Bordeaux 4 Day Itinerary
Bordeaux: 4-Day Itinerary
Getting From the Airport
Bordeaux-Merignac Airport (BOD) is 12 kilometres west of the city centre. Tram A runs to the city in around 40 minutes for €1.70 per single ticket, stopping at key points including Palais de Justice and Sainte-Catherine. From December 2025, the new Tram Line F offers a direct connection to Gare Saint-Jean (the main train station) via the city centre in approximately 45 minutes. The 30’Direct shuttle bus to Gare Saint-Jean costs around €8-10 and takes 30 minutes. Taxis run €30-45 during the day, €40-50 at night. Uber is also available from the airport and typically costs €25-40 depending on timing and traffic.
The TGV from Paris Montparnasse takes around 2 hours and offers competitive prices when booked in advance; arriving at Gare Saint-Jean puts you in the south of the city with tram connections throughout the centre.
Day 1: Historic Centre and the Waterfront
Morning
Start at the Miroir d’Eau (Water Mirror) on the Place de la Bourse. The shallow reflecting pool, 45 metres wide and 3,450 square metres in area, alternates between mist cycles and still water. It was installed in 2006 and immediately became the most photographed thing in the city, possibly in southwest France. The Place de la Bourse behind it, completed in 1755, was designed for Louis XV before being finished under Louis XVI; the king it was built for was dead by the time the building was done. That detail is typical of Bordeaux, a city that spent most of the 18th century accumulating wealth from Atlantic trade and spending it on stone.
Walk north along the Quai des Chartrons, the neighbourhood where the wine merchants (negociants) built their warehouses and townhouses in the 18th century. The Chartrons is now a mix of antique dealers, small wine shops, and independent cafes with a distinctly non-tourist feel on weekday mornings.
Afternoon
The Cathedrale Saint-Andre (Place Pey-Berland, free entry) is a Gothic cathedral with a detached bell tower, the Tour Pey-Berland, from which you can climb for views across the city (entry around €6). The cathedral’s nave is 15th-century Gothic; the choir is older. Eleanor of Aquitaine was married here in 1137, to Louis VII of France; she later divorced him and married Henry II of England, which is how Bordeaux and its wine trade became entangled with England for the following three centuries.
Explore the Saint Pierre district behind the cathedral: a grid of narrow streets with medieval street plans, Renaissance hotels particuliers (townhouses), and a high concentration of small independent restaurants. At around 5pm the streets between the cathedral and the Marche des Grands Hommes start filling up with an aperitif crowd.
Evening
Rue Notre-Dame in the Chartrons has a good concentration of wine bars. Bar a Vin (3 Cours du 30 Juillet, run by the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux) is the reference choice if you want a structured introduction to Bordeaux wine styles with access to well over 100 wines by the glass at reasonable prices. Budget €5-10 per glass for something serious.
Dinner at Le Bouchon Bordelais (17 Rue Ausone) or one of the similar small restaurants in the Saint Pierre area. The local dish to order is entrecote a la bordelaise: grilled ribeye with bone marrow and a red wine sauce. Caneles (small fluted cakes with a rum-and-vanilla custard interior and a caramelized exterior) are the specific Bordeaux pastry to seek out for dessert. The best come from specialist boulangeries rather than tourist shops.
Day 2: Cite du Vin and the Bassins a Flot
Morning
Book your Cite du Vin ticket online in advance (laciteduvin.com, entry around €21-27 depending on the package). The building, a curving structure designed by XTU architects on the banks of the Garonne, opened in 2016 and houses a permanent exhibition on wine culture across global civilizations. It is interactive rather than scholarly, which suits some visitors and alienates others, but the quality of the production is high and the breadth of coverage unusual. Budget 2-3 hours for the full exhibition.
The ticket includes a glass of wine at the 8th-floor Belvedere, with views across the Garonne, the port, and the city. Choose the wine carefully: the list at the Belvedere is international, and ordering something Bordeaux-specific here while looking out over the Gironde vineyards in the distance makes a kind of sense.
Afternoon
The Bassins a Flot neighbourhood directly around the Cite du Vin is a former industrial port district that has been partially redeveloped. Darwin Ecosystem (87 Quai des Queyries, on the opposite bank) is a converted barracks turned creative hub with a skate park, urban farm, local artisan shops, and weekend markets. Worth the tram ride (Tram C to Jardin Botanique stop, then a short walk to the bridge) for an afternoon that has nothing to do with wine tourism.
Evening
Return to the left bank and eat in the Sainte-Croix neighbourhood around the church of the same name. The streets here, particularly around Place Canteloup, have a higher density of independently-owned wine bars and small restaurants than most tourist routes reach. Fredon (10 Rue des Bahutiers) is a natural wine bar with a well-curated list and good charcuterie. Magasin General (87 Quai des Queyries) is worth trying if you are happy to cross back to the right bank.
Day 3: Medoc Wine Country
The Medoc peninsula stretches north from Bordeaux along the left bank of the Gironde estuary for about 80 kilometres. This is where the first-growth chateaux (Margaux, Latour, Lafite-Rothschild, Mouton-Rothschild) are concentrated, and where the Route des Chateaux runs through villages of no particular interest beyond their proximity to famous wine estates.
