Why Bordeaux is not described in RS 2019 guide?

I'm not sure that RS ever covers Bordeaux in his guides. He does cover Dordogne. If you are interested in Basque France south of Bordeaux, its in the Spain book.

Why does he only recommend three neighborhoods in Paris?

look at it this way It is naive to ever take something as gospel.

Steves has never suggested that his books are comprehensive. He focus on a few areas and tries to cover it in great detail. He gets to pick and choice. So if you want some other area, select another guide books that covers those areas.

Rick’s original guidebooks all proudly proclaimed, “Don’t be fooled just because my guidebooks are skinnier than others ... my readers like them that way.” His books are getting thicker, though, as he’s added more destinations to his book. But for whatever reason, Bordeaux has never made Rick’s cut as one of the “best” places in France. What a grand and beautiful city, though. And don’t tell the police, but I actually drove the wrong way down an empty street there in 2003 . . . A long story. Oh, and what fabulous wine from that region !

And don’t tell the police, but I actually drove the wrong way down an empty street there in 2003 . . . A long story. Oh, and what fabulous wine from that region

Hmmm, Might there be some 'linkage' involved in those statements?

Rick Steves says - and I agree with him - that Bordeaux must mean "boring" in an ancient language.

I'm hoping Rick Steves keeps saying that until after I get a chance to visit.

joe32F - no, I wasn’t drinking and driving. There was an unexplained traffic jam, we were late picking up my mother at the train station, and an empty one-way street next to the right of the one we were on (not sure why there was an adjacent street, officially going the opposite direction, to the right of the Main Street) would get us out of the jam. So I turned onto the street, without driving up on a sidewalk or around any barricade, drove a block, and got to the train station - no real harm done, but the cops might have disagreed. I’ve probably been in a “9 items or less” checkout lane at the supermarket with a dozen eggs, before, too, so I won’t claim perfect innocence, but I’m more law-abiding than less. And more common sense, too, I hope, then senseless.

Speaking of linkage - any connection between joe32F and the freezing temperature of water? Happy travels, and I hope to get to Bordeaux again.

I can totally agree with Rick leaving Bordeaux out of a guidebook. It was a tight, congested city with not a lot to see or do. However, we spent our time in St. Emillion and loved it. I think you have to be a pretty big fan of wine to get much of of a destination like that though. If you only have a vague interest in wine....you might get bored. It's not terribly convenient to get to either. We enjoyed St. Emillion because we stayed in a nice place, tucked in the vineyards, walking distance from St. Emillion. I had one of the best meals ever there and we took a full day wine tour. Ultimately - it was an unwind destination for us. So if you go into with the right mindset - it is a fabulous destination. But make sure your expectations are realistic.

Thanks to all who responded! I am going there in October sans car and intend to also take day trips to surrounding sights...wish me luck!

I looked at my several-year-old RS France guidebook and noticed the same thing. My husband and I are taking a cruise for our 40th anniversary in October, and there is an overnight stop in Bordeaux. From what I've read from various sources, there are a few interesting things to see there, including the Bordeaux Cathedral; Place de la Bourse with the reflecting pool, the Pey Berland Tower and Basilica of St. Michael. Also planning on going to a laundromat since this stop will be about midpoint of the 14 night cruise. I haven't been there to Bordeaux before, so I am sure we will enjoy it regardless.

benderenns - hope your trip is great! Hope you get in some good excursions. We did have a car, and were actually staying just to the north, in Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, a delightful small town and the birthplace (and burial place) of explorer Jacques Cousteau.

Saint-Emilion was definitely a good visit, too.

The city has spiffed itself up recently, making it the subject of news and travel articles. But a colleague who's well traveled in France visited a year or two ago and wouldn't move the city any further up the priority list for a first or second trip to France. While there are tasting and sales rooms, wine tends not to be made in cities, but in the countryside.

It would not be unusual for Rick would stay in the smaller town and daytrip to the larger one, if it's not a favorite large one, such as stay in Colmar and daytrip to Strasbourg, or stay in Bruges and daytrip to Brussels (or see it en-route between overnight stops).

