city centre and Saint-Michel neighbourhood can be easily explored on foot, there is more to see in Bordeaux where you will to travel longer distances.
The main part of Bordeaux stretches along the left bank Garonne following a crescent shape, so riverwise distances can be very long. On the right bank lies La Bastide: an old mediaeval fort that became working class neighbourhood and now has an interesting cultural scene.
Fortunately, public transport is great in Bordeaux. The Tram system has 4 lines (A, B, C and D). Trams are modern light-rail style and fast. These are complemented by bus lines. The network covers several municipalities in the Bordeaux metropolitan area, including Pessac, which hosts many wineries:
The prices of the most important tickets, valid in all the network, are:
Public transport runs from 5 am to midnight (until 1 am on weekends). There is also 1 night bus line.
By the way, one of the cool things of Bordeaux’s public transports system is that it includes boats. So if you have time, it’s a great idea to get a boat on the Garonne just as if you were taking the bus.
We arrived in Bordeaux from Toulouse in the evening, visiting Montauban and Moissac on the way. We had time to get to our apartment, have dinner and get ready to start exploring the city the next day!
We stayed in this apartment in Saint-Michel (click here), a multicultural historical neighbourhood just South of the city centre.
We tried to get a taste of everything Bordeaux has to offer and dedicated each day to a different theme as you can see in the index.
The first thing we wanted to do in Bordeaux was to explore the city and admire its beautiful architecture.
In the mid-18th c. old Bordeaux was comprehensively modernised. The mediaeval walls were demolished and substituted by the monumental and elegant buildings of the riverfront promenade, and its crown jewel: Place de la Bourse.
This unique planned urban complex of Bordeaux served as inspiration for Haussmann’s famous plan for the modernisation of Paris one century later. No wonder why Bordeaux, Port de la Lune (Port of the Moon), is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We left our apartment and went to the riverfront, walking along the Garonne to Place de la Bourse.
The “moon crescent” is really impressive – taking UNESCO’s words: “outstanding example of innovative classical and neoclassical trends and give it an exceptional urban and architectural unity and coherence” of over 2 km that “represents the success of philosophers who wanted to make towns into melting pots of humanism, universality and culture“.
The Baroque scheduled façades of the riverfront are interrupted by some singular monuments that embellish it further.
The first one we came by is Porte Cailhau. Built in the end of the 15th c., this was the most important gate of Bordeaux on the river side and arc de triomphe, with a statue of King Charles VIII, commemorating a victory against the Italians. We still won’t cross the gate to the old city, but continue along the river.
As beautiful as the riverfront is, don’t forget to take a look on the other side. The Garonne river is beautiful and very wide, as its estuary is very close – which, at 75 km, is the longest in Europe.
Take your time to contemplate the Stone Bridge (Pont de Pierre), built in 1822, the Bastide on the other side and the Chartrons neighbourhood, where the crescent closes. If you have time, it’s a great and cheap idea to take a boat to the other side, it’s included in the tram ticket!
Some minutes later, we arrived at Place de la Bourse, the highlight of Bordeaux’s planned riverfront and the city’s most famous landmark. To our despair, half of it as under renovation, that’s why we only took pictures to the nice side.
Place de la Bourse was the beginning of the new Bordeaux – it was here where the walls started to be removed and the first new monumental space was built.
Originally, there was a statue of Louis XV but it was taken down during the Revolution. Its place was taken in 1869 by the Three Graces we see today.
In 2006, the square was made even more beautiful thanks to the Miroir d’Eau (Water Mirror).
Anyway, the time to enjoy and take the best photographs here is not in the morning, but just before sunset and at night – so that’s what we did!
We went another day early in the morning (8 am) for pictures with beautiful light and no people… to our despair: the Mirror works from 10 am to 10 pm. It also closes in winter for maintenance – so don’t make the same mistake as we did!
The morning may not the best time to take photographs in Place de la Bourse, but it is great to enjoy a coffee in Grand Bar Castan in Quai de la Douane, just next to Place de la Bourse.
