Bordeaux or Saint-Emilion?

You have a car stay in St Emillion you can take a train to Bordeaux from there on day trip

Thank you Jazz, I think I will.

If you like French cities, museums, architecture, urban dynamism, people watching, and so forth, I would recommend Bordeaux (but keep in mind they're currently building a new tram line and there are a lot of road closures and detours outside the city center, especially to the west).

If you like smaller, scenic, somewhat touristy medieval towns, Saint-Émilion would be a better choice. One piece of advice we received from a local wine merchant that I'll pass on to you: stay away from the touristy restaurants around Place de l'Église Monolithe. There are better dining options away from that area to the north.

My wife and I just returned from a wine-buying trip to Bordeaux, Médoc, and Saint Émilion last Tuesday. We had a great time, though it was unpleasantly warm, as it is over most of Europe right now. Hope you have a good trip!

Thank you for the tips Bob. I just looked at the weather report for that area and it looks like it is still hot! We’re going next month and hope for cooler tempetures. We just made reservations close to Saint-Emilion, we love smaller towns and scenic cute little villages better than urban. We will definitely do Bordeaux though. And as for restaurants, we always try to find the hole in the wall restaurants where the locals eat. Thanks, again :)

Bob,
I'm interested in hearing more about wine buying in Bordeaux area. We leave at end of August for 2 weeks in Bordeaux and Sarlat area. Thanks.
Bob

If you have a car and it's just for 1 night, I'd recommend staying in St. Emillion. But if it's more than one night, I'd suggest Bordeaux (although the car part is an issue). We spent a few hours in St. Emillion, and I thought that was plenty. But we've made several multi-night visits to Bordeaux.