Why Bordeaux is never in places to visit in France?

Rick does not like Bordeaux. Read the start of his third paragraph here.

The good thing is, Rick is pretty upfront about his philosophy and tastes, so you can decide whether to trust him on this for you or not.

The Rick Steves selection process is pretty opaque to me. Sometimes, I'm grateful that he highlights a town or region other guidebooks gloss over, sometimes I wonder why he doesn't cover a certain destination, and in a few instances, I wonder what he was smoking (well, we all know what he was smoking...). So, in a nutshell, you never know. Best to go visit and find out for yourself.

Thank you all. We will be flying to Paris 9/1 for a three week tandem bicycle tour.
We've been thinking of taking the train from CDG direct to Bordeaux. Then, use that as a base for cycling the Dordorgne region, looping back to catch a train to Tours to cycle the Loire Valley. Then train to Lyon to ride around there. Then back to ride around Paris before going home.

Any thoughts, opinions on our thinking is very much appreciated.

Duane and Donna

For a cycling tour, here's what I think. Would you enjoy spending some or all of your first and last day riding though a largely flat region on your way to the Dordogne? What would you stop and see enroute?

Compare that to if you were to start and/or stop your tour in Brive or Les Eyzies or Cahors. Or even Angouleme or Toulouse. (Plan things right and you could even fly into Toulouse at the start of your trip).

Personally I'd rather do that, there's tons of wonderful towns and scenery, neolithic caves, and other attractions there. (The rides might be a bit more challenging though.) But who cares what I'd rather do? It's your trip, have fun.

I've been to Bordeaux and enjoyed my time there but I would follow Adam's advice for your bike trip. Sounds like fun! If you do decide to spend time in Bordeaux, I'd recommend at least a day trip to Arcachon and/or Cap Ferret.

I third that advice. If you want to bike around Dordogne, you should probably stay in Dordogne (Bordeaux is in Gironde). People do bike around the Bordeaux area (obviously if wine tasting is a priority, it's a good pick), but it's not Dordogne.

Duane,

I don't know your bicycle arrangements, but make sure you know what you're getting into. It sounds to me like you're planning a tour on your own, and not an arranged bike tour through a tour operator. (If I'm mistaken, and they handle bike transport, etc., then disregard the rest of this post!) Are you planning to bring your own bike or rent there? Some trains, depending on route/type of train/country, etc., don't allow any bikes or only with advanced reservations for the bikes. Many airlines (according to others' research) no longer accept bicycles as cargo. Over the last few years several posters to this Helpline discovered way into the planning process that things weren't going to go the way they had hoped and planned...I just don't want the same thing to happen to you! Have a great time!

Thanks for your concern Mary. I have extensive experience bicycle touring in North American. I've also thoroughly researched what it takes to tour by tandem in France.

The solution: Co-Motion Co-Pilot tandem. It, along with much of our other stuff, fits into two standard suit cases, and is checked free of charge within the one checked bag per person rule. We'll also have the usual carry-on bags to.

When we arrive, we'll take a train to our first base. We assemble the tandem at the station, leaving our suitcases there until we return. We will ride around for about a week then take a train to our next region. Our current plan is to ride around Loire River, Burgandy and Paris. We may add Dordogne.

We'll be staying in B & B's and Hostels so our baggage will be light.

Back in the summer of 2007, I took the train from CDG to Bordeaux and stayed there for three days (at the Ibis hotel near the train station). Along with wine, my main interest in the city was as a starting point for the Camino de Santiago trek through northern Spain. It certainly wasn't awful - I had a good time there. But it may not be as charming as the average tourist might hope for.

Bordeaux was a jumping-off point for the Camino Frances trail hundreds of years ago, so it has some points of interest for pilgrims (look for the scallop shell motif). Although I didn't get to do a wine tour, I enjoyed walking around the area and sampling the wares of many cafes, restaurants, and bars, shopping in stores, checking out cathedrals, or simply prepping myself for my upcoming 500-mile trek.

In the end, I decided to start at the usual jumping-off point for modern pilgrims, which is the town of St. Jean Pied-de-Port at the foot of the Pyrenees mountains (before spending a day/night there, I stayed in the city of Bayonne for a day/night, and enjoyed it as well). Anyway, I'm not sure if this info will help, but I hope you have a great French bike tour!

Duane,

NEAT-O! I had to check out the website. Now, do those have rearview mirrors so the front pedaler can see the feet of the back pedaler?!?

Thanks for not taking offense at my concern; you're one less little chick this hen has to worry about!

You're trip sounds great; as the others said, there's nothing 'wrong' with Bordeaux; Rick just has to justify room in his guidebooks and he picks Burgandy over Bordeaux as being perhaps more interesting to most tourists (in his opinion).

Have fun planning!

Are you starting in the SW and working your way north to Paris? If so I'd think carefully about where you can fly into. Toulouse or Bordeaux would give you a leg up into the region, much closer than Paris.

If you are starting in Paris, you might consider touring the Loire before the Dordogne, then flying home from Toulouse or Bordeaux.

Mary, my concern is not "whether" she is pedaling. My concern is, is she pedaling too hard and burning herself out to soon. Donna loves to ride.

Regarding flights. We already bought tickets in and out of Paris, and a three in one month France Saver Pass.

But thank you for the suggestions about flying into other cities. We'll keep that in mind the next time we go.

Duane, I'd suggest you inquire at local bike clubs to see if any members have done such a trip and can give you advice. I know of one blog by a guy who's done several bike trips and is now in the process of writing a book about how to do it -- see http://piaw.blogspot.com/ I belong to a recreational bike club in my area and a few years ago (and a few pounds lighter!) I went on a 2-week trip in the French Alps. Lot of fun! It was organized by some of the guys in the club who had gone on a couple of organized cycle tours and knew the area well enough to plan their own. On our trip we arranged with the first hotel we stayed at to hold our luggage until our return for another stay before departing France.

Another thing you can look into is one of the companies that helps you plan a biking trip in Europe; you can work with them to plan an itinerary and services range from helping with the planning to (if you want more assistance) they can also make hotel reservations, etc. Friends have used http://www.ecycletours.com/ and liked them. Another one is http://www.hindrikstours.com/