Bordeaux spent most of the twentieth century black. The eighteenth century limestone facades that make the centre a UNESCO site were coated in two hundred years of soot, and the city had a reputation as a closed provincial place that people passed through. From the late 1990s it was cleaned, the riverfront warehouses came down, a tram system went in, and the Place de la Bourse got a miroir d'eau, a thin sheet of water on granite that reflects the whole facade and periodically turns to mist.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, Roman Trail earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.
The result is one of the most walkable large cities in France, with the largest UNESCO listed urban area in the world after Venice, and around 110,000 hectares of vineyard beginning within sight of the suburbs. Saint-Emilion is forty minutes east, the Medoc chateaux run north along the estuary, and an hour west the Atlantic arrives with Europe's largest coastal sand dune and some of the best surf in France.
What Makes Bordeaux Different to Pack For
An oceanic climate, mild and wet
Bordeaux is close enough to the Atlantic to be moderated by it: summers of 26°C to 30°C with occasional heat waves past 38°C, winters of 6°C to 12°C that rarely freeze hard, and rain spread through the year with autumn and winter the wettest. It is greener and damper than the postcards suggest.
A merino wool base layer for women covers the damp winter cold, which is the sort that gets into you, and the cool evenings of spring and autumn.
The tasting problem
The whole point of being here involves alcohol, and the vineyards are spread across a large rural area on roads shared with tractors. France's limit is 0.5 grams per litre, 0.2 for drivers with less than three years' experience, and enforcement is routine.
The answer is to not drive: the train to Saint-Emilion, organised minibus tours, the river boats, or a driver. This is the single most useful practical decision for a Bordeaux trip.
Limestone paving, and a lot of walking
The centre is large, flat and pedestrianised in long stretches, paved in stone worn smooth. Rue Sainte-Catherine alone runs more than a kilometre. Expect to walk a great deal and to find it slippery in rain.
The coast is an hour away and it is serious ocean
Arcachon and the Atlantic beaches have powerful surf, strong rip currents and cold water, and the Dune du Pilat is 100 metres of sand you climb in the sun.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Bordeaux Packing List
Footwear
Comfortable flat shoes with grip, and expect to walk ten kilometres a day without trying. The limestone is slick when wet.
Closed shoes for the vineyards and the cellars, where the ground is gravel and the cellar floors are wet stone, and most chateaux will expect them. For the Dune du Pilat, the Medoc coastal paths or the Landes forest, waterproof hiking shoes are right, though the dune itself is easier barefoot on the sand and impossible in sandals on the wooden staircase.
Clothing
Layers with a waterproof outer, in every season. Bordeaux is a stylish city and dresses better than most French provincial capitals; the wine trade is old money and the better restaurants and the grander chateaux lean smart.
For a chateau visit, smart casual is right: no beachwear, closed shoes, and something you would wear to a good lunch. Covered shoulders and knees for the cathedral and the Basilica of Saint-Michel.
For rain
A packable rain jacket, genuinely useful here in most months. An umbrella works in the city, which is sheltered, and is useless on the coast.
For sun
A wide brim sun hat, high factor sunscreen and sunglasses. The dune and the vineyards have no shade at all, and a summer afternoon on either is punishing.
For the coast
Swimming things and a windproof. The Atlantic here runs about 18°C to 21°C at best. A shorty wetsuit if you intend to surf or spend real time in the water.
Practical
Cards work everywhere. Space in your luggage and, if you plan to buy seriously, a wine shipping arrangement or a padded bottle bag, plus an awareness of your airline's checked allowance and your home country's duty limits. The tram is cheap and covers the city well.
What to Wear at Key Sites
Place de la Bourse and the miroir d'eau
An eighteenth century square facing the Garonne, with the world's largest reflecting pool laid in granite in front of it, which floods to a couple of centimetres, drains, and produces a mist.
Practically: the mirror runs on a cycle and is drained in winter and for maintenance, so check before building an evening around it. When it is working, children run in it and so do adults, and the granite is extremely slippery. Best at dusk.
La Cite du Vin
A building shaped like wine swirling in a glass, holding a museum of wine as a global cultural phenomenon rather than a Bordeaux showroom, with a tasting at the top.
Practically: indoors, excellent, and a good three hours. The included glass at the belvedere has the view over the city. Reachable by tram.
Saint-Emilion
A medieval village of limestone above a valley of vineyards, with an enormous monolithic church carved down into the rock beneath the main square, and one of the two most famous appellations in Bordeaux.
Practically: the train from Bordeaux takes forty minutes and drops you a walk from the village, which is the sensible way. The monolithic church can only be seen on a guided tour booked at the tourist office and it is genuinely remarkable. The streets are steep limestone setts, polished and slippery.
The Medoc and the chateaux
North along the left bank of the estuary: Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac, Saint-Estephe, with the grand crus classes of the 1855 classification.
Practically: almost all require an appointment, often weeks ahead, and the famous first growths book out months in advance and charge accordingly. The smaller properties are cheaper, friendlier and frequently more interesting. Do not drive. The cellars are cold, around 12°C to 14°C, so take a layer even in August.
