Bordeaux travel guides – practical and honest

Guides & tips

Plan your trip like a local

Honest answers to the questions travellers ask us most.

The sand ridge of the dune running along the blue water of the bay, with a long sandbank in the distance

Dune du Pilat and Arcachon from Bordeaux: tour or train?

Two small-group tours to the Dune du Pilat and Arcachon compared with going by train: duration, oysters, pickup, what the booking pages say and who it suits.

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A narrow street of pale stone houses leading to the Grosse Cloche, a medieval gate tower with pointed roofs and a bell

Eating your way through Bordeaux: food tours, canelés and the Capucins market

A walking food tour, a cheese and wine tasting in an 18th-century cellar and a Médoc food and wine day compared, plus where to start with canelés and the Capucins market.

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Large projected colours reflected on the dark water of a flooded concrete hall

Rainy day in Bordeaux: five indoor things that are worth the ticket

Bassins des Lumières, Museum of Illusions, the Wine and Trade Museum, the Cité du Vin and the little electric train compared for a wet day: duration, price and who each suits.

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Visitors by a fountain in front of the cream-coloured stone façade of Place de la Bourse, one of them taking a photo

Bordeaux old town: walking tour, bike tour or little train?

Three ways to see Bordeaux's UNESCO old town: the tourist-office walking tour, the little electric train and the bike tour through the old town and Chartrons. Who each suits.

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A guide in an orange T-shirt talking to cyclists with city bikes and a cargo bike in front of the Monument aux Girondins fountain

Bordeaux with kids: what works, from bike rides to dinosaurs

Family options in Bordeaux compared: a bike tour for all ages, the little electric train, dinosaurs at the Bassins des Lumières and the Museum of Illusions, with the age rules each page states.

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The curved, gold-and-silver clad tower of the Cité du Vin rising above a river bank and trees

Is the Cité du Vin worth visiting? Ticket, tasting and how long to allow

What the Cité du Vin ticket includes, how long the visit takes, what the glass of wine on the 8th floor is really like, and who should skip it.

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A white and maroon passenger boat with people on its upper deck on a brown river, in front of a stone arch bridge

Garonne river cruise in Bordeaux: which one should you book?

Four 90-minute Garonne cruises compared: with wine and canelé, guided only, and the electric boat. What each says it includes, where they board and who they suit.

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A small group of visitors standing before a tall black iron gate with gold details, a pale neoclassical château behind it

Médoc and Margaux from Bordeaux: which wine tour to book?

A half-day Margaux tour, the full-day Saint-Émilion and Margaux tour, and a tourist-office bus tour compared, with what the pages say about châteaux, tastings and age limits.

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A guide pouring red wine into a glass for a guest at a wooden table with cheese and bread, beside a carved stone fireplace

Saint-Émilion from Bordeaux: half-day tour, full day, or by train?

Three ways to visit Saint-Émilion from Bordeaux: the half-day tour, the full-day tour with three châteaux, or the train and a château visit on your own.

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A host standing at a curved white tasting table talking to guests, with wine glasses and bottles in front of them

Wine tasting in Bordeaux without a day trip: classes, cheese cellar and museum

Five wine tastings inside Bordeaux compared: two-hour-or-less classes with 3 or 6 wines, a cheese cellar tasting and the wine museum. Lengths, languages and age rules.

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