Booking a rental car in Bordeaux, need advice
 

We are four arriving in Bordeaux by train around noon on Sat 9/1 and departing around 3 on 9/8. For ease, I'd like to pick up and drop off at a rental location near the train station.

Since we plan to have lunch both days we need to figure out how to deal w/ our luggage.
How difficult is it to find parking in Bordeaux?
Is it generally safe to have our luggage in our trunk for a couple hours while we dine?
If we dine w/o car for storage, would it be frowned upon to bring luggage into a restaurant?
Should we store our luggage at the train station?

Feel free to share any do's and don'ts on car rental in France: companies to avoid, agencies to avoid, good car types for 4 people and 4 pieces of luggage..carryons most likely. Our friends are handling the renting and are comfortable with a stickshift as one of them drives one everyday in Atlanta. We on the otherhand have driven one years ago, but have said we probably are not comfortable enough to participate in driving if they go this route. WE of course will save a lot of $ doing this.

Do you still need to get some type of international driver permit here to drive over there?

Yes, you need an IDP to drive in France. Get it from AAA.

Rent from AutoEurope and request a pickup at the Gare St-Jean. You will be steps (well, quite a few steps, but not bad) from your car rental agency in all likelihood. The worst would be you'd have to cross the street from the train station and walj a few paces down the street.

I don't know why you need to know about parking in Bordeaux. Are you planning to stay in the city with a car? That would not be a good idea.

I live in France, not far from Bordeaux, and am there often. I never leave luggage or anything valuable in my car when I'm there. You can use the consigne at the train station if you're concerned. You'll need to read French to follow the directions. You might find a few cafés with outdoor seating where they wouldn't mind if you showed up with luggage, but a restaurant? No.

Thank you for reply St. Cirq. The reason I asked about parking in Bordeaux is because we want to eat lunch at a nice restaurant in Bordeaux after arriving on the TGV and before driving to Saint Geyrac and also before catching the train back to Paris a week later. I am trying to figure out how to handle storage of our luggage. You have answered my one question regarding taking luggage into a restaurant and that is not an option. So another option is to pick up our car upon arriving in Bordeaux, put luggage in the trunk, and drive to the restaurant of choice. I get not leaving anything of value visible in the car, but do you feel someone might break into the locked trunk? And to clarify, parking and driving in Bordeaux is challenging?

Since you come and go frequently to Bordeaux from the Dordogne, are there any restaurants not to far outside of Bordeaux on the way to Saint Geyrac where we could easily park?

When we keep luggage in the trunk (seldom) we make sure ALL the luggage is in the trunk, not visible, and then we back the car up against a wall (in a parking garage), lamp post, etc so the car trunk can not physically be opened. If you park in a large lot, you want the thieves to break into the other guy's car - not yours.


Also, if you arrive at noon, you may not get going until 1am or later if there are others in front of you picking up a car. As I recall, the Gare St Jean is not in a great area and there may not be many/any "nice restaurants" that you can walk to, or take a short drive to. So it may be 2PM until you drive to a restaurant, park, and walk to the restaurant. A "nice" lunch will finish around 3:30 or so. Then if you return to the car & "get going" - it will be 3:45 or so. Is this schedule OK with you?


Same with the return. If you arrive at the "nice" restaurant at noon, have lunch, finish at 1:30, drive to the gare, return the car, - it might be 2 to 2:30PM. One 1 hr to 30 mins till your train leaves. I like to be at the gare 45 mins before departure - but I've taken many, many trains in France & I know my way around (wife speaks French too). And there are four of you - which I find slows things down a bit (there are 2 of us). And what if there are people in front of you in line at the rental return office. Are you comfortable just "dropping" the keys/contract in front of an agent without getting the final paperwork & "inspection" before you depart?



Stu Dudley

As an example, here is a restaurant within a short drive of the Gare with a parking lot close by. It is in the Michelin Red Guide. Other restaurants in the Red Guide are either farther away or closed on Saturday for lunch.
La Tupina, restaurant in Bordeaux, presents various restaurants


If you check their reservation site, the earliest you can book a table is for 12:00. The latest is 2:30.


Stu Dudley

Oops - I had some trouble with military time. The latest you can book a table for is 1:30pm. So this is very "iffy" for you on both arrival and departure from Bordeaux.



Stu Dudley

You are headed into one of the best culinary neighborhoods in all of France, and while I understand the urge to have a "fine dining" experience in Bordeaux, it's not at all necessary. You would do just as well to get on the road and stop at La Palmyre in La Douze and have whatever deliciousness Madame is serving up. Or one of the cafés in Rouffignac. Or at Déjeuner sur l'Herbe in St-Léon-sur Vézère. Or l'Espérance in Le Buisson if Michelin stars attract you, though you'd never guess Michelin had set foot in the place.

