I know that Bordeaux is a UNESCO world heritage site and have viewed some videos on Youtube.
How many days would you suggest staying there?
IN April, I will be flying into Paris, staying a day, and then taking the train down. (I'm thinking of spending a week at Plum Village, where the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has his base).
1 day and a half.
I went here last January
https://www.laciteduvin.com/fr
Would you believe that Rick does not include Bordeaux in his France guidebook?
I would imagine some here would disagree with the Master on that one.
Or did I just miss it?
Two nights would give you about 1 full day. A quick search of this site indicates many here, who include Bordeaux in their trip, seem to give it 2 to 3 nights. And some French wine fans give it more days than that.
"Would you believe that Rick does not include Bordeaux in his France guidebook?" I believe that Rick says Bordeaux referring to the city is French for boring.
1992 we stopped there overnight on our way from Paris to Spain. We did a wine tour, which was terrible if you wanted to actually taste wine and had been on tours in Napa Valley and other non-France wine areas. If you want to be on buses and look at vineyards of famous wineries, it was amazing. Yeah, Rick was right about Boring. I don't regret it because it was fine and on the way to where we were going, but I'm not going back without a reason (like some fabulous hotel or spa or event, or they brought their wine tours up to standard). Maybe it's completely changed since 1992, which does happen in the larger cities of Europe, but then you need to ask what you're looking for. Maybe they have something new and fantastic--Europe isn't all history after all.
I actually thought of spending up to a week there, as I am not a fan of big cities (London, Paris, New York, etc.), and it seemed like a medium-sized city with a more relaxed atmosphere but plenty of it (atmosphere). I'm not much of a wine connoisseur. Just looking for a place to relax. I don't find Paris very relaxing at all...
I will be visiting Bordeaux next year for the first time. Sight unseen, I suspect Bordeaux is similar to Bilbao in that it is an industrial city much cleaned-up in recent years. I loved Bilbao. I suspect most of the folks calling Bordeaux dull haven't visited it recently. I look forward to returning hone and telling my hairdresser he is wrong about the city. At least that's what I hope will happen. Full disclosure: Give me a city with attractive architecture and a decent art museum and I'm happy; anything else is gravy.
We rented an apartment there for ten nights and had a good stay. Marché des Capucins is excellent, good regional museum, boat ride, lovely parks, took several wine tours organized by the Tourist Info Office. Tasted a lot of wine. It is designated a city of Art and Culture by UNESCO.
Tourism and recreation infrastructure is so different now everywhere in France that you can't base on others' visits decades ago. Beaune used to be nothing more than the Hospice, but now everyone is directed there because they beefed up infrastructure. Then RS rode a bike through a vineyard, liked it, and now it's the go-to despite having only 2- hours worth of sights.
Edit: for acraven-- Bordeaux wealth wasn't built on industry, but on wine, trade, including the notorious triangular trade. Beautiful buildings of several periods but most known for 18th C.
So, is that a week in Plum Village and a week in the big city of Bordeaux? They're totally different and the monk's retreat is right in the middle of the Dordogne villages that Rick's book does cover. My well-traveled colleague was in Bordeaux about a year ago and thought one day was fine.
Any oenologists here? Or oeno-files?
3 nights/2 days max. 2 nights / 1.5 days is probably enough for most. It's not entirely boring: there are some pretty parts of the city, some good restaurants, and you can have some fun wine-and-cheese tasting if that's your thing. You could also bus over to St. Emilion, as we did, and bike around and do some more wine tasting there.
I went last June during the wine festival.
The place to start is trip advisor (or similar) to review the potential sights. Pick the ones you must see and decide how many days that will take?
For me, I wasn't really interested in anything other than a walk around the old center and riverfront. The cathedral was closed for renovation but some of the old city gates were impressive. Without the festival, one day would have been plenty.
Bordeaux has limited public transportation. They have buses and a couple tram lines. Last June, even during the festival, those stopped running before 9 pm (when most people are finishing their dinner). Be sure to stay in the center or prepare for lots of walking and/or taxi rides.
My husband was in Bordeaux for 2 weeks a few years ago on business. He enjoyed the two wine-tasting tours he did on the weekend. As for the city itself, at first he was enthusiastic and talked about coming back – hey, it's France! Of course he loved the cafés and the food. And there was an interesting wine shop that was in an old building and very vertical – as you walked up the circular staircase the wines on display got more and more expensive. (Ah, here it is – L'Intendant in Bordeaux.) BUT then spring break happened and the streets of Bordeaux were jammed full of young people, and he started noticing parts of the city that were run-down. So he was glad he went, but doesn't feel the need to return with me (especially as I don't drink, haha).
I visited Bordeaux twice but spent all my time in Medoc. If you like left bank Bordeaux, this is a great area to visit.
St. Emilion was a real treasure for visiting wineries, some historic sites in town, and the architecture of this town were great. Stay in town or better stay just outside of town in a small rental and BnB.
Maybe I missed it but no one mentioned Sarlat and the amazing La Dordogne area close to Bordeaux?
I mean Bordeaux is alright for a night but rent a car and drive 2.5 hours and you find yourself in one of the most beautiful areas of France, where there is so much to do, see, eat, and drink.
I spent 3 weeks in September in Bordeaux and loved every minute of it. We stayed in the Chartrons neighbourhood in an AirBNB. The neiighbourhood was lovely. A small wine museum, lots of shops and restaurants, some beautiful churches. The city is reasonably compact. From our place we could walk or take the tram to everywhere we wanted to go. We also used the V3 bicycles, which were great. We went to food markets, flea markets, visited all the landmarks. We took two different wine tours into the Medoc through the tourism office and really enjoyed both. One was a harvest tour, so they put us to work, then fed us. We rented a car for a few days and went exploring. St Emillion one day. Then just took a secondary road south. We ended up in Cadillac, which has a Chateau that had been turned into a prison, and is now open to the public. On the way we saw road signs offering fortifications, and towers, so we stopped at a lot of them. I think there is a lot to see in Bordeaux. The architecture is beautiful, I will be going back.
