Bordeaux Destination Guide

The City Stopped Being The Part You Drive Through

For most of the last century Bordeaux was a place wine buyers passed through on the way to the vineyards. The buildings were black with soot, the riverfront was a working dock and nobody stayed. From the late 1990s the city cleaned the limestone facades, tore out the quayside sheds, laid a tram network and reopened the waterfront, and the eighteenth century city underneath turned out to be one of the most coherent in France. The historic Port of the Moon is UNESCO listed. The result is a wine trip that now starts with two nights in a city worth two nights, rather than an airport and a car park.

The planning decision: Left Bank, Right Bank, or both

Bordeaux splits along the Gironde and the difference matters for how you spend the days. The Left Bank, running north from the city through Margaux, Saint Julien, Pauillac and Saint Estephe, is gravel soil, Cabernet Sauvignon led wine and the grand nineteenth century estates ranked in the 1855 classification. It is architecturally impressive and organizationally formal. The Right Bank, around Saint Emilion and Pomerol, is clay and limestone, Merlot led, and made up of much smaller properties, many of them family owned, with Saint Emilion itself a medieval hill town you can walk. Pessac Leognan sits on the city's doorstep and is the easiest half day. Sauternes lies south for the sweet wines. Most trips take the Right Bank for atmosphere and the Left Bank for the famous names, and stay in the city or between the two rather than committing to one bank.

Harvest, en primeur and the months that work

May, June, September and October are the strongest months. September and early October are the harvest, and the region is at its most alive then, though it is also when winemakers are least available and some estates close their doors to visitors entirely during the pick, so appointments in that window need confirming rather than assuming. En primeur week in April fills every hotel in the city with the trade and is a period to avoid unless you are part of it. July and August are warm and pleasant, with more of the region on holiday and Arcachon extremely busy. Winter is quiet and grey, and while the city works year round, many chateaux reduce visits between November and March.

Appointments, the city and the coast

The single operational fact about this region is that you cannot turn up. Almost every chateau of note receives visitors by appointment only, many require several weeks of notice, some receive only through the trade or a broker, and weekend availability is limited. A wine trip here booked on arrival will be a disappointing one. In the city itself, the Cite du Vin on the northern quay is a genuinely good museum rather than a marketing exercise, and Bassins des Lumieres, in a Second World War submarine base, is the largest digital art space of its kind. An hour west, Arcachon gives you oyster shacks at Cap Ferret and the Dune du Pilat, the tallest sand dune in Europe, which is worth the drive on its own. The TGV from Paris Montparnasse reaches Bordeaux Saint Jean in a little over two hours, and Merignac airport has European connections.

Stay strategy in the city and the vines

InterContinental Bordeaux Le Grand Hotel faces the opera house on the best square in the city and is the classic address. Yndo Hotel is the small design option in a restored townhouse. Le Saint James at Bouliac, on the hill across the river, is a Jean Nouvel building with a view back over the city. Out in the vines, Les Sources de Caudalie at Martillac sits in the Smith Haut Lafitte vineyard with the spa that started the vinotherapy business. Chateau Cordeillan Bages at Pauillac puts you in the middle of the Left Bank with the estates on your doorstep. In Saint Emilion, Hotel de Pavie and Logis de la Cadene are both inside the village.

When to begin

Five to six months for September and October, and earlier if the trip is built around specific first growth or classified estates, since their visitor slots are limited and go to trade and long standing relationships first. April is effectively unavailable during en primeur. Restaurant tables at the small number of destination kitchens in the city and in Saint Emilion should be held at the same time as the appointments, and a driver for the tasting days is not a luxury but the only sensible arrangement.

Four experiences worth building the days around

• A Left Bank morning in Pauillac with two appointments back to back, one large classified estate and one smaller neighbor, to hear both sides of the same soil.
• Saint Emilion on foot, including the monolithic church cut down into the rock beneath the village square, then a tasting at a family property outside the walls.
• The Cite du Vin, which explains what the region is actually doing better than any tasting room will.
• Oysters straight off the beds at Cap Ferret followed by the climb up the Dune du Pilat in the late afternoon.

Who this trip suits

This suits anyone with a serious interest in wine, and it rewards preparation more than almost any destination in France. It suits couples and small groups of friends traveling together, and it works well as a client trip. It sits two hours from Paris by train, which makes a three or four night addition simple.

When another plan may fit better

If you want to drop in on tasting rooms without appointments and drink your way along a road, Napa Valley is built for exactly that and Bordeaux is not. If the scenery is the priority, this is gentle flat country and Tuscany is far more beautiful. And if only one person in the party cares about wine, two nights in the city and a day at Arcachon is the honest version of this trip.

Plan it with one accountable advisor

Tell us your month and which estates matter to you, and we will secure the appointments and the driver first, then place you in the city or the vines around them. Our luxury leisure travel planning handles the Paris legs and the Champagne extension in one itinerary.