Nicola just lately completed writing the brand new version of Lonely Planet’s Pocket Bordeaux guidebook, which is out in Could 2024. Right here she shares her skilled opinion on day journeys past the town.
The town of Bordeaux does metropolis life and tradition so properly, it’s extremely unlikely you’ll have any want to depart. But its enviable location – on the banks of the coffee-brown Garonne River, a stone’s throw from the Gironde Estuary and Atlantic Coast – is sufficient to pique the curiosity of each city explorer.
After you’ve crossed the town, sampling positive wine and exploring streets and squares threaded with elegant mansions, take into account a close-by tour. Day journeys ship thrilling encounters with distinctive pure landscapes, seashores and go-slow sea adventures – to not point out face-to-face conferences with the gifted makers behind a few of France’s most interesting wine.
Commercial
According to metropolitan Bordeaux’ first ecological dedication, the most effective journeys can all be dealt with by low-carbon trains and bicycles. So what’s the hitch? Discovering time to do all of it.
Listed here are a few of our favourite day journeys from Bordeaux.
1. Savor highly effective reds in St-Émilion
Journey time: 35 minutes by prepare
Older and extra prestigious than some other Bordeaux wine, St-Émilion clarets (because the English have known as Bordeaux crimson wine for the reason that Center Ages) fueled the merrymaking at Eleanor of Aquitaine’s marriage ceremony to future king of England Henry Plantagenet in 1152, and had been the viticultural star of England’s King Edward I’s court docket within the 14th century. Uncover one of many world’s most prestigious reds for your self within the medieval village of St-Émilion, the place AOC St-Émilion wines proceed to be crafted with care, ardour and priceless ancestral savoir-faire.
The village is diminutive in dimension and finest navigated on foot; enable a day to soak up the wine-info middle Maison du Vin de St-Émilion and its enchanting, church-clad streets. Wine aficionados desirous to sip over dinner or get pleasure from a guided tour with tastings of one of many village’s surrounding château wineries ought to in a single day: you may’t go incorrect doing each on the dreamy Château Troplong Mondot, with its trendy eco-winery and Michelin-starred winery restaurant.
get to St-Émilion from Bordeaux: Rely 35 minutes by regional TER prepare from Bordeaux’ Gare St-Jean to St-Émilion’s wee station, a extremely scenic 1 mile (1.7km) stroll previous vineyards from the village correct.
2. Hit the seashore and a abandoned “chicken island” in Arcachon
Journey time: 50 minutes by prepare
Comply with within the Nineteenth-century footsteps of Bordelaise aristocrats to this lovable seaside city on the Atlantic Coast. You received’t discover a longer, wider, softer strip of velvety golden sand for miles, and Arcachon’s 4 romantic quarters, every whimsically named after a season, are an architectural delight. Come lunchtime, feast on contemporary seafood and a view of the large blue at gastronomic Chez Pierre or its cheaper neighboring Café de la Plage (owned by the identical workforce).
Commercial
When the sun-mad seashore crowd will get too frantic, transfer into the gradual lane with a guided kayaking expedition to Île aux Oiseaux. A migratory chicken stopover, this slip of a abandoned island all however disappears at excessive tide. Paddling expeditions run by Arcachon Kayak depart from the pleasure port, a 15-minute stroll east alongside the sand from the city’s foremost seashore.
get to Arcachon from Bordeaux: Regional trains take 50 minutes to trundle southwest from Gare St-Jean to Arcachon on the coast. From Arcachon’s prepare station, it’s a five-minute stroll alongside Ave du Général de Gaulle to the seafront.
3. Sand-hike up Dune du Pilat
Journey time: 90 minutes by prepare and bicycle or bus
Whether or not chilly in winter or as scorching as burning coals within the top of summer time, Europe’s largest dune is finest navigated barefoot. From Easter to October, a staircase – round 150 steps – is constructed on the dune’s jap slope to assist vacationers stagger as much as the highest; at different occasions, anticipate an exhausting hike up shifting sand. Nonetheless you ascend, the seafaring panorama on the high is unmatched.
