Will be staying in the Bordeaux and/or St. Emilion area for 6 nights. Any suggestions for chateaux's or BB's. We did want to spend one day visiting wineries and have seen and been quoted by Tour companies on the web (very expensive.) I have been told the best thing to do, is to do this when we are there. We will have a car but thought it would be nice to have a guided tour for a day. Any suggestions on where to stay, and what to see???? <BR> <BR>Thanks, Judy

Judy: <BR>You will need to decide on your location. The driving distance between "Bordeaux" and St. Emillion is significant. As you may know "Bordeaux" is a sizeable region with well over 2,000 wineries. I urgue you to get: Le Vignoble de Bordeaux.(www.vins-bordeaux.fr) It is the best map, appellation areas, brands and growths guide(all VIP for this region)... and gives you all of the information that you WILL need to TRY and book your winery tours. <BR>"Chateaux" in France means wine-farm or estate, closely linked to the idea of growth and not to that of the building. <BR>We had to learn all of this, so I offer it in the spirit of shortening your travel learning curve for France. <BR>We stayed at an Ibis Hotel. I am not a frugal or thrifty traveler as a rule so, when I say Ibis was the best base I come from a very different perspective than some that you are probably going to get advice from on this board. <BR>My DH and I were successful in booking Only ONE tour. Our one "booked" tour was at Chateau Mouton Rothschild. The others were full. We were,despite months of advanced planning and expensive phone calls quite lucky. The French wine tasting/touring is VERY different from USA especially in the region where you are going. Other parts of France for wine tasting are quite laid back from my perspective. <BR>Medoc/Pauillac are other places that you may want to investigate. If you are interested in smaller name "wineries" and just taking in the experience, then your luck will be better and not really needed. We are avid collectors so we initially had some mighty "loafty goals". We had a great time and brought back bags of fantastic wines. <BR>In closing I wanted to add that we TREATED ourselves to dinner at Saint James in Bordeaux. Saint James is one of the top restaurants/dining experiences in the world. I concur. <BR>Glad to offer my experiences and perspectives further, if you wish. <BR> <BR>Happy Travels <BR>Oaktown

Judy: <BR> <BR>When you get to Bordeaux, head to the Maison du Vin or the Tourist Office, both practically side by side on the cours du 30 juillet, near its intersection with the Allées de Tourny in the center of the city. Either place can set you up with tours of all kinds to local wineries.If you want to call ahead, call 011-33-5-56-44-28-41, direct from the US - that's the Tourist Office number). <BR>St-Emilion is about 35 kms due East of Bordeaux, not what I think of as a "significant drive," but rather one I've done on many occasions in 20 to 30 minutes. You just head out over the Pont St-Jean, follow the signs to Floirac, stay on the D936 until you get to Brannes and turn left - it's about 3 miles from the turnoff. <BR>If you want to stay in Bordeaux itself, I can recommend two hotels run by the same family, the Parinauds - one is old-fashioned and very Basque (Hôtel Etche-Ona), and the other is starkly modern (Hôtel Bayonne). Both are just on the edge of the large pedestrian area in the old center of town, both are quiet and good value. You can see them both on this web page <BR> <BR>http://www.bordeaux-hotel.com/es/ <BR> <BR>There is also a huge manor house with a famous restaurant in Pessac, about 9 km west of Bordeaux, La Réserve. It's in the heart of the Graves vineyards, is set on 5 hectares of parkland with a lake, swans, all the trimmings. The owners will organize vineyard tours and wine tastings for you. Rooms are very reasonable - 350-850F. You can reach them at 011-33-5-567-26-58-28. I haven't checked, but there's probably a website. <BR>One advantage to staying at La Réserve would be that you could explore the coast a bit. Arcachon is a handsome town where the Bordeaux wine widows built their mansions. The Dune du Pilat, the largest sand dune in Europe, will knock your socks off. Cap-Ferret is a pleasant spot to hit the beach and eat fresh oysters from the nearby beds. <BR>With 6 days you could certainly venture into the Dordogne a bit, if you wanted to, at least as far as Bergerac and Monbazillac and maybe a stop for a tour of Montaigne's tower at St-Michel. You could do all that in an easy day. A three-hour drive would get you to the heart of the Périgord if you were interested in seeing some cave art or prehistoric sites. Or you could just as easily stay around the vineyards near Bordeaux and explore the coast a bit.

Apprciate the information. <BR>La Reserve was one of the places we are very intersted in staying. Got it off hotelschateaux.com. Actually we like it the best of those we are considering (Chateau Lamothe, Chateau Cordillan-Bages, Hostellerie de Plaisance, Chateau Franc Mayne). <BR> <BR>We are interested in seeing the caves and part of Dordogne and happy to hear we can do this using one base such as Pessac. I thought that by staying in the Bordeaux area we would be too far from the Dordogne and Perigord. <BR> <BR>Would love to tour the Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Maybe we will also be lucky. Will check on the web page suggested. <BR> <BR>Thanks, Judy

Judy: <BR> <BR>If you stay in Pessac or Bordeaux you really will be too far from the Périgord to make a day trip. I was thinking with 6 days maybe you could spare two for the Dordogne. From Pessac, it would be more than three hours, e.g., to Sarlat.

