2 Best Sights in Bordeaux and the Wine Country, France

Just north of the Esplanade des Quinconces (a sprawling square), this two-story museum is imaginatively housed in a converted 19th-century spice warehouse—the Entrepôt Lainé. Many expositions here showcase cutting-edge artists from France and from all over the world.

Bordeaux was one of 15 French cities chosen by Napoléon to showcase his war-acquired works (most notably from Italy) along with bits of existing royal art, so this museum has a fetching collection. Expanded to include pieces from the 15th century to the present, it now displays important paintings by Paolo Veronese (St-Dorothy), Camille Corot (Bath of Diana), and Odilon Redon (Apollo's Chariot), plus sculptures by Auguste Rodin. Located near the Cathédrale St-André and ornate Hôtel de Ville, the Museé des Beaux-Arts is flanked by tidy gardens.