Dune du Pilat is the indeniable movie star (learn: closely touristed) sight on this stretch of the wave-whipped Atlantic coast. Entry it by bicycle or public transport to cut back the carbon load, and be a part of a guided nature stroll run by the Espace Accueil on the dune entrance to study in regards to the fragility and variety of this susceptible sand mountain.
get to Dune du Pilat from Bordeaux: Take the 50-minute prepare to Arcachon from Bordeaux, then hop on native bus line 3 from the cease in entrance of the station – or stroll 5 minutes to the seafront and lease a bicycle to cycle 35 minutes to the dune, 6.2 miles (10km) south. The trip, primarily alongside a devoted biking path, is perhaps as thrilling as the ultimate vacation spot.
4. Hobnob with oyster farmers on wild and windy Cap Ferret
Journey time: 90 minutes by prepare and boat
On the dock in Cap Ferret, city Bordeaux feels one million miles away. Such is the uncooked, pure fantastic thing about this little-touched cape, the place sandy strolling trails wind by way of dunes and pine forest, and oyster farmers develop silvery mollusks tasting of citrus, vanilla and even roasted hazelnut.
Stepping ashore on the tiny café-framed port, lease a motorcycle at Western Flyer and cycle to 53m(174ft)-tall Phare du Cap Ferret for a chicken’s-eye view of the cape and (at low tide) its offshore oyster beds. Within the ramshackle fishing hamlet of Village Ostréicole du Cap Ferret, a jumble of footpaths created from discarded oyster shells and shacks on stilts, slurp oysters for lunch in a farmer’s yard (La Kabane is a favourite). In Village Ostréicole de l’Herbe, 3.7 miles (6km) north alongside a pine-scented biking path, hook up with oyster farmer Guillaume (tel +33 6 17 08 11 20) for a ship tour of his farm, then stuff your self foolish with oysters at uber-cool bar Hôtel de la Plage.
The feral pull of untamed and windy Cap Ferret is such that you simply may merely not be capable to depart. Fortunately, an in a single day keep at Fifties-California-styled surf lodge Hôtel des Dunes is balm for the soul.
get to Cap Ferret from Bordeaux: It’s the identical 50-minute regional prepare from Bordeaux’ Gare St-Jean to Arcachon, then a 10-minute stroll to the jetty on Arcachon’s seafront, the place UBA shuttle boats sail throughout the bay to Cap Ferret in half-hour.
5. Château-hop in Médoc wine nation
Journey time: 90 minutes by automobile
No wine area in France is full and not using a serving to of châteaux – and the Médoc delivers. Eight appellations come out of what’s thought-about a number of the world’s most interesting wine territory, bolstered by legendary powerhouses with splendiferous châteaux like Mouton Rothschild, Latour and Lafite Rothschild. Tasting or poking round behind the scenes at such top-drawer addresses is simply reserved for VIPs – however motoring previous their lofty silhouettes en path to open-door chateaux like Château Lynches-Bages in Bages or Château La Haye in St-Estèphe contributes to the magic of a Médoc highway journey.
Plan forward by reserving excursions and tastings prematurely on-line; e-book a desk for lunch at wine bistro Café Lavinal in Bages and for dinner on the distinctive chef-owned Nomade in Labarde. At Pauillac’s Maison du Tourisme et du Vin on the waterfront, you may choose up strolling itineraries (guided and DIY) and meet native winegrowers.
get to Médoc from Bordeaux: Given the agricultural nature of this vineyard-stitched space, driving is probably the most sensible choice for navigating ribboning nation lanes and remoted châteaux. A handful of regional trains head from Bordeaux’ Gare St-Jean to Pauillac (75 minutes) hours; from there, bikes might be rented at L’Atelier Vélo by Enjoyable Bike in Bages, 1 mile (1.6km) south.
6. Make a date with market day in Périgueux
Journey time: 90 minutes by prepare
As soon as carried out with Bordeaux’ culinary pleasures, insatiable gourmets can steer their style buds east with a day journey to the Dordogne. Powered by “black diamond” truffles, decadent foie gras and duck in each luxuriant form and kind, that is one in every of France’s foremost culinary areas. Hit its tiny capital, Périgueux, within the morning, when market stalls heaped excessive with contemporary seasonal produce blaze a tantalizing rainbow of coloration and style by way of the warren of old-world streets across the Cathédrale St-Entrance. After your purchasing spree, lunch on magret de canard (slow-cooked duck confit) laced in orange at Hercule Poireau, or maybe pan-fried duck livers at close by L’Épicurien.
get to Périgueux from Bordeaux: Regional trains hyperlink Bordeaux’ Gare St-Jean with Périgueux in 90 minutes.