<BR> <BR>Visited St. Emilion a couple of years ago and stayed at Chateau Grand Barrial just outside the town. It is a central location and we drove around for two days looking at and taking photos of vinyards and wineries. It was during picking season, so tours were out of the question but while taking photos, struck up a conversation with one of the vinyard owners and had a ride on one of the tall tractors they use to "pick" the grapes. <BR> <BR>The town is really small with a square with a boulangerie and a food shop where we stocked up on bread, cheese and wine for the day trips, as well as one wine & cheese meal on the patio outside our room with our neighbors who were from Holland. ( The staff turned a blind eye to our bringing in food and wine) <BR> <BR>Loved the Chateau. It has an old part and a new part. We stayed in the new part, but dinner was in the old part and was a real treat. We were there two nights and loved it! <BR> <BR>Website = http://www.grand-barrail.com/default_gb.htm

Since Dordone is too far from Pessac/Bordeaux area for day trips, I am more confused then ever on what to do. (Which is closer to Bordeaux area Perigord or Dordgone?) I am now thinking that I should split up my stay with 3 nights in Bordeaux area and 3 in Dordogne - that 6 days might be too much for Bordeaux. We live in California and have been to Napa many times. I realize the wineries are much different in France and look forward to visiting them but really don't want to spend more than a day doing so. Or, is there an area we could make our base where we could actually do both <BR>(which we would prefer)? <BR> <BR>This is for our 25th Anniversary so want to make this trip extra special (spending first 6 days in Paris). <BR> <BR>Thanks, Judy

judy: <BR> <BR>Didn't mean to be confusing. The Dordogne and Périgord regions are essentially one and the same. I think your idea of splitting the time up 3 days in the area near Pessac and three days in the Dordogne is absolutely perfect, given what you're interest in. Since you aren't committed to spending oodles of time burrowing in fine vineyards of the Bordeaux region, let me suggest the following: Spend three days at La Réserve. From there you can visit Arcachon and the beach areas, hang around central Bordeaux, and take a wine tour or two. After that, travel into the Dordogne, stopping at St-Emilion for the requisite wine fix and château visit, and then on to the Périgord for two days to see caves and châteaux (not wine ones, but Hundred yeas War ones) and bastide towns, etc. If you're leaving out of Bordeaux, all you have to do is allow yourself 3 hours + to get back to the train station or airport. If you need suggestions for places to stay in the Dordogne, let me know.

Judy, <BR> <BR>I have to recommend the Hostellerie de Plaisance in St. Emilion. We've stayed there twice, and I even ran across it in a novel (the character stayed there). At any rate it is next to the Cathedrale, over the Monolithic Church (which was carved out of rock below in I believe 600 - 900 AD. and is where Saint Emilion came to convert the Peagans. They have parking which is great and it is a wondeful base for visiting the rest of the Bordeau area. The other places mentioned above I also think are nice, it depends on whether you want to be in the country or right in the center of a medieval village. I usually prefer the latter but occasionally feel like a stay in a rural setting. <BR> <BR>Good Luck. <BR> <BR>Randy Smith

Randy: <BR> <BR>Did you really feel that the Hostellerie de Plaisance was 1) in a rural setting, 2) worth the price, and 3) really representative of the region? <BR> <BR>I ask because I hear so many people rave about this place, and my personal opinion is that it is the only high-class establishment in town and it gets away with being overpriced because of it. It certainly isn't rural, and the price is about 4 times what one pays for comparable accommodations elsewhere in the Dordogne (outside St-Emilion, or course), but what's the catch? What makes it so special?

Bonsoir, <BR> <BR>I did not mean to imply that I considered it a rural setting. Actually I meant that it was right in town as opposed to some of the other places mentioned. I know it wasn't inexpensive but I thought the setting was spectacular, the restaurant was very good, and again parking is frequently a problem in medieval villages such as St. Emilion, and it is nice to have a place to put the care. I also like the feeling of being right in town, with all of the restaurants and cafes right there. I didn't think the price was unreasonable, however everyone has a different budget. I think we only paid about 900 francs for one of the nicer rooms, but I could be mistaken. It may have been as high as 1200 but I doubt if it was much more, since we rarely spend over $200.00 per night and usually much less. <BR> <BR>Ciao, <BR> <BR>Randall Smith

Randall: <BR> <BR>I'll check on this, but I think they've raised their prices a good bit in the last year. And to my mind, knowing the Dordogne as I do, if you're paying more thanm $200 a room for a double you're being ripped off. I think they're well over $200 a double now - better have darn good mattresses for that price. <BR> <BR>StCirq <BR> <BR>

Hopefully, I will be able to convince my husband to split the time with 3 in Bordeaux or St. Emilion area and 3 in Dordogne. He said he would much prefer to stay in one place as he feels that you almost loose a day checking in and out of hotels. If I am unable to change his mind, would a day trip to Bergerac or Montinac be do able? I looked it up on Mappy and Bergerac was only about 60 miles. Also, is there enough to do for 5 days in the Bordeaux/Pessac area if only spending one day with wine? <BR> <BR>I want to thank everyone for their input it has been very helpful. <BR> <BR>Judy

Judy: <BR> <BR>In all honesty, I think 5 days in Bordeaux/Pessac is a bit much if you're not concentrating on wine. Perhaps you should stay in St-Emilion (The Plaisance does have quite a following but you might check out the Hôtel aux Logis des Remparts and others as well). From there you could visit Bordeaux one day, spend another on wine, and a third on Arcachon, Cap-Ferret, etc. If you didn't want to change to another hotel, you could then explore to the east. Bergerac is not far off (it's a nice place, but limited in appeal for visitors, I think), nor is Monbazillac or Montaigne's towers. Montignac would be a 2.5-hour drive, as would most prehistoric sites, most beautiful villages of the Dordogne, bastide towns, etc., so you'd have to weigh the hassle of changing hotels against the hassle of needing to do a lot of driving every day to get to the best sights.