BlueSan

Me and my girlfriend will be shortly leaving for Bordeaux.
1st of September till 11 of September is the time we will be spending there. We intend to use Bordeaux as a base for our trips. Naturally we wish to experience Bordeaux itself too.

But my questions would be the following:
1) What would be best options for rental and transportation through Bordeaux and surrounding areas.
2) Where would you recommend us planning our trips to and maybe by what means in what order...
3) We were maybe thinking going to North Spain Basque country and or Toulouse for a day as well, how realistic is it and how to plan that trip?

In general we are young and carefree so we are open to any suggestions you may have. Guide us to any town, place where you think it would be neat and you would do yourself had you been in our situation.
The only thing to keep in mind is, that we are young, come from a small country of Slovenia and therefor dont really have that big of a budget or rather money, but at the same time, we are not the type which needs to go and look at museums and pay those tickets, neither do we need "fancy" foods or need to use transportation for every km we do etc...so I guess there is some money to save some money there heh.

Please be creative, direct and open minded.

I am really really thanking you all in advance for taking the time to reply to this post and for the effort you spent by writing it.

Kind regards

Lan

Michael

Why Bordeaux? You need to specify your interests to get more relevant suggestions.

BlueSan

It was a random choice. Without going into the mainstream Paris... to be honest.

Our interests? To discover new things, interesting places...something that is different from what you are used to...

Looking for dynamic trip. So we dont plan to visit 10 different museums, or 10 different chateaux and wine sites just to taste 10 different wines...

Dynamic in sense of...
- To the north the is the "famous" Cognac area
- West has the Ocea with the famous Dune of Pilat
- Close to that is the city of Arcachon with it's Winter town...
- Then there are naturally Chateaux around Bordeaux
- Then Bordeaux itself what all to do here? Like more different things the better, from ancient buildings, to activities and so on...
- To the South city of Toulouse with Carcassonne etc...
- The Grotto caves - Lascaux...
- Dordogne area...maybe Perigort Noir

and so on and so on... like I said just speak your mind, tell me what you would find interesting to do and see and if nothing else, we will pick the ideas we like ourselves. Al what was written above is from what we managed to gather over the random internet and I am sure there are thousand more things to do and places to see. So looking for advices for where to go, what to do and also how to get around and what to take into account, look out for...

Hope this helps

Kind regards

Lan

mkataoka

I would definitely recommend going to Toulouse if you get the chance. Toulouse is known as the "La Ville Rose" and although it's a rather small city, you can do a lot. Their specialty dish is the cassoulet (I recommend La Maison) and if you'd like to go out and drink you can check out Saint-Pierre where they have a bunch of different bars (recommend Le Saint des Seins, Chez Tonton, Moloko, The Frog and Rosbif). The city is one of the biggest student-populated city so it's a good choice for younger people.

And lastly, if you're on a budget, I'd recommend going there by bus where the fares are typically cheap, but it takes about 4 hours or more to get there from Bordeaux so it might be best to buy a ticket for a bus leaving at night or very early morning so you don't waste day time.

I hope this helps!

BlueSan

It does, but looking forward to any other suggestions, opinions

StCirq

Get the Michelin Green Guide to the area and study it. It sounds as though you have chosen Bordeaux rather randomly. It's a great place, but not one that people normally choose as an entrée to France. But that doesn't matter, as there is much to see and do. Study guidebooks and the official website of the City of Bordeaux for detailed information.

You have 10 days. That's not much. To answer a few of your questions:

1) What would be best options for rental and transportation through Bordeaux and surrounding areas.

Rental of what? Car? Apartment? For transportation, Bordeaux has an excellent tram system that will get you all over the city at low cost - about 4 euros for a day pass, less for a week's pass. For surrounding areas you should ideally have a car, though there are trains to Arcachon and then minibus tours to Cap Ferret and the Dune du Pylat, for example.

2) Where would you recommend us planning our trips to and maybe by what means in what order...

Huh?

3) We were maybe thinking going to North Spain Basque country and or Toulouse for a day as well, how realistic is it and how to plan that trip?

Neither one is a day trip. Both are well worth visiting, but you'd need to add a week or so onto your trip to make it worth it. Go to La Rochelle and Ile de Ré if you need an overnight outside Bordeaux. Someone who's been to Toulouse one time isn't exactly the best resource for trip information. It's a great city - it's NOT near Bordeaux and will take up a few days' vacation.

julies

I too am planning a trip to the Bordeaux area this fall. One of the things that we are planning to do is to take the train to la Rochelle and spend a couple days there. Apparently both Bordeaux and la Rochelle have great cycling paths around them, and I think they may also have the free bicycle use scheme some places. My husband has been looking at car rentals and says that they are quite reasonable this year in early October for Bordeaux.

BlueSan

Yes basically the second point is. What locations would you recommend us visiting around Bordeaux. Maybe a trip to Dordogne area or someplace else.

StCirq

<<My husband has been looking at car rentals and says that they are quite reasonable this year in early October for Bordeaux.>>

That is a ridiculous statement. Car rental prices don't change by the season.

To BlueuSan: A trip to the Dordogne would be a very nice idea, but you must have several days at least. It is not exactly next door to Bordeaux and deserves at least a week's attention, and that's just a start.

BlueSan

I was thinking something in the lines of car rental for and then maybe the following trip to Dordogne area

Sorry for the long link google gives in advance :

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Bord...44.8402933!3e0

BlueSan

How much would the pay tolls for the highway to Lacoix cost and how exactly does it work. Do you just enter the highway and pay with euros on the exit?
I was then thinking simply going back through Bergerac from the last destination

Michael

That's not possible in one day. Lascaux will eat up at least two hours, there's a lunch period to take into account, Rocamadour has you park the car in a field at the bottom of the ravine, from which you take an electric shuttle (another wait) or walk up (20 minutes?) to the town. Marqueyssac stretches out 1 km. on a cliff, parking in Sarlat is outside the town (another 15 to 20 minutes to get into town), Beynac is a tour with again a wait time for the tour to begin. Reality on the ground eats up time compared to what one imagines.

annhig

are you committed to hotel/apartment bookings in Bordeaux for the whole 10 days?

if not, consider staying in Bordeaux itself for a few days then rent a car and head off. As we had already seen the Dordogne and visited Toulouse and the area around there several years ago, we did a big loop driving north through the vineyards of Bordeaux, then crossed over by the ferry across the Gironde to Royan, then drove down the other side to Blaye, stopping off at Cadillac and Aromanches for a few days in each place.

but there are lots of other choices.

julies

St Cirq--Yes, car rental rates do vary by season. It is the old supply and demand equation.

steve1526

I completely agree that car rental rates can vary widely: daily sometimes hourly, certainly seasonally, by company and even by whether you call vs use different websites (even within the company - app vs website). In certain ways the variations are similar to airline rates, but in my experience, car rental rates are even more variable than airline rates. It is a bit of a hit and miss proposition finding the best rate.

Michael

<i>That is a ridiculous statement. Car rental prices don't change by the season.
</i>

Prices are dynamic, as with airline tickets, even with Autoeurope.com. I am currently receiving frequent e-mails from them advertising specials.