Bordeaux Day Trips

We are hoping to do a day trip to Arcachon and the Dune du Pilat when we are there this fall. You might check into it. Don’t exactly remember, but a little over :50 on the train. Then a healthy walk or there may be a bus to the Dune.

How many days are you in Bordeaux? We had plenty to do over our 2-1/2 days in Bordeaux.

I am not sure I would spend three hours on the train + bus just for a few hours in Bergerac. (Train + bus in May of this year, since there was only bus service from Bordeaux to Libourne where we then transferred to the train for Bergerac; perhaps that was merely a short term construction issue, but that's what we did in May heading out and again in reverse 8 days later on our return, as we then headed north to the Loire.) Never been to Perigeux, but I believe that it is more of a city, not a village.

Restaurant in Bordeaux that I enjoyed ... more than my wife did: Arcada. Some odd sounding food combinations that, to my palate, went well together.

https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/nouvelle-aquitaine/bordeaux/restaurant/arcada

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187079-d17393615-Reviews-Arcada-Bordeaux_Gironde_Nouvelle_Aquitaine.html

I thought Bergerac and Perigueux were more interesting than Agen, but don't take that as a definitive statement--just one person's opinion. I agree that the travel time can be a concern for day trips in that area when they're working on the rail lines and you have buses in the mix. That happened to me in 2017. I changed bases a lot in order to avoid super-long day trips.

Another day-trip option is St-Emilion. A lot of folks complain that it's very touristy, but in my experience (2017--late May or early June) only the very lowest level of the town (near the parking lot, where there are several restaurants) was really crowded. The train station is quite a walk from town, but there's a little tourist shuttle that pretends to be a train. It runs from the station all the way up to the top of very hilly St-Emilion. I started at the top and wandered slowly downhill, meeting few other people except at the church. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in St-Emilion even though I have zero interest in wine. I will say that I encountered one very steep street that I wouldn't want to navigate when it is wet. I'm not recommending St-Emilion over Bergerac or m Perigueux, but the travel time might be a lot shorter (or not--I haven't checked).

Are you museum people? If so I would plan for 2 days of sightseeing in Bordeaux. The Museum of the Aquitaine is excellent. I also did their Fine Arts Museum which was good but not excellent. The esplanade along the Garonne I found very interesting with it's banana trees and hibiscus plants, lol!! The cathedral was the site of the marriage of Alienor d'Aquitaine and her 1st husband who became Louis VII although only one wall of the church nave is still from that time.

I enjoyed reading The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick which starts with Alienor being in Bordeaux.

I agree about Agen...you can strike it off your list.
Périgueux and Bergerac are indeed better but still not that exciting in my opinion, so I would focus on areas closer to Bordeaux such as Arcachon and St Emilion.

Thanks so much for your recommendations - we're staying in Bordeaux for 3 nights and based on everyone's input I'm planning to spend the first day and a half exploring Bordeaux and the last day either in Arachon or St -Emilion. I had really hoped to be able to see some of the prehistoric art but will have to save that for the next trip!
Alison