I don't know what kind of culinary platform you're working from, but frankly all the hype about food and wine in Bordeaux bores me. I suppose I've become a bit of a peasant, and I understand that my perspective is different from that of a short-term visitor. In early September, I would be happier with a picnic with fresh produce by one of the rivers than sitting in a nice restaurant.

At Gare St. Jean a few agencies - SIXT included - have cars right in the train station, so all you'd need to do is ride the lift from inside the train station.

Ciao ... Dorm

Saint Emilion is a short detour off the Dordogne to Bordeaux road.

We had lunch at Hostellerie de Plaisance which was simply the best food we have ever experienced. It’s a very strong Michelin 2 star, the interior, service, welcome and food are exemplary. They offer a 6 course tasting menu for e65 which is incredible value in view of the price of the a la carte menu.

The only downside being that the wine included in the set menu is plain awful, mainly because the price of their house wine is e500 a bottle - the restaurant is owned by Chateau Pavie.

The town is a tourist trap but the surrounding area is filled with stunning vineyards and chateaux.

Alternatively, you could try La Terrasse Rouge which is the restaurant at Chateau La Dominique. The food is solid enough, their wine is reasonable and a high end Grand Cru Classés the main attraction is the view as the restaurant is on the sexond floor and has beautiful views over the right bank vineyards.

Saint Emilion is a magical place to us, the chateaux estates are relatively small, many offer tasting and the terroir changes dramatically over small geographic areas to the extent that fields 200 yards apart can produce wine which retails at either e15 a bottle or e2000!

Thank you StCirq, StuDudley, Dorm57 and British Caicos. I will explore these possibilities for our lunch. We are looking forward to eating French food........peasant and Michelin starred! I need to order a map or guide for our journey to find these places.......what do you recommend?

I'm pretty sure our friends are using Autoeurope to rent the car. First pass through looking at a midsize basic rate for the 4 of us plus a carryon each for the week, found a stickshift for $219 Ford Grand C-Max 5+2 and an automatic for $462 Renault Grand Scenic 5+2. Does that sound right as far as size and price.

Everyone - foolforfrance is arriving at the gare at noon. How is he going to drive anywhere outside of Bordeaux and be there in time for lunch?????? St Emilion is 40 mins away. If he departs Bordeaux at 13:00, enters St Emilion at 14:00, finds the restaurant & parking by 14:30 - my guess is that they will not allow seating at that late of a time. Certainly not at a Michelin 2 star restaurant, in my experience. Maybe Hostellerie de Plaisance is an exception - we've never dined there.


Pick a restaurant within 5 mins of the gare.



Stu Dudley

St-Emilion is a complete nightmare these days. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemies. It is no more representative of the real France than Disneyland is representative of America. It is a horror-show of shoulder-to-shoulder Asian selfie-stick swingers. It is also home to some of the worst corruption in the wine industry in France, as evidenced in several recent articles and books. Anyone who thinks he is enjoying an authentic French experience in St-Emilion is seriously duped. Except for the monolithic church. People who wax poetic about this place have been taken in by scammers and schemesters. There is nothing authentic about it anymore. Just 32-euro 4-cl drops of St-George-de-Somewhere in a dull café 2 miles from where you managed to find a parking spot.

Stu's right, though. You'll miss lunch if you don't eat pretty soon after arrival.

“is a horror-show of shoulder-to-shoulder Asian selfie-stick swingers”

was just racist.

I saw some people of African origins in Bordeaux, should the OP be warned of this?

Corruption in the wine industry ? What bearing has this to a day visitor.

I suggest you use the edit function for that post.

Oh I see.

I thought the reference to corruption thing was about the scandals of appellation reclassifications but when I googled Bordeaux wine corruption, the first news returned was about Chinese investors committing tax fraud through the purchase of vineyards.

nasty common theme here.

Pearl Harbour was a long time ago.

Stu, thanks for helping me think this through. La Tupina looks like a good choice should we dine
in Bordeaux.

St cirq: Someone wrote on TripAdvisor that La Palmyre had been taken over in July
by a young couple and said they still are working the kinks out.

I will put up another post requesting restaurant suggestions in route between Bordeaux and Saint Geyrac.

British Caicos-thank you for your suggestions too. I'm feeling hesitant based on the discussion that ensued. I will still look at these options though.

You do not want to drive to La Tupina. Leave the car with your luggage in the rental agency parking lot and take a street car toward the center of Bordeaux. When I last rented a car at that station, the car park for rentals was on the back side of the train station (take the pedestrian tunnel to cross the tracks to the back side). The street car is in front of the station. If you are just trying to have a bite before hitting the road, use the train station restaurant (undoubtedly there is one).

We ate at La Tupina last year and found it over rated and expensive. Thought it was resting on its history. Does look great in photos.