The Dune du Pilat
The largest sand dune in Europe, about 100 metres high and three kilometres long, on the coast near Arcachon, migrating inland by a few metres a year and slowly burying the forest behind it.
Practically: there is a wooden staircase in summer and loose sand the rest of the year, and climbing it in heat is harder than it looks. No shade. The seaward face is steep and people are injured running down it. Sand gets into everything, so a bag that closes.
Arcachon and the oysters
A belle epoque resort on a tidal bay that produces a large share of France's oysters, with a Ville d'Hiver of nineteenth century villas up the hill.
Practically: an hour by train. The bay is shallow and warm compared with the open Atlantic beaches outside it, which have real surf and rips. Oysters are eaten at the huts on the water.
What Not to Bring
Leave the plan to drive between tastings. Leave heels for a city of worn limestone and a kilometre long shopping street.
Leave beachwear for a chateau. Leave the assumption that southwest France is dry, because Bordeaux is wet for much of the year. And leave more suitcase space than you think if you intend to bring wine home.
Essential Resources for Women in Bordeaux
Emergency numbers in France: 112 is the European emergency number and works for everything. 15 reaches the SAMU medical service, 17 the police and 18 the fire service. For an incident on the coast, the maritime rescue service is reached on 196 or through 112.
Tourist support: France has no dedicated tourist police force. A theft requires a plainte filed at a commissariat, which can be pre-registered online at the pre-plainte-en-ligne service, and you need it for insurance and for a replacement passport.
US Consulate: there is no longer a full consulate in Bordeaux. The US Embassy in Paris, 2 avenue Gabriel, telephone +33 1 43 12 22 22, at fr.usembassy.gov, covers the city, with Paris about two hours by TGV, and there is a consular presence in Marseille and Strasbourg. Enrol in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program at step.state.gov before you travel.
Main hospital or clinic: the CHU de Bordeaux operates the Pellegrin and Saint-Andre hospitals with 24 hour urgences departments, and Pellegrin is the regional trauma centre. EU and UK visitors should carry the European Health Insurance Card or the UK Global Health Insurance Card; everyone else needs travel insurance, and check it covers surfing if the coast is on the list.
Official health authority: the French Ministry of Health at sante.gouv.fr, with the regional health agency publishing bathing water quality for the Atlantic beaches and the Arcachon basin, the latter worth checking because shellfish closures do happen.
US State Department travel advisory for France: current advisory level and detail. Read it directly rather than relying on this page.
UK FCDO travel advice for France: entry requirements, safety and health guidance, including the Atlantic beach safety advice, the wildfire warnings that apply to the Landes pine forest south of the city, and the national terrorism threat level.
Official tourism authority: Atout France at france.fr, with the Bordeaux tourist office, which runs the chateau minibus tours and is the easiest way to arrange tastings without a car, and the Gironde departmental service for the dune and the coastal beaches.
Solo women safety assessment: Bordeaux is a safe and easy city for a woman travelling alone, and one of the more pleasant large French cities to do it in: it is flat, walkable, full of students from a very large university, and the centre is busy into the evening without the scale or the tension of Paris or Marseille. Violent crime against visitors is rare, street harassment exists in the ordinary French urban form and is less persistent than in the bigger cities, and eating or drinking alone anywhere, including at a wine bar, is completely unremarkable. Solo wine tasting is normal and you will not be treated oddly for it. Petty theft is the main risk and it is the usual pattern: pickpocketing on the tram, particularly lines B and C at busy times, in the Rue Sainte-Catherine crowds and around Saint-Jean station. Keep a bag closed and in front of you and nothing in a back pocket. The Saint-Michel and Capucins districts are lively, multicultural and perfectly fine by day, with some drug dealing and a rougher feel late at night; the quays south of the centre are quiet after dark. Take a tram or a taxi rather than a long walk alone late. Bicycle theft is common. The genuine hazards are outside the city. The Atlantic coast is powerful and dangerous: rip currents on the Gironde and Landes beaches are strong, water is cold, lifeguard cover is seasonal and zoned, and people drown on this coast every summer, so swim between the flags and treat red as absolute. The Dune du Pilat causes heat exhaustion and injuries from people running down the steep face. And the wine is the quiet one: a full day of tastings is a great deal more alcohol than it feels like at the time, so eat, drink water, and have your transport arranged in advance.
Reading On
Bordeaux is two hours from Paris by TGV and deserves three days, one of them in the vineyards and one on the coast. The France travel guide for women is the parent for the country and the France packing list for women covers a trip across it. North, the Paris travel guide for women covers the capital and the Brittany packing list for women the Breton coast. East, the Annecy packing list for women and the Chamonix travel guide for women cover the Alps, and southeast the Nice travel guide for women covers the Mediterranean. Over the border, the San Sebastian packing list for women and the Bilbao packing list for women are within a few hours and make an easy continuation, with the Douro Valley packing list for women for the other great wine river of the southwest. The travel packing guide for women is the parent for all destinations. For why merino handles damp Atlantic winter cold better than anything else, the best merino wool base layers for women explains the fibre, and the Roman Trail collection is where the tops themselves live.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
