Things to do in Bordeaux

Bordeaux rebuilt itself in pale limestone through the eighteenth century and has lived off the result since. Nearly half the city carries a UNESCO listing under the name Port of the Moon. The centre is flat and walkable.

What the river bank holds

The centre lines up along a bend of the Garonne.

• Place de la Bourse. The Miroir d'Eau in front of it is a two-centimetre film of water that reflects the whole facade, then drains and comes back as fog.
• The Grand Theatre. Twelve columns at the head of the shopping streets, and a staircase said to have inspired Garnier in Paris.
• Saint-Andre and Pey-Berland. The cathedral, and the fifteenth-century bell tower that stands free beside it rather than on it.
• Chartrons. The old wine merchants' quarter north of the centre, warehouses turned into antique shops.
• La Cite du Vin. The curved glass building further upriver, which is a museum about wine rather than a cellar.

Why the wine is not in the city

Bordeaux is the base, not the destination. Saint-Emilion, the Medoc chateaux and the Graves estates all sit within an hour, and the tastings that matter happen out there. What the city itself offers is walking and eating.

• Guided walks. Routes through the eighteenth-century streets, where the point is who paid for them.
• Food tours. Organic and market-led, usually circling the Marche des Capucins.
• Self-guided quests. Phone-led walks and puzzle routes through the UNESCO centre, a few euros each.
• The quays. Several kilometres of riverfront given over to bicycles and runners.

Practical

• Weather. Atlantic rather than Mediterranean: wet winters, warm summers that rarely turn oppressive. The harvest falls in late September and October, when the countryside looks its best.
• From the airport. Tram A now runs all the way in, about thirty-five minutes to Pey-Berland and every ten minutes on a weekday.
• Money. A glass of decent claret is four or five euros and a set lunch fifteen to twenty. A canele, the fluted rum and vanilla cake, costs small change.
• Tipping. Bills come with service included, so it means leaving the coins.
• Chateau visits. They need booking, often days ahead in autumn, and most estates are shut on Sundays.