Castan is the most exuberant of the belle époque cafés in Bordeaux. Its exoticist decoration will make you travel in time and space.
Don’t fear an overpriced coffee, prices are as in other cafés in Bordeaux city centre. You can also come here for a meal or an evening drink.
On the other side of Place de la Bourse, there is another vintage café: La Belle Époque. This one has a more noble, classicist decoration. We were not feeling like another coffee, so just peeked inside.
The beautiful ensemble of the riverfront is interrupted just two blocks North of Place de la Bourse, just next to La Belle Époque café by a huge landscaped open space: Place des Quinconces.
With a surface of 12 hectares, Place des Quinconces is the largest square in France. Therefore, it is a place of choice for public events.
This square replaced a mediaeval castle, that was destroyed to make place for it, following the plans to modernise Bordeaux.
The entrance is marked by two massive columns topped with statues symbolising Commerce and Navigation, two pillars of Bordeaux’s economy.
Roughly in the middle of the square, among the trees that line on each side, are the statues of the two most philosophers of Bordeaux: Montaigne and Montesquieu.
But the highlight of Place des Quinconces is the Monument to the Girondins, built in 1894-1902 to the memory of the girondins victims of Robespierre’s Terror. As you may remember from school, the girondins were the “more moderate” faction of the French revolutionaries.
The girondins originated in Bordeaux, and actually their name refers to its region (Gironde). The girondins advocated a more decentralised state, opposed to the unitary vision of the jacobins, something that had been traditional in Bordeaux.
The monument has a 43-metre tall column topped by a statue dedicated to liberty. On each side, there is a fountain with two sculpture ensembles: “The Triumph of the Republic” and “The Triumph of Harmony”.
Bordeaux Opera Theatre is very close to the Monument aux Girondins. It was built in 1780 following a neo-classical style with massive columns. If you have the chance to go inside, do so, it is beautiful!
Place de la Comédie, the square where it stands, marks the beginning of the pedestrian elegant streets of the old city.
From here, we took rue Sainte-Cathérine and started wandering through the streets of central Bordeaux which were, despite the pandemic, quite busy.
Check out the Galerie Bordelaise, gallery with shops and cafés that will take you back in time.
The vibe of central Bordeaux and its beautiful architecture ensemble will delight you, so take your time to enjoy it and don’t worry so much about getting lost or taking the longer way.
There are also a few places you shouldn’t miss, we will tell you about them now.
Place du Parlement is one of the beautiful squares that were opened in the 18th century, to modernise Bordeaux.
It was called initially Royal Market square and then renamed after the Parliament of Bordeaux, a court of justice more than an assembly that worked until the Revolution (not that the Parliament building was here as you make think).
We stopped for lunch in a cosy café here: L’Autre Petit Bois. They saved us because it got late, but their kitchen is open all day.
We went for something small this time: a toast with foie gras and figs jam and a casserole of baked cheese.
After lunch, we continued exploring the city centre of Bordeaux. We walked up to Porte Dijeaux, one of the city’s gates, that opens to Place Gambetta, one of the most iconic squares of Bordeaux.
Then we went towards the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Museum). It is a remarkable building with a beautiful garden, great to rest a bit… but the gate was closed.
Palais Rohan hosts the City Hall of Bordeaux (Hôtel de Ville) and is behind the Fine Arts Museum, towards river Garonne.
It was originally built as the Archbishop’s palace in the mid-18th century. It takes the typical classicist Baroque stone architecture of the city to another level of size and refinement.
In the same square you will find one of the most important monuments of Bordeaux: its Cathedral.
The Cathedral of Bordeaux is one of the few singular buildings that remains from the city’s mediaeval past, and the most impressive of them all. The Cathedral was consecrated in 1096 but the current building was built in the Gothic style in the 13th-15th centuries.
Bordeaux being an important stage in the routes of St. James’ in France, the Cathedral was included as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France“.
But it was not only just another church one the way to Santiago – The historical importance of the Cathedral can be understood from the fact that King Louis XIII married Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip III of Spain, here in 1615.