Like the Italy book, the France book is "maxed out" at 1,200 pages. Note that the Provence and French Riviera book covers additional destinations (but not Bordeaux), and as already noted, the Spain book covers a selection of Basque France. If you'll be based in Bordeaux, consider a Michelin Green Guide to that area.

I spent 3 weeks in Bordeaux in September and loved every minute of it. It is a lovely walkable city. We stayed in the area called Chartrons. No tourists but only a couple kilometers from the attractions. There is a great shopping street, and lots of wine bars. We were there over European Heritage Days, and got a free tour of the opera house. We borrowed bicycles and went across the river to the botanical garden. We took the ferry down the river to Lormont and explored there. no tourists. We spent a full day at the Cite du Vin, the wine museum, which was wonderful. We rented a car and explored on our own, going to Arcachon one day, and across the river and south another day, as well as to St Emilion. We also did a couple full day wine tours, which were very good. I would go back again!

That sounds wonderful....2 weeks for us coming up....thanks for suggested areas to explore!

Hi Benderenns.

My wife and I lived in Bordeaux for six weeks last fall (October was pretty fabulous weather when we were there.
Not sure why Steve's doesn't cover it. It could be a beautiful city, Paris was rebuilt under Napolean using Bordeaux (limestone buildings) for a template. The wine is fabulous and not very expensive. St. Emilion is my favorite area, be sure and take a guided tour there of the church carved out of the rock there. Our biggest problem was the people that live there don't take care of the city. Cigarette butts everywhere, trash in some places (I was surprised at how many homeless were there). But the worse was the crote de chien (dog poop). We couldn't even enjoy the great architecture because we had to watch where we were walking. I wrote a letter to the mayor when we left in November, so hopefully, it's gotten better. The new wine museum was pretty neat architecture, but I was disappointed in the contents. My favorite museum there was the Musee d'Aquitaine (I think museum of natural history).
If you can still make your reservations, I would recommend staying around or north of Rue St. Catherine, a large pedestrian street running east to west. we had never been there and stayed further south and that area wasn't that nice.
We still really enjoyed our trip there, just wish they would clean up the city. The best way to get around besides walking in the tram.
Enjoy your trip and post about it here when you get back.

Rick’s approach is to feature the “best of” places and that approach works OK for me. I have been to Italy several times with his book and not visited all the places it covers. That said, I do my own research and seek out other places that appeal. I would not have missed Tomar and Marvao in Portugal but were not in his 2008 book. Looks like you are using your judgment too, so good!

I've stayed in Bordeaux several times, and really enjoyed it. It's a great city for walking. As far as St. Emilion is concerned, we spent a few hours there, and that was plenty. It's charming, but very touristy.

I enjoyed Bordeaux last June. I was there during the wine festival. There were tall ships along the docks and lots of music groups. Unfortunately the cathedral was closed for renovation but the medieval gates were impressive.

I could see Rick not picking it because of the lack of public transportation. That seems to be a big criteria for the destinations he chooses. Bordeaux has trams and buses but the system doesn't cover everywhere and it shuts down before most people are finished with dinner. If I were advising someone, I'd tell them to be sure to stay walking distance from the center.

My take on Bordeaux, is that it's beautiful to see, to walk around, thanks to the impressively well preserved 18th c. architecture and the recent renovations. But once you've walked around, which doesn't take that long, there's not much left to do.

I do appreciate the wisdom of those who know about an area. I will be on a Uniworld river cruise in early October that begins and ends in Bordeaux, but it appears from the itinerary that except for the last full day, little time is spent in Bordeaux even if the boat sometimes docks there at night. We will be renting a car afterwards for four days in the Dordogne, with Sarlat as a base, driving back to Bordeaux on the day before our flight. From the comments, it seems that this will be plenty of time to see Bordeaux--the excursions to nearby wine areas will be during the cruise part. Does this sound right?

