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 – Walking in the vineyards of saint emilion, private wine blending workshop, winery tours & tasting today, privately hosted lunch at a winery, guided cultural tour of Saint Emilion village & 12th century monolithic church – 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.

Embark on guided walk through 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 during our walk. 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 a guided cultural & historical tour of Saint Emilion village & the underground monolithic church.

We’ll also partake in a WINERY TOUR & TASTING at a Classified GROWTH PRODUCER followed by leisure time to explore and discover Saint Emilion, as well as visit local artisan and wine boutiques.

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/bread baking class at home with life long, family friend and renowned chef 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 bread specialties and pastries using an 18th century, historical wood-fired bread oven. Under the guidance of our life long friend, Celebrity Master Chef and Cookbook Author Antoine , we’ll prepare a multi-course meal 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 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 FULL 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!

WALKING RATING : For WALKERS: The Arcachon cultural walk is rated easy. Ideal for those who walk for on a regular basis. Walking on a defined path. The walk distance is 2 miles – approximately 1 hour of walking with pauses for photo-ops. For NON-WALKERS: Shuttle to/from all activities, excursions, meals and visits. Non-walker rating = EASY.

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!

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

before our RETURN TO THE HOTEL.

DINNER: Independent dinner this evening.

Day 5 – Guided cultural discovery walk of bordeaux, sensational history, foodie tastings, Evening tuk-tuk transfer to board our Private Peniche (Barge) for a sunset, cocktail cruise followed by dinner together – B, D

BREAKFAST.

MORNING – Enjoy a city walking tour of the history, monuments, and our favorite artisan food boutiques of Bordeaux. Our walk features savory and sweet foodie tastings throughout this unique and personalized experience. Considered one of the most beautiful cities in France, you’ll learn what makes Bordeaux so magical! We will visit one of the oldest and most famous shops in Bordeaux.

We will learn about the history of the caneles, a traditional signature dessert of the region, and how its creation in Bordeaux is related to wine! Finally we get to taste the famous “la Dune Blanche” which has a surprise story that will be revealed during our walk. Following our walking tour and tasting experiences, set off on your own to enjoy lunch at the waterfront or one of the city’s traditional bistros.

WALKING RATING : For WALKERS and NON-WALKERS: The Bordeaux city cultural and foodie experience walk is rated easy. Ideal for those who walk for on a regular basis. Walking through the city. We spend time at each tasting location, and enjoy pauses for photo-ops.

LUNCH: Independently in Bordeaux.

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

EVENING: We have a surprise means of transportation to reach our private peniche (barge) for our 2-hour evening aperitif (cocktail) cruise on the Garonne River where we’ll enjoy the city sites from the river while toasting to a fun week together.

DINNER:  A gourmet farewell dinner prepared by one of my favorite chefs of the region.

Day 6 – Bordeaux tour itinerary concludes – B

Tour Conclusion, Group Departure – B

BREAKFAST.

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