moosey

Hello all,

Long time no post - have sadly not done a ton of traveling recently.

I will be running the Marathon du Medoc in early September. I fly into Paris and plan to take the train to Bordeaux, where I will rent a car. I am staying in Civrac en Medoc for a few days - this will be a short trip! - then taking the train back to Paris.

Any advice on things to do in Bordeaux given my very short time there? I really only have Thursday afternoon, Friday, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday.

The marathon starts and finishes in Pauillac and runs through the first growth chateaux.

I am into wine and food, scenery, nature, cool old buildings, and just wandering around little towns. I saw a couple of threads that mentioned trip reports but have not been able to find them, oddly.

Thanks!

bilboburgler

yikes, the run should be fun. Well you are going to Pauillac anyway, the towns on the beach front to your west are all interesting but not especially so. St Emmillion is across the river, Bergerac is way away. That really leaves Bordeaux itself.

BritishCaicos

I have a house just outside Saint Emilion.

There’s no Grand Canyon or Angkor Wat but the Gironde is currently one of the best areas in the world to simply hang out and relax. Bordeaux has so many good restaurants and a huge shopping centre, thé Cité Du Vin has interesting architecture but is t really worth the expensive entrance fee.

Cap Ferret is on the coast and an absolutely stunning, up market area - reminds me of Cape Cod. It has a huge number lf casual beach restaurants offering some of the best sea food in the world. On the other side of Arcachon bay is Pyla sand dune which is the largest in Europe and a taxing hike possibly difficult after a marathon.

There’s a lovely short sorry trip across the Gironde from Labarde near Margaux , from here you can avoid the traffic and drive over to Saint Emilion. There’s lots of restaurants here but the view from La Terrasse Rouge is great (over some of the best vineyards in the world, the food is OK. Our favourite is Chateaux Candale which produces good reds and has a very good restaurant with views of the vineyards.

Hire a bike and have a leisurely cycle round the vineyards in Saint Emilion - it isn’t demanding physically but the back roads lead you the amazing architecture of the Chateaux.

There’s an excellent FB group called Découvrir La Gironde et Son Estuaire which gives excellent routes round the countryside.

Cool building and nature - the old observatory near Andernos is being restored , you can park here to accèss the huge system of paths which wind through the marsh land.

There’s not much around Paulliac other than the vineyards - I love some of the smaller Chateaux near Saint Estephe which produce very deep and robust reds. Phelan Segour is a monumental property which offers pre arranged tours - really friendly people , very definitely local aristocracy from an interesting Irish decent.

Just be aware that time planning is very necessary with a car. Bordeaux wine as a brand has rocketed in price over the past 40 years , combined with the TGV connection to Paris - the local economy is booming - the new tram system is great but the road system isn’t. Driving in rush hour can add 2 hours onto your journey times - google maps is just a sea of red. Ironically driving into Bordeaux offers you some of the most reasonable parking of any city - the underground car park at the side of Place de la Bourse is very reasonable.

Investigate vineyard openings during the marathon period, I seem to remember some open their door once a year for the event.

and don’t try to keep up with the locals who are renowned for completing the course and taking wine at each vineyard they pass !!!

Michael

With a car you could also visit the Bassin d'Arcachon:

https://flic.kr/p/a73KYk https://flic.kr/p/a73LTe https://flic.kr/p/a76FBC

moosey

Thank you so much for all of the great ideas! This all sounds great. I might just print this out and make it my guidebook!