Bordeaux Lodging and Transportation
 

Hi,

My wife and I are flying to Bordeaux this fall. What is the best, affordable way to get to the city from the airport? Can anyone recommend an area to stay in (and what to avoid) and specific lodgings for under 100 euros/night?

After a couple of nights we are off to Gascony, French Basque region and the Spanish Basque coast. What towns/sites should be on the must see list?

Thanks.

Jeff

This should help with your research:

http://www.bordeaux-tourisme.com/

Bordeaux is a great city. Enjoy!

SDA1,
Thanks for the website. It is just what I was looking for. I am still not sure about which part of Bordeaux to stay in that is not too far from airport transportation. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

It is fairly easy to get from BOD into the city centre. There are buses, trains and taxi. It'll take about 30-45 minutes.

Bordeaux has recently installed a tram system that runs throughout the city. It is affordable and very convenient -- though Bordeaux is a great city to walk around in too (and not all that big)

venere.com is a good site to find a hotel. They cut Bordeaux up into three sections. All three are fine but the areas around the Victoire and train station tend to be a bit seedier. You can find hotels that meet your budget in the tourist sections of town which are basically Quincones to the north, Victor Hugo to the south, Gambetta to the west and the river to the east (that's just a rough guide by the way, don't take it literally). I haven't stayed in any hotels in Bordeaux so can't recommend any particular one.

If you type in "Bordeaux" in the search feature you'll get other people's suggestions and recommendations. tripadvisor.com might also be useful for you.

Merci Beaucoup. (That is about the limit of my French.)

I'm sorry but Bordeaux was the absolute low point in my round Europe trip - I was staying in the city centre - it might be different in Autumn but I was there in Summer and it was the pits - nothing open, grimy, generally unpleasant. I was so relieved to get to Paris afterwards. Personally I would avoid the city centre!

Well, I love Bordeaux. Like every city, it has some grimy spots, but it's a lovely place full of parks and uniform 17th-18th-century architecture galore. A beautiful pedestrian old center as well. If you find it unpleasant, it's probably because you hung around near the train station (usually a kind of nasty neighborhood in many cities). Here's a little blurb on Bordeaux I put together a few years ago - might be some out-of-date info, but I think it's basically sound:

Bordeaux itself 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 lovely Place du Parliament. 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.

:
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.

StCirq -- excellent post. I could not agree more.

Obviously Bordeaux is not Paris but it does have charms that Paris does not. As StCirq points out, Bordeaux is really an 18th century city -- compared to Paris which is largely 19th century.

The Tourist office is a wonderful resource and the folks there are friendly. The office runs several trips to wine country. I've done one of these bus tours and it was fun and worthwhile. They also do a cheese and wine tasting at a local restaurant which was also fun.

It is true that Bx doesn't attract many American tourists tho there is a large and thriving British and Irish ex-pat community there.

No I didnt stay near the station - which would've been worse. It didnt appeal to me but of course as with anywhere there will always be people who will sing the praises of any place. In any case hope you enjoy your trip jjtravel!

So true - as is the opposite. With any place you will find those who are never satisfied. I met a couple the other day who said they didn't like Florence!

Hi Jeff,

We drove into Bordeaux once and had a very hard time finding our hotel, the Tulip Inn. It would be better to get your car as you leave Bordeaux in my opinion! The hotel was great once we arrived, but I have no idea the cost now. We stopped at another hotel in town to get directions, and they had rooms available for a reasonable cost. This was in the summer, and rooms were easily available in a walk in basis.

As for the French and Spanish Basque area, you'll love it! We just returned from this area 3 weeks ago and it was stunning. We rented a gite for the week, near Espelette, which is in a beautiful, large rolling green hill area.

Must sees: The hill towns of La Bastide Clairence, Espelette, the red pepper village, Ainhoa, cute shops, great cemetary and church, Sare, la Rhune RR, Ascain.

