Bordeaux Tour Itinerary : 6 Day Tour

Best Adventures in Bordeaux

Detailed Day-by-Day Bordeaux Tour Itinerary

Tours that Don’t Feel Like Tours…

Immerse yourself in southwestern French culture as we share time with local French friends. Our exclusive VIP winery tours and tastings, along with a wine blending workshop, cultural walks, cooking at home class, and an outing on a French pinasse exploring the Arcachon basin, will charm and captivate you as we discover the beauty of this magical region. Explore the cobblestone streets of Saint Emilion and the charm of Bordeaux, celebrate exceptional moments together, and savor Grand Cru wines and masterfully prepared Bordelaise cuisine. And all this while staying in one exceptional hotel, where you’ll be pampered and indulged, for our 6 days together in Aquitaine, France…

Day 1 –Bordeaux tour itinerary begins – D

ARRIVAL IN BORDEAUX. Meet and greet by your tour guides at 3 pm at Bordeaux St. Jean Rail Station. We transfer to our boutique hotel in the historic center of Bordeaux – Hotel Indigo Bordeaux – Centre Chartrons. Our boutique hotel serves as our home base for the entire tour (NO Hotel Hopping – Unpack once for the entire tour).

DINNER: Welcome aperitif (cocktail hour) and dinner, a first taste of local “Bordelaise” gourmet cuisine together at one of the best kept secrets in Bordeaux.

Roundtrip transfers on Day 1 and Day 6 of the tour :

TOUR BEGINS:  Group transfer at 3 pm from Bordeaux Saint Jean rail station, Tours, France.

TOUR ENDS:  Group transfer at 10 am to Bordeaux Saint Jean rail station, Tours, France.

Day 2 – Day in Saint Emilion :  Winery tour and tasting plus wine blending workshop – Create your own personalized wine, privately hosted lunch at a winery, guided cultural tour of Saint Emilion village and into the vineyards, leisure time – B, L

BREAKFAST.

Bordeaux Tour Itinerary features a day in SAINT EMILION : Viticulture was introduced to this fertile region of Aquitaine by the Romans, and intensified in the Middle Ages. The Saint Emilion area benefited from its location on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. Many churches, monasteries and hospices were built from the 11th century onwards. It was granted the special status of a “jurisdiction” during the period of English rule in the 12th century. It is an exceptional landscape devoted entirely to wine-growing, with many fine historic monuments, artisan, craft and wine shops and a photogenic pedestrian village to discover.

Today we embark on to discover the historic vineyards of the Saint Emilion jurisdiction discovering cultural highlights of this magical wine growing area and enjoying a winery tour and wine tasting. We’ll also participate in a privately hosted wine blending workshop and you’ll leave with the wine you create.

LUNCH – Privately hosted lunch together at one of our favorite wine producers of Saint Emilion.

AFTERNOON: Following lunch enjoy either free time to explore at your leisure in Saint Emilio village or a guided cultural & historical walk through Saint Emilion village and into the vineyards.

WALKING RATING : For WALKERS: All walking today is rated EASY. Ideal for those who walk on a regular basis. Walking on a defined paths in and outside of the village. Approximately 1 hour of walking with pauses for photo-ops. For NON-WALKERS: Enjoy exploring the boutiques and highlights in the village.

Late afternoon return to our hotel in Bordeaux.

DINNER: Independently in Bordeaux dining at one of the fabulous restaurants in town or along the river bank.

Day 3 – Cooking class at home with friend & chef antoine, sauternes wine school, winery tour & tasting – B, L

BREAKFAST. Morning – fun, hands-on French cooking at home with life long, family friend and renowned chef and cook book author Antoine.

Bordeaux Tour Itinerary features a day in Sauternes. This morning we head to the Sauternes area south of Bordeaux for a full day of foodie experiences! Learn to make French specialties and pastries using an 18th century, historical wood-fired bread oven. Under the guidance of our life long friend Antoine , we’ll prepare a multi-course lunch of “Bordelaise” recipes. Afterwards, enjoy the mid-day “aperitif” also known as pre-lunch cocktails with Antoine and his family followed by a sumptuous gourmet lunch of the recipes that we’ve prepared together during class. We will prepare our recipes using many different cooking mediums including Antoine’s custom-designed outdoor wood-fired baking oven.

LUNCH: A traditional Bordelais lunch with our Chef and his family. Lunch is accompanied by Antoine’s professional selection of classified wines from his private cellar and the vineyards of his local friends.

