Hi everyone,
We're planning a trip to the Bordeaux area. Just wondering if anybody can share any cool experiences from the area. We're interested in checking out the wine and relaxing around the area.
Thank you for your advice.
r/
Mike & Amanda

Here's a little blurb I've put together about Bordeaux that may be of some help:

Bordeaux is a marvelous city, albeit it one that doesn't attract too many Americans. The old-city pedestrian area fanning out from the rue Ste-Cathérine (off the Place de la Comédie) is a maze of streets full of small versions of the major department stores, many specialty shops, cafés, and restaurants. In summertime there are often musicians and street performers entertaining crowds in this area.

You'll definitely want to visit the Grand Théatre, arguably the most beautiful theatre in Europe; the Esplanade des Quinconces, the newly cleaned-up cathedral, the Musée des Beaux Arts, and the old merchants' quarter, the Quartier des Chartrons, with its beautiful 18th-century architecture. Be sure to wander around the Place du Parliament, but with the exception of Chez Philippe (a marvelous seafood restaurant), don't eat at the tempting array of restaurants there - they exist pretty much to pull in Americans who walk up from cruises on the quai and are quite uniformly mediocre and overpriced - too bad, because the square itself is lovely. There's a fresh market right behind the square on Saturdays.

To help you get oriented to the surrounding area, I'd suggest you stop at the very helpful Tourist Office at 12 Cours du 30 juillet in the center of town. The Maison du Vin at 30 Cours du 30 Juillet can give you boodles of information on the local wine châteaux and tours thereto, if you want to do that, or you can get information for going yourself.

Don't overlook the attractions east of the city, either. Arcachon is a lovely seaside town where all the wine widows built their mansions in the early part of the century. Have lunch there on the water and slurp some of the best oysters in the world, then stop for an ice cream at the stand on the boardwalk - some of the best in France. Try to find time to see the Dune du Pylat also - certainly one of the wonders of France. Go out to Cap Ferret and take the little train around the dunes, then stop at one of the casual cafés along the water where the oyster beds are lined up and have a glass of good white wine and some more oysters.

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Restaurants


Bordeaux overflows with great restaurants, and wine bars, of course.

Some of our favorites are:

Bodega-Bodega, 4, rue des Pillers-de-Tutelle (tapas and typical Andalusian food - I know, not what you came to France for, but it's nice after a few days of foie gras and confit de canard);

Chez Dupont, 45, rue Notre-Dame, a lively bistro with hearty meals like pot-au-feu and fricassée of sea scallops in morille sauce;

le Bistrot d'Edouard, 16, place du Parlement (an absolutely delightful square, but don't just walk into any restaurant here - most of them are tourist traps with terrible food), serving SW France specialties);

Restaurant le Port de la Lune, 59, quai de Paludate

Restaurant Gravelier, 114, cours de Verdun

la Boîte à Huitres (for the freshest shellfish with white wine or champage - it's literally a hole in the wall), 8, rue de la Vielle-Tour

Didier Gélineau, 26 rue du Pas-Saint-Georges.

La Tupina: 6, Porte de la Monnaie - bistro-type food in a classic Bordelais atmosphere. Local specialties. Moderate to expensive

Le Clavel-St-Jean, 44, rue Charles-Domercq. Wine bar (one of the few where you can order by the glass), modern décor, varied and delicious menus. Moderate.

Le Chapon Fin, 5, rue de Montesquieu. Bordeaux's hallmark restaurant. Traditional Bordelais cuisine, beautifully prepared. Expensive.

Hotels
We like the Hôtel Etche-Ona Hôtel and its sister hotel, the Bayonne. Both are owned by the Parinaud family, and both are three stars, but they are vastly different - the Etche-Ona is very old-Basque in style, with massive carved furniture, whereas the Bayonne is starkly modern. Both are within a stone's throw of the Place de la Comédie and the pedestrian area.

It's a pity StCirq wasn't around when I asked for suggestions on Bordeaux! Herself and I were there last week.

Advice endorsed, except to report that we had a decent lunch on the Place du Parlement at l'Ombriere (cheap and cheerful). Add Bistro du Musee, near the cathedral, to the list of good restaurants (most of the customers were local, which tells its own story).

Buy a three or seven day transport pass for about 9 euros at the tourist office (or by using a pile of coins at the vending machines at the tram stops -- non-French cards are not accepted by the machines).

We particularly liked the Musee d'Acquitane. It's free, so it's no great loss if you go in and find it's not your kind of thing.

Sarlat is a good excursion. If you do not have a car, it is a pleasant rail trip through vineyards to see a great postcard medieval town.

But most of all, just amble around -- lovely buildings, lots of curiosities, and we found the people amiable. Good shopping too, if that's your thing.

Bookmarking for my 4 day gap between CDG arrival March 19 and Paris apartment rental March 23.

My spouse studied in Bordeaux for 6 months in 1973 but I've never seen it....

Three full days (net of travel time) seems plenty, perhaps too much -- perhaps we could take a daytrip by train eg Sarlat, as suggested.

Hi M,

We visited the beach at Arcachon one Sept.

It was quite cool.

Windy and rainy, too.

Sounds like you are asking about the area of Bordeaux not just the city itself. We stayed in St. Emilion and used that as our base. Drove into Bordeaux to visit with some friends one day. Bordeaux is a city vs. St. Emilion which is a village. We prefer the smaller quaint villages. On our trip we also stayed in Sarlat and enjoyed our stay there as well. Perhaps you could give us a better idea of what you enjoy which would help us make suggestions.

we loved a drive to sauternes... amazing little town - lots of duck / foie gras / sweet wine.

also, a drive out to the coast and cap ferret was a great day as well.

not to mention driving north along the wine route - we lucked into a private tour of chateau latour (simply emailed and asked) and it was unbelieveable.

stayed in taillan medoc (just north of the rotund around bordeaux - reasonably priced chateau... stayed in the room named "sauternes" which had a huge balcony facing the sunset - not a bad spot to sip on some wine and enjoy some cheese...

sorry - the chateau's name was chateau le lout.

bookmarking

We stayed two nights in the Medoc, just north of Pauillac

The region was somewhat short of expectations.

We preferred the Dordogne/Lot Region