We will be in Bordeaux for 6 days including the weekend of their marathon. I think we will want to be out of town during that and want to plan day trips. Think Arcachon for one day and Perpignan for their weekend market. I've seen comments about the crowds in St. Emilion so thinking that my plan to go to Libourne and St. Emilion on another day may need to be scrapped. Other options I've been considering are: Angouleme, Poitiers and Agen. I'd appreciate any guidance and opinions from those of you who have been to these to help me decide. Thanks.

Maybe you are already considering the Cap-Ferret peninsula and Dune de Pilat as part of your Arcachon day, but if not, they are both worth seeing. I think the other places I would consider might be Bayonne and Biarritz and maybe even as far south as San Sebastian, Spain. Perpignan for a weekend market seems like a long way-over 4 hours driving one way. I would be more likely to go to the Atlantic coast versus the Mediterranean. La Rochelle for instance is only 2 hours or so.

Thanks for your quick reply. Sorry, I meant Perigueux not Perpignon. Former also has a nice market though. I will definitely give Cap Ferret a look. We will be in La Rochelle for 3 days on the same trip and doing some day trips from there as well. Will be in Bayonne and Biarritz on an upcoming trip but nice to have your recs for them also. Thanks.

Oh yes Perigueux makes much more sense! Also I meant to mention that from Bordeaux it is sometimes easier to take a day tour out to the St. Emilion area if you actually want to drink since then you don't have to worry about driving and parking etc. There are a number of tours many of which leave near the main tourist office (we fondly refer to them as the drunk buses when we pass them).

Also another thing that I haven't done but looks fun is a river wine cruise in Bordeaux itself with a wine expert and then a visit to the cite du vin

https://bordeaux-river-cruise.com/di...ion-1561127400

Another kind of cute town known for surfing is Hossegor

And here is a fairly recent NY Times article about Cap Ferret

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/t...ret-guide.html

If you have a car, do a tour of the Romanesque churches in the Charente and Charente maritime: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjoSHwbz

Arcachon and Cap-Ferret and the Dune du Pylat for sure (though all of that in one day could be a bit much).

Périgueux for sure. The market is wonderful and the Gallo-Roman sites like Vessuna are top-notch..

Poitiers makes for a wonderful visit. Agen has kind of a hidden charm, so you need to do your research. Libourne and Angoulème seriously need charm facelifts, so I wouldn't bother. Bordeaux is an absolutely marvelous city these days - no need to focus on how to get out of it, even on marathon day.

I think it's no secret here how much I loathe St-Emilion, but Bergerac is a vibrant and evocative place, as are many of the small vineyards that surround it. The Chateau de Monbazillac is worth a visit, and take a boat trip down the Dordogne from Bergerac.

Yes, Arcachon and the Dune du Pilat (alternate spelling) are musts as far as I'm concerned.

Sorry to be so late in responding. Was on a lovely driving trip in Northern Spain (evading the horrible heat in the rest of the country) and just returned. Thank you so much for your suggestions and critiques. With your help I'm feeling very confident that we can spend our time in Bordeaux to advantage--both in the city and on days trips out of it. Appreciate the intel.

I enjoyed a day trip to the following when I was in Bordeaux. Both easily in the same day.

Château de la Brède | Home - Château de la Brède

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande-Sauve_Abbey

Thanks for the additional info. We enjoy moated castles very much and it appears that Brede is accessible by train from Bordeaux so we will definitely try to give it a go.

Hi Julie,
I hope you enjoyed your time in Biarritz and Bayonne. Our paths may have crossed there! I left a message for you on your other thread about doing Arcachon and Cap Ferrat on the same day. I agree with St Cirq that doing the Dune de Pilat/Arcachon/Cap Ferrat in one day may be too much. Without a car, the Dune de Pilat is easy. Just take the bus that departs from Arcachon's Gare. Here's the schedule:
ligne-1.pdf

Hi Maribel, Sorry to be inattentive to this thread and sorrier still if I missed an opportunity to meet you in person during our time in Basque Country. We did enjoy our time in Biarritz though I admit it is not my favorite place in that area (St. Jean de Luz wins every time for me) and sad to say we missed Bayonne--the city was so torn up we just kept on going since it looked almost impossible to get through either by car or on foot. So we can use that as our reason to revisit one of our favorite places in Europe.

Thanks for the very useful info on bus travel to Dune de Pilat from Arcachon. Should simplify things immensely. Really looking forward to this trip.

Hi Julie,
I'm so sorry that our paths might have crossed in Biarritz or St-Jean-de-Luz without being able to meet! We would have enjoyed your company very much over a drink or a meal.
Bayonne is still undergoing a huge amount of construction with the building of the tram that will run from Bayonne to Anglet to Biarritz and the revitalization of the St Esprit quarter. Wait to return to Bayonne when the huge Musée Bonnat-Helleu renovation is finally finished and the tram running, which should be some time next year, I hope! And plan on a dinner at the wonderful La Table Sébastien Gravé there on the quai. The chef (of Pottoka in Paris' 7th) provided us one of our very best celebratory meals in the Basque Country to date.

Hi Maribel,
We seem to have bad luck with tram construction. The first time we were in Bordeaux we saw very little of the city because it was torn up due to tram construction, now the same problem caused us to miss Bayonne. I need to do better research and possibly do searches specifically on issues like construction planned or in progress. Do hope to return to Basque country soon. It's absolutely one of our favorite destinations.
Thanks for all your great help--on this and all things Spain--and now France.

And Bayonne won't even have a real tram but a tram-bus, so I don't understand why it causes so much disruption although of course they do have to build official stations along the way. The last time I was in the Biarritz-Bayonne area, it was Biarritz that was completely torn up for this project. It will be great when it is finished, but I will have a certain nostalgia for the wonderful BAB (Biarritz-Anglet-Bayonne) bus which only costs one euro for the entire length. It will be a shame if they raise the fare when it is replaced by the tram-bus.