The 7 best experiences in Bordeaux

Nicola recently finished writing the new edition of Lonely Planet's Pocket Bordeaux guidebook, which is out in May 2024. Here she shares her expert opinion on Bordeaux' unmissable things to do.

Be it tales of medieval love and a hundred-year war starring the claret-loving English or beheadings of parliamentary rebels during the Revolution, Bordeaux’ playbook is as rich, intense and Herculean as its eponymous wine known the world over.

France’s sixth-largest city brims with museums, monuments and urban activities designed to thrust visitors hook, line and sinker into the heart of the action. Take time to learn and understand the plot – historical, cultural or epicurean.

Whether you’re in town to explore solo or en duo, with the kids or on a budget, this mesmerizing UNESCO-listed university town and river port in southwest France merits your full attention. These are the best things to do in Bordeaux.

1. Learn the epic story of Bordeaux wine

Bordeaux’ landmark museum La Cité du Vin (City of Wine) is aptly designed like a gigantic wine decanter, glittering in all its curvaceous splendor opposite the city’s industrial wet docks. This is the obvious first port of call to understand the lifeblood of this ancient city where Romans planted vines 2000 years ago.

But save this "Guggenheim of wine" for the second half of the day. Begin your immersive wine experience in the ancient trading district of Chartrons, where 15th-century deckhands rolled oak barrels filled with red wine onto ships bound for England and négociants (merchant traders) had fine mansions built on Cours Xavier Arnozan in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Stroll the ‘hood and don't miss the fascinating Musée du Vin et du Négoce (visits end with wine tasting) and Musée de l’Histoire de Maritime, with its insights into local maritime history.

Local tip: Wine tasting at the Bar à Vins inside the Maison du Vin de Bordeaux is among the most affordable in town. To sample organic, natural wines by brilliant boutique winemakers you've never heard of over dinner, reserve a table at Soif, a bistrot à vins in medieval St-Pierre.

2. Explore the world’s largest urban UNESCO treasure

There is no finer square from which to kick off Bordeaux explorations than Pey Berland, dominated by the city's showpiece Cathédrale St-André ensemble.

Flying buttresses, exquisite stone masonry illustrating biblical tales and a rooftop forest of Flamboyant Gothic towers are architectural highlights of the 13th- to 16th-century cathedral. End on a high with a bird’s eye view of the city’s 18-sq-km (7-sq-mile) UNESCO-listed treasure chest from the cathedral’s freestanding, gargoyle-adorned belfry. Take a deep breath and count 233 steps to the top.

Planning tip: Visiting during the low season brings rewards such as Luminiscence, a captivating son-et-lumière (sound-and-light show) projected on the walls and soaring, 20m-high (66ft-high) vaults inside the cathedral, from mid-October to mid-January. Buy tickets well in advance online.

3. Confront hideous histories at the Musée d’Aquitaine

Spanning Gallo-Roman times to the present day, Bordeaux’ history museum is a captivating waltz through urban history for every age, adult and child alike. But it's not all swashbuckling heroics and viticultural swag.

Allow ample time to digest the chronological exhibits on the 2nd floor, where 18th-century Bordeaux and its pivotal role in the transatlantic trade of enslaved people is brought powerfully to life.

Planning tip: Grab a free, treasure hunt-styled activity booklet for children at the entrance to keep them entertained. Inside the museum, interactive displays – allowing you to touch, smell or study reproductions of historical artifacts close up – are flagged on the floor with an orange circle.

4. Breakfast at the covered food market

Unearth the city’s grassroots soul with a morning mooch and petit dej (continental breakfast) inside Capucins' covered food market. Stalls piled high with fruit, veg, cheese, charcuterie, wine, tripe, fish and flowers fill Marché des Capucins, a modern rendition of a 19th-century, iron-and-glass gallery built on the same spot using cast-offs from Paris' 1878 Universal Exhibition.

The din of hawkers screeching, shoppers in raptures over the season's fresh bounty, and bon vivants having a jolly good time is electrifying. Chez Jean Mi is the go-to stall (with tables) for freshly shucked oysters washed down with white wine…for breakfast, yes.

Local tip: Buy a legendary 1950s Le Puits d'Amour ("Well of Love" choux-pastry tartlet filled with caramelized pastry cream and meringue) from Maison Seguin’s market stall.

5. Embrace flânerie and water frolics in St-Pierre

Aimless meandering – getting lost even – is hands down the most atmospheric way to get your teeth into medieval St-Pierre’s enchanting labyrinth of narrow, pedestrian streets named after candlestick makers, coopers and other craftspeople who plied their trade here in the 13th century.

Admire spectacular stained glass in Église St-Pierre and, on quaint Rue St-James, the hefty 7750kg (17,086lb) Grosse Cloche (Big Bell) hoisted into place by 14 pairs of oxen atop city hall’s gothic belfry in 1775.

Emerge from St-Pierre’s old-world warren on iconic Place de la Bourse, laid out in the 18th century after medieval city walls were razed to open up the historic center to the River Garonne. End with a resplendent, barefoot frolic in the mesmerizing miroir d’eau.

6. Spin along the river on two wheels

Go local and rent two wheels to rove around Bordeaux by bicycle – either a traditional pushbike or e-bike. Wide smooth quays lace the left bank of the opaque, mud-brown River Garonne for 4km (2.5 miles) between the city’s oldest bridge, 17-stone-arched Pont de Pierre and its most modern bridge, Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas (particularly gorgeous at night when illuminated).

Spin past St-Pierre and St-Paul, Chartrons and Bacalan, enjoying these dramatically different neighborhoods from a different perspective.

Zip across the river by La Cité du Vin to the right bank and loop back south along quai de Brazza into La Bastide. Break for garden drinks in summer at Chez Alriq and a seafood lunch or dinner in an old boat hangar riverside at trendy Les Chantiers de la Garonne. For more ambitious cyclists game for a spin further afield, there is no shortage of day trips by bike.

Detour: To plunge deeper into local river life, try your hand at fishing from a carrelet (fishing hut on stilts) at Échappées Nature, a nature center with mountain bike rental and cycling trails, an hour’s drive from Bordeaux on the Gironde Estuary’s right bank.

7. Have a spin at boules on a rooftop bar crawl

Be it sipping a full-bodied red from St-Émilion, a salmon-pink Lillet aperitif on the rocks, an artisan beer brewed at Darwin or a beaker of Cacolac (chocolate milk made in Bordeaux since 1954), the city of Bordeaux has always taken drinking – and what it drinks – extremely seriously.

Hit a traditional bar à vin (wine bar) such as Aux 4 Coins du Vin on St-Pierre’s old-world rue de la Devise to get straight to the heart of the matter, or follow the new wave crowd to a rooftop. Gina, on the 9th floor of Renaissance Bordeaux Hotel overlooking Bacalan’s industrial crane-spangled wet docks, and Merignac’s Canopée Café with a rooftop bodega and traditional gravel boules pitches, are favorites.

Insider tip: If wine isn't your cup of tea, explore the local gin scene instead. Order a Moon Harbour gin, distilled in the bowels of a WWI submarine bunker (guided tours available); or Ahoy Gin, poured from a glass bottle tattooed with funky designs by Bordeaux-born tattoo artist Lil'B.