AFTERNOON – A WINERY TOUR & TASTING OUR SELECT GRAND CRU PRODUCER. Private Winery Tour and wine tasting at the famous French Oenology school (Wine School) in Sauternes; an 1855 classified growth wine producer and teaching school. There is a sunny magic in these bottles, and the more the wine ages, the more golden its appearance and sweeter its flavors. It is wondrous that such prized wine comes from grapes that in any other appellation would be considered only fit for discarding.

LATE AFTERNOON – Enjoy some leisure time on return to the hotel.

DINNER: Independently in Bordeaux this evening.

Day 4 – Arcachon basin, french pinasse cruise to cap ferret, foodie tastings, gourmet lunch overlooking the pilat dune, cultural walk of ville d’hiver – B, L

BREAKFAST.

Bordeaux Tour Itinerary features a DAY IN ARCACHON – Arcachon is a seaside town in south of Bordeaux known for oyster harvesting. Its 4 districts are named after the seasons of the year — The Ville d’Été (summer quarter) is home to shopping streets, the town’s sandy main beach and a casino in the 19th-century Château Deganne. Ville d’Hiver (winter quarter) has extravagant 19th-century villas of spectacular architecture and a unique history.

MORNING: We’ll enjoy a leisure excursion on a French Pinasse along the Arcachon Basin exploring the coast on a guided nature excursion along the Arcachon Basin featuring oyster, charcuterie and cheese tasting with Champagne, followed by a cultural walk of Arcachon and a visit at the Dune de Pilat. The Arcachon Basin vistas and Pilat Dune will leave you speechless!

PILAT DUNE – At its southern entrance from the Atlantic Ocean, Arcachon Bay is crowned by Europe’s largest sand dune that is nearly 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) long, 500 meters (1,600 feet) wide, stands 110 meters (360 feet) in height, and is moving inland at a rate of about 5 meters (16 feet) a year.

At the begining of the 19th century Arcachon was still just a small fishing village. The ville d’été started growing up principally as a place of healing where sick people could take in the sea air as part of their recovery process. From 1860 the Ville d’hiver with improved transport developed train links to Bordeaux and Paris. The sea air and the pine forests were found to as beneficial as the mountain air and as Arcachon is in a bay it is protected from the strong winds of the rest of the Atlantic coast. A group of business men, and in particular the Pereire brothers, and the owners of the railway line between Bordeaux and La Teste came up with the idea of extending the line to Arcachon and developing Arcachon as a winter resort. When Napolean III came to visit, Arcachon’s success was assured. Alexandre Dumas lived in Arcachon for a while and Toulouse-Lautrec had a house on the sea-front.

LUNCH: A gourmet lunch overlooking the coast and the Dune de Pilat!

AFTERNOON – Culturual Walk of Ville d’Hiver followed and leisure time to explore Arcachon.

WALKING RATING : For WALKERS: The afternoon Arcachon cultural walk is rated EASY. Ideal for those who walk on a regular basis. Walking on a defined path in town and through the park. Approximately 1 hour of walking with pauses for photo-ops.

LATE AFTERNOON – Enjoy some leisure time on return to the hotel.

DINNER: Independent dinner this evening.

Day 5 – A Super Fun Surprise Experience in the Graves Appellation this Morning, Afternoon in Bordeaux, Evening  transfer to board our Private Peniche (Barge) for a sunset, cocktail cruise followed by dinner together – B, D

BREAKFAST.

MORNING – We depart for the Graves Appellation for a super fun surprise this morning.

LUNCH: Independently in Bordeaux.

AFTERNOON – At leisure to pursue personal interests and to finish any souvenir shopping.

EVENING & DINNER :  Evening cocktail before celebrating our week together with an exceptional gourmet farewell dinner prepared by one of our favorite chefs of the region.

Day 6 – Bordeaux tour itinerary concludes – B

Tour Conclusion, Group Departure – B

BREAKFAS.

Transfer to St. Jean Rail Station in downtown Bordeaux at 10 am. Earlier and later departures can be organized on request. Please contact us for details.

BORDEAUX Walking :

Designed for the interests of and to appeal to BOTH WALKERS & NON-WALKERS alike — the Active and Occasional Walker and travelers of all ability levels. This tour is not suitable for anyone with mobility issues that would prevent him/her from enjoying daily leisure walking.

(B) = Breakfast Included, (L) = Lunch Included, (D) = Dinner Included