Getting There
A car is the practical choice: rent from the city centre or airport. Driving time to the main Medoc appellations (Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac) is 45-70 minutes. The Bordeaux tourist office also runs group wine tours to the Medoc every Tuesday and Saturday for under €50 per person, typically visiting two chateaux with cellar tours and guided tastings; this is sensible if you do not want to drive or find a designated driver among your group.
What to Expect From Chateau Visits
The famous first-growth estates (Margaux, Latour, Lafite, Mouton-Rothschild, Haut-Brion) are generally open by appointment only, and primarily to professionals and trade buyers rather than individual tourists. Attempting to walk in is a wasted trip. Book months in advance if a specific famous estate is important to you.
The more accessible option, and genuinely satisfying, is to visit two or three second- or third-growth estates that have invested in visitor infrastructure. Chateau du Taillan is the closest to Bordeaux with visitor-friendly tours. Chateau Pichon Baron and Chateau Lynch-Bages in Pauillac both offer properly managed tastings for individual visitors. The tasting notes and context from a knowledgeable estate guide consistently outperform a self-guided tour of a more famous label.
The Medoc landscape is not dramatic: flat, agricultural, the vines at ground level. What makes the drive worthwhile is the density of winemaking history and the specific soil types (the gravelly soils of the Haut-Medoc that drain almost too well, producing the stress conditions that concentrate the grapes) that become visible once you know what you are looking at.
Lunch
The village of Pauillac has restaurants around the port, including Cafe Lavinal (Place Desquet), which is part-owned by the Lynch-Bages estate and serves good regional food at mid-range prices. Alternatively, pick up bread, cheese, and a bottle from a village shop and eat in the vineyard if the weather permits.
Return and Evening
Return to Bordeaux by early evening. A lighter dinner after a day of wine tasting: Marche des Capucins (Place des Capucins, best on Sunday mornings but open through the week) for cheese, oysters from the Arcachon Basin, and charcuterie to assemble at your accommodation, or a simple wine bar meal.
Day 4: Markets, Quiet Sights, and Departure
Morning: Marche des Capucins
The covered market at Place des Capucins has been in continuous operation since the 17th century. It opens early and runs through lunchtime. Stalls sell Arcachon oysters, regional cheeses including Ossau-Iraty from the Basque Country, market vegetables, charcuterie, and flowers. Several small bars inside the market serve oysters and white wine at 9am, which is a specifically Bordeaux experience and one of the better arguments for the city’s way of life.
Jardin Public
A five-minute walk north of the Chartrons, the Jardin Public is a formal 18th-century garden with a small natural history museum (Musee d’Histoire Naturelle, free), a children’s botanical garden, and a lake with ducks. It is primarily used by locals and is notably quieter than any place of comparable quality in a larger tourist city.
Saint-Michel Neighbourhood
The area around the Basilique Saint-Michel, in the south of the old city, is Bordeaux’s most demographically diverse neighbourhood and the one most frequently described by long-term residents as the most authentically Bordelais. The antique and brocante shops around the bell tower (La Fleche de Saint-Michel) are worth browsing. The bell tower (separate from the basilica) can be climbed for a different view of the city.
Departure
Gare Saint-Jean for TGV departures or tram/shuttle for the airport. If leaving by air, allow 30-40 minutes for the tram plus check-in time; the shuttle bus is faster but less frequent.
Where to Stay
Chartrons neighbourhood: Quiet, close to the wine-trade heritage, good access to trams and the riverfront. Mid-range hotels and good B&B options. Rates around €100-160 per night.
Saint Pierre / Cathedral area: Central to the main monuments, walkable to most of day 1’s programme. Higher tourist density but very convenient. Similar price range.
Near Gare Saint-Jean: Less charming but practical for early departures and TGV arrivals. Lower price points.
Hotels worth noting: La Maison Bord’eaux (113 Rue du Dr Albert Barraud) is a small boutique hotel in a 19th-century townhouse. Hotel de Tourny (Place de Tourny) is a mid-range option in a good central location. Budget travellers should check the independently-run guesthouses in the Chartrons area, which tend to offer better quality for the price than chain hotels.
Practical Notes
Bordeaux’s tram network (Lines A, B, C, D, and the new F) covers the city adequately. A 24-hour or 48-hour multi-trip card from the Tbc network is good value for extended use. The city is also notable for cycling infrastructure; bikes are useful for the flat riverfront areas and the Chartrons.
The local canele is best eaten fresh, within a few hours of baking. Supermarket versions packaged in plastic are technically caneles but bear the same relationship to the real thing as supermarket croissants. Buy from a dedicated patisserie (Baillardran has several city-centre locations; Lemoine is the specialist preferred by pastry professionals) on the day.
Bordeaux wine shops (caves) in the Chartrons area will ship bottles internationally. If you plan to buy seriously, check the regulations for importing wine into your home country before committing to large quantities. Most reputable shops deal with this regularly and can advise.
The question of which Bordeaux wine to buy as a souvenir has a straightforward answer that many visitors miss: the famous labels are expensive and require years of cellaring to drink well. A serious Cru Bourgeois or a right-bank Saint-Emilion from a recent good vintage (2019 and 2020 are both strong) at €20-35 per bottle is more immediately drinkable and more interesting than a mid-range example of a famous label at the same price.