Bordeaux Cathedral may not be as breathtaking as the grand cathedrals of the North of France, but it is certainly beautiful and very interesting.
While it has most of the typical Gothic features like its spires and flying buttresses, it also has some uniqueness.
One of the most surprising features of Bordeaux Cathedral is its freestanding belltower (Tour Pey Berland), built in the 15th century. You can climb it for a beautiful view of the city.
Entrance to the Cathedral is free. The interior space is elegant and harmonious, but the pity is most of the original artworks were lost because of a fire in the 19th century. Anyway, there are some lovely stained glass windows.
When you are in Bordeaux, you have to try their sweet specialty – canelés.
Canelés are pastry made with a batter similar to that of crêpes, flavoured with vanilla and rhum.
They are traditionally baked in small copper tins. The high heat conductivity of copper is the key for the unique canelé texture: canelés consist of a caramelised hard crust and a chewy interior.
The first time you try them they can seem a bit odd, but when you know what it is, they’re delicious!
After our canelés we started walking back to our apartment in Saint-Michel.
On our way, we discovered the great atmosphere of Place Ferdinand Lafargue and surrounding streets, and we decided to go back in the evening. We weren’t disappointed! We continued through rue Saint-James to arrive at the Big Bell.
The Grosse Cloche was the belfry of the old City Hall and one of the gates of the mediaeval wall.
The gate was built in the 15th c. and was later enlarged and embellished. Since then, the bell has been an integral part of the lives of the bordelaises, as the inscription cast in the current bell (which dates from 1775) claims:
“I ring the hours and my voice is a call to arms, (…) I sing for happy events and weep for the dead“.
The tower was used as a dungeon for youngsters who didn’t respect public order or curfews… Nowadays you can visit it for 5€.
Crossing the Grosse Cloche means exiting the historical city centre, but that doesn’t mean that is no more history left! The quarter of Saint-Michel developed in the Middle Ages on the South of primitive Bordeaux. This is where we had our apartment, but it is a must in Bordeaux anyway!
The highlight of the neighbourhood is Saint-Michel Basilica, built between the 14th-16th c. in flamboyant Gothic style. It is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France“, as the quarter was really en route to Santiago.
The Basilica of Saint-Michel is not nearly as large and monumental as the Cathedral… but its also freestanding bell tower dwarfs the Cathedral’s. La Flèche Saint-Michel, as it is known, is one of the symbols of Bordeaux and its height of 114 m makes it the second-tallest bell tower in France!
On our second day in Bordeaux, we decided to take a full wine day, something you should do once you are in one of the most famous and successful wine regions in the world.
The good thing is that there are many wineries you can visit close to the city (you can even reach them easily with public transport).
9 am is too early for wine, so we started our day in another of the classic Belle Époque cafés on Bordeaux: Café du Levant, just across the train station (Gare St-Jean).
This café is the largest of the 3 we visited and its decoration looks like taken from a film. If you go at lunch time, you can taste their house specialty: Alsatian choucroute (sauerkraut).
If you are not going to visit a winery, at least you should go to Cité du Vin, classed 7th best museum in the world by National Geographic!
The museum was opened in 2016 in a fantastic modern building in the Bacalan neighbourhood, a modern area in the North of the city, just after the iconic Baroque quays.
To arrive in this museum, you can take Tram C to Cité du Vin station.
The entrance ticket is 20 €, and it includes a glass of wine of your choice from different French and international origins, to be enjoyed in the panoramic terrace in the last floor of the building.
The building is really cool if you like modern architecture, and the museum is really interesting for any wine lover.
Cité du Vin is really a museum of world wine, it is not only about Bordeaux or French wine. This is something that makes it so interesting.
The museum is divided in 19 sections in “6 wine universes”. These tell about iconic wine regions of the world, from Georgia to Argentina and exotic vineyards in volcanic islands.
There is an interesting exhibit about the role of wine in society since Antiquity. And some history of wine in Bordeaux and France too.
