Places/France

Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Bordeaux

A pale stone river city that happens to be the capital of a wine region, not a tasting room with streets.

Bordeaux cleaned its stone and became, again, a city people visit for itself. The wine is everywhere and it is optional. You can have an excellent two days without a château.

If the vineyards are the point, sleep in the city and take one organised day, or hire a car and accept that you will not drink. Do not try to do both casually.

See

• The riverfront

  Place de la Bourse and the water mirror in the morning, when it is a square and not a set. Walk north along the Garonne.

• Chartrons

  The old wine-merchant quarter, now the place to eat and to remember the city has a present.

• A market morning

  Marché des Capucins for lunch supplies or lunch itself. Leave with food, not with souvenirs.

• One vineyard, or none

  A single château visit booked ahead, with a driver or a tour that returns you for dinner. Five cellars is a job, not a holiday.