Take the road D918 to St. Jean Pied de Port, great Monday morning market here, over the Pyrenees, through Roncesvalles, the road changes to N135 in Spain, and you'll see walkers, and bikers along the road. Very pretty, and it arrives in Pamplona where you can see the running of the bulls streets. The best pastries of our trip were bought here also! Enjoy pintxos in Spain too!

San Sebastian is known for excellent pintxos but we liked them even better in Hondarribia. Don't miss this darling town just over the border in Spain from Hendaye.

If you drive from Hondarribia to San Sebastian, follow this tip. We received it from a shop owner in Hondarribia and it was a beautiful drive!

Leaving Hondarribia follow signs to Lezo - Jaizquibel - guadalupe. You may have to ask someone for the right road to find this sign on. If you follow this road, you'll drive along the coastline, not inland, so you'll view the sea all along. You'll also pass the st. de Guadalupe church, a good place to stop and hike up the hill! We saw alot of tour de france names painted on the road here. Once the road ends and you need to turn to the right or to the left, turn LEFT. Don't go into Pasaia. We did and it's a very tight fit, driving even a small car. It was a big mistake! Turn left and you'll drive into San Sebastian. Park at the Kursaal Center's underground lot.

Don't miss St.Jean de Luz, with a wonderful sandy beach and town square with cafes. Lots of great shops and a fantastic Friday morning market here.

Biarritz has a great beach also, very pretty to view even if you don't want to spend time at it.

Bayonne has a wonderful Basque museum, don't miss this. Great chocolate shops also. I bought an excellent cherry Gateau Basque at a shop named Mauriac in town here. It's located on the same street, as the famous chocolate shops, just a few doors down. On the outskirts of Bayonne is a huge, public, free parking area. Park here and walk into town.

We also went to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim museum. We only visited the outside and enjoyed seeing it. Parking was difficult though. It's a very pretty drive over the mountain from France into Spain and the weather was totally different in France, than in Bilbao. Bilbao was rainy and chilly and France was very warm, within 2 hours.

You'll have a fantastic time! Enjoy the excellent dining in this area also!

Thanks to all of you for your great feedback. The info you provided makes it so much easier for us to plan our stay. Our trip is coming up soon and we are getting very excited about the prospect of exploring this corner of France.

Jeff

Hi Jeff. I'm an American who has been living in Bordeaux for a year (after almost 25 years in Paris) and I love it. Definitely stay in the old city center, which is picturesque and filled with pedestrians-only streets. Favorite things: strolling around the Place St Pierre, Place du Parlement and Place Camille Julien, all in the old city center; walking along the quais from the Pont de Pierre to the northern end of the quais where old wine hangars have been converted into restaurants; seeing a film in a converted romanesque church on Place Camille Julien; eating at Au Bonheur du Palais (74, Rue Paul Louis Lande, 33000 Bordeaux, France - 05 56 94 38 63), a family-run Chinese restaurant considered to be one of the best Chinese restaurants in France (and the wine list is spectacular); checking out the fabulous flea market on Sunday morning on the Place St. Michel (old part of town); walking along the beaches near the town of Cap Ferret (about 1 hour west of Bordeaux), especially a hidden-away beach called "Le Truc Vert" near the village of Claouey; having oysters in the tiny village of L'Herbe near Cap Ferret; tasting wine at Blaye, a wine village on the north bank of the Gironde river, around an hour's drive north of Bordeaux, where the wine is very good and a bargain (unusual in the Bordeaux area)and there's a great view of the river from the fortress in the town; touring St Emilion, touristy but gorgeous, esp the time of year you'll be there. Hotels in Bordeaux: there's a big construction project underway next to Eche-Ona (a Best Western hotel), so it might not be very quiet. Another good choice (much cheaper, too) is Une Chambre en Ville (check web site in English, a bed-and-breakfast on a pretty pedestrians-only shopping street). Enjoy!