There is also a section that explains the winemaking process and the differences between the different kinds of wine.
Before you go up to taste your wine, don’t forget visiting the “Buffet of the 5 senses” for some practice!
You can stay for hours in Cité du Vin and you won’t get bored! But we didn’t have more than 1h30 before going to get our wine. Anyway, in that time you can really see a bit of everything and learn interesting stuff.
We went to the terrace to enjoy our wine. There was a selection of French wines, but also from some origins like Croatia, Serbia, Belgium (!), Argentina and even Mexico.
Anyway, as we don’t usually drink French wines at home, we decided not to travel so far and go for a red Bourgogne and a Cadillac, a dessert white wine from Bordeaux (similar to Sauternes) to enjoy the view!
We left Cité du Vin in a bit of haste and went to Chartrons for lunch before our winery tour in the afternoon.
Chartrons is a neighbourhood on the North of the “Port of the Moon“, bohemian and bourgeois at the same time. As we learnt in Cité du Vin, this area was once one of the centres of Bordeaux winemaking.
Chartrons definitely deserves more time than what we could devote to it, with elegant streets and squares, famous for its antique stores and friendly atmosphere.
We looked for a place that would serve us lunch after 2 pm, local cuisine if possible, and just found Chez Dupont, quite close to the famous neoclassical Saint-Louis Church, that stands out in Chartrons’ skyline.
What a great idea, for we had one of the best duck thigh confits we have ever tried. And something that you definitely have to eat in Bordeaux, as it is a regional specialty from Aquitaine.
They cure the duck themselves for 24 hours. Their mango cake was also surprisingly delicious. Sometimes, when you don’t plan your lunch, you end up with a better experience!
We took the tram in Chartrons to pick our car and drive to Pape Clément winery. This is one of the big names in Bordeaux – it is actually the oldest vineyard in Bordeaux, with the first recorded harvest in 1306.
Winemaking has certainly changed a lot since then, as has the property of the estate. The name of the winery comes from Pope Clement V (the Pope who moved from Rome to Avignon), who has the first owner of the estate when he was Archbishop of Bordeaux. He gave the estate to his successors.
The château this belonged to the Archbishops of Bordeaux until the French Revolution when it was natonalised and sold. It is currently owned by Bernard Magrez, who also owns other châteaux in Bordeaux, including famous Château La Tour Carnet.
The wine château style typical of France is quite different and charming. Understanding AOC regions in France is much more difficult than in any other country – Bordeaux has tens of different AOC, some referring just to part of a village with some unique soil.
Pape Clément’s vineyards grow the typical Bordeaux red grape varieties: Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as white Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle.
In every winery you visit, you learn something new or you see some differences in the process. Here we found interesting the fact that they clean the barrels in the middle of the ageing process.
After visiting the vineyards, the fermentation area and the beautiful ageing cellar, it was time for wine tasting!
The price of the visit is 20€, which we found quite good, considering that you get 3 different wines in the tasting, and not just any.
We started with a 100% Merlot Croix de Perenne, from another winery of the same owner in Blaye. Then we had a Merlot – Cabernet Sauvignon from Médoc, which was quite interesting to learn about varieties.
And finally, the star, Château Pape Clément Grand Cru Classé de Graves 2015 made in the winery we visited. Its price is around 130 €, making it the most expensive wine we have ever taste. Not in every winery they give you there really expensive wine to taste!
If you are interested in wine tourism, we recommend you to do it in Spain too!
Take a look at our wine trips in Spain: Laguardia, a mediaeval gem in the heart of Rioja and our road trip in Ribera del Duero, a region full of history and lovely wines.
On the last day of our trip, we decided to go outside of the city, to Arcachon, as many locals do in summer.
Arcachon Bay (Bassin d’Arcachon) is an amazing bay of the Atlantic Ocean just 60 km SW of Bordeaux. It is a popular summer holiday destination and also a great place to go for a weekend from Bordeaux.