For those who disregard Rick's sagesse and my similar opinion, I do wish to note that I am a former travel consultant for France and Belgium who had quite satisfied clients. I know well which destinations merit your attention and which don't,

And I know which destinations merit my attention and which don't. Bordeaux does.

I spent a few days in this area in late May this year, staying in Rauzan, visiting the village caves etc. We had a day in Bordeaux - there’s enough there to keep you occupied for a day even though we didn’t visit Cite du Vin and the park and ride worked well.

I found that St Emilion was a disappointment - overrun with tourists (more American voices than French) that even on a drab day in May, it was difficult to park and I enjoyed the wine tasting more in Oleron and Saumur.

Lois, I once took the TGV from Paris to Bordeaux, rented a car and drove to the Dordogne. Just by telling the GPS to avoid toll roads we drove through St. Emilion and saw many Chateau with large wine labels on the sides of the buildings. It was a Sunday so traffic was lite. The Dordogne with a car is one amazing thing after another. Rick's book does cover that area well.

Rick leaving out Bordeaux is only one (possibly small) factor in deciding whether you should go to Bordeaux. As has been explained, Rick is deliberately selective, but it's only his judgment call, depends on what's important to you. He'd be almost the first one to tell you that.

Thanks for the feedback. I suspect that there will be evening time to stroll in Bordeaux in addition to the full day--and we will likely arrive back to return our rental car in mid-afternoon of the day before we leave (our last hotel is in town rather than at the airport since our flight isn't terribly early), so we should have time to explore there. For a first visit to the area, the Dordogne sounded more interesting than spending more time in Bordeaux itself, especially since we'll have visited the nearby wineries.

Thanks, Andrew. We're looking for a nice route from Sarlat to Bordeaux, so will check those. We were thinking of having lunch at Le Vieux Logis on the way, unless we do that on Sunday after leaving Bordeaux. But since we'd hoped to get to the prehistory museum in Les Eyzes on Sunday and then get to our hotel in Sarlat, that might be too rushed. I'd heard it was a really good restaurant so wanted to see if I could get there on the way to Sarlat or on the return.

I am late to the thread but i'd like to add my two cents. My wife and I were in Bordeaux for 1.5 days last summer and were left somewhat disappointed. For me, i think part of the problem ironically was that Hausmann used Bordeaux as an inspiration for rebuilding Paris, so Bordeaux looks somewhat similar to Paris but of course it pales in comparison to the city of light. As a result, Bordeaux just didn't have that much to offer me as I didn't find it "unique" (like for example Aix en Provence) and it just made me want to visit Paris again.

The combination of many of the buildings in Bordeaux being very similar to one another and being the same color, and the center of the city lacking much greenery also created a bit of a monotonous feeling. Additionally, while the buildings are in the process of being renovated and clearly a substantial progress has been made there, the process is still far from complete so a large proportion of the buildings are still in run down and dirty condition.

For all those reasons, we just didn't find the city to be all that charming. I am sure once the renovation process is complete it will look significantly better, but we still probably wouldn't crave coming back there other than as a stop on the way to Arcachon, which in contrast to Bordeaux we found absolutely delightful and everything we expected.

Hi from Wisconsin,

Been there, would go again.

If I wrote a guide book to Ireland I would leave out Limerick. Never had a good day while there. I think Rick has had bad experiences in Bordeaux, or he doesn't want to spoil it with too many tourists.

We rented an apartment for five days near the main square and enjoyed ever minute we were there. What a fantastic city. Now it is true, there aren't that many must see buildings. But the city is beautiful. The mass transit is very good. The Saturday morning market is just the right size. The Napoleon Cafe near the TI is an art nouveau beauty. And the food was really great at a reasonable price.

If my memory serves me correctly, Haussmann designed his Paris rebuild on what he say in Bordeaux.

Go there. And continue south into the Basque region of France. The food gets better as you go toward Spain. The landscapes along the Spanish border are so pastoral with scattered villages and country restaurants serve gourmet food.

wayne iNWI