We arrived in the town of Arcachon, bustling on Saturday. The town has a nice sandy beach, which is guarded from the Ocean currents by the quirky shape of the Bay.
If you fancy a boat trip, there are different options for a sightseeing trip from Arcachon. A cheaper option is to use the public transport boats, you can check the timetables there.
The climate of Arcachon was said to be beneficial for people suffering from tuberculosis and other pulmonary illnesses. Thus, it became an important seaside resort for the French bourgeoisie since the 1820s.
In 1860, this upper-class holiday town was taken to another level, when the Ville d’Hiver (Winter Town) was built. This is a neighbourhood on a hill overlooking the town of Arcachon that consists of villas built in “picturesque” style: a mixture of Neo-classical, Neo-gothic, Neo-Moorish, colonial and “Swiss chalet” styles created to lift the spirit.
Don’t miss Villa Teresa, the most renowned dwelling in Ville d’Hiver for its architecture, in “Spanish-Moorish” style
This neighbourhood made only for the leisure of the bourgeoisie was completed with a ski piste, an observatory and an Anglican Church… it was not only the richest French who liked it here, but also quite some British!
Arcachon Bay is famous for its tradition of oyster farming. When you go on the road, you will see signs reading “Port ostréicole” (oyster farming port). There are a few of them, small villages totally devoted to oysters, on both sides of the Bay.
If you like oysters, you definitely should go for lunch in one of these, and forget about the restaurants in town. You will never eat them fresher!
In these oyster farming villages, you will find cabanes (huts), where oysters are sold and served (or “tasted”, as they say). These oysters are taken daily directly from the farms in the same village.
We went to La-Teste-de-Buch, an oyster port just east of Arcachon and went to eat at La Cabane du Paliquey.
All of the cabanes have basically the same menu and prices: oysters – 12 medium ones for 11€, 12 big for 13 €; local seafood- prawns, whelks (bulots) and periwinkles (bigorneaux); and pâté landaise, with or without piment d’Espelette (chilli from a village of that name in the Pyrenees).
So, if you don’t like seafood like Marcos, you’re just left with the pâté…
After lunch, we went to the highlight of Arcachon Bay: The Great Dune of Pilat. It’s just 10 km by road from Arcachon town.
We passed through Pyla-sur-Mer, a holiday seaside village from which the dune takes its name. Pyla was pretty crowded, in spite of the pandemic, it suddenly felt more like in the Côte d’Azur!
There is a car park next to the Dune. Prices are 4 € for 2h and 6 € for 4h. If you stay less than 30 min it’s free, but it’s impossible to visit the Dune in that time.
From the car park, there is a 10 min walk to the Dune and then you will have to go up! There are some stairs you can use if you don’t want to climb the Dune.
We had recently been in the Maspalomas Dunes in Gran Canaria – Dune du Pilat is actually very different. This is not a system of several dunes, but one huge dune, made of a beautiful thin, light-coloured sand.
The Dune is really impressive, as is the view on top of it. Sit, relax and enjoy the view of the Atlantic Ocean with the Banc d’Arguin (a sandbank home to many birds and plant species) – and, on the other side, the large forest of the Landes.
We recommend you to check the tides, and if you are lucky enough to catch a low tide just before sunset, don’t miss the opportunity!
This was the end of our road trip in the French Midi in times of pandemic. We had nearly 700 km to get back home the next day.
After getting ready for the trip, we had dinner in a terrace in the neighbourhood – at La Taupinière, in the beautiful quay just down Saint-Michel Basilica. It’s great value for money, their specialty is the Taup’n’Sauce, a presque-tartare (very slightly cooked) with a sauce of your choice.
Before leaving we bought some canelés to take home. You have to eat them in a couple of days, but that wasn’t a problem!
We said good-bye to Bordeaux, sure to meet again, because the only with we regretted was not met before!
If you have enjoyed reading our guide to Bordeaux, we invite you to check outour complete 8-day road trip in the South of France.
Or if you would like to have more detailed information about the places we visited, you can read the following articles right away: