Where to stay in Bordeaux: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

Three grand avenues form the Triangle d’Or, and inside them Bordeaux is on its best behaviour. The columned Grand Théâtre anchors one corner, with the city’s most famous hotel facing it across the square. Around it are the smartest boutiques, the old wine merchants and chocolate shops, and café terraces made for watching well-dressed Bordelais go by.

You can walk everywhere from here: to the Place de la Bourse and its water mirror in a few minutes, to the Esplanade des Quinconces, or down Rue Sainte-Catherine, the long pedestrian shopping street that runs through the old town. Hotels are in elegant 18th-century buildings, from a palatial five-star with a rooftop bar and spa to smaller, characterful four-stars. It is the priciest postcode in town, and the one first-timers should aim for.

Just north of the Golden Triangle, the city relaxes into quiet streets of stone townhouses around the Jardin Public, Bordeaux’s loveliest park, and the vast open Esplanade des Quinconces. Tucked among them are the ruins of the Palais Gallien, a Roman amphitheatre that turns up unannounced at the end of a residential road.

This is boutique-hotel country. Old mansions have been converted into small, discreet places to stay, some with gardens, a terrace or a seasonal pool, and one with a restaurant of some ambition. You are a ten-minute walk from Rue Sainte-Catherine and the Grand Théâtre, with the tram at Quinconces for anything further. Couples after calm and character should look here first.

For three centuries the wine trade ran from Chartrons, its merchants living above their cellars along the quays. The barrels have gone, but the quarter has kept its village feel: Rue Notre-Dame is lined with antique dealers and small restaurants, the covered market hall is ringed with café tables, and on Sundays a food market spreads along the riverfront. Further on are the old wet docks and the swirling Cité du Vin.

Hotels make clever use of the heritage. A former wine warehouse has been reborn as a design-led five-star with a pool and spa, an old merchant’s house has a garden and family rooms, and a striking white boutique hotel faces the river on the quay. The centre is a pleasant walk or a few tram stops away. This is the pick for a second visit, or for anyone who travels to eat.

West of the cathedral and the Pey-Berland tower, Place Gambetta marks the edge of the historic centre, and beyond it lies Mériadeck, a district of offices, a large shopping mall and the city’s administrative buildings. Nobody would call it charming. It is, however, close to everything, well served by trams and noticeably easier on the wallet than the streets around the opera.

Expect larger, modern hotels and apartment-style stays with kitchens, which suit families and longer visits, along with one long-established five-star. The city hall is about five minutes away and the old town’s lanes begin just across the square. A sound choice if you would rather spend on dinner than on the room.

Bordeaux’s main station sits at the southern end of the city, beside the Garonne, in a district that has been thoroughly made over in recent years. High-speed trains from Paris arrive here in about two hours, which makes it the natural landing spot for a weekend. New hotels have gone up around the station, some on the riverbank with a rooftop and views over the water.

The appeal is simple: modern rooms, fair prices and no dragging a suitcase over cobbles. Trams run from the station forecourt into the old town in minutes. It is not the most atmospheric corner of Bordeaux, so plan to spend your evenings in the centre, but for a short stay or an early departure it is hard to fault.

On the northern edge of the city, Bordeaux-Lac is a modern district laid out around a large lake, with the conference and exhibition centres, a casino, the stadium and a big shopping complex. The hotels are resort-style four-stars with outdoor pools, terraces, private car parks and plenty of room, a rare combination this close to a historic centre.

It suits families, drivers on a touring holiday and anyone in town for a match, a concert or a trade fair. The tram takes about fifteen minutes to the centre, and the Médoc vineyards begin just up the road. If you want to step out of the door into old streets and wine bars, though, stay in town.

Bordeaux’s airport is at Mérignac, on the western side of the city, and a cluster of hotels has grown up around it. These are better than the airport-hotel stereotype: several sit in wooded grounds with outdoor pools and terrace restaurants, one has a full spa, and most run a free shuttle to the terminal. The historic centre is about twenty minutes away.

Stay here for a late arrival or an early flight, or if you are hiring a car to head for the Atlantic beaches, which lie in this direction. For a city break proper it is too far out to be worth the saving.

Saint-Émilion is the wine village of your imagination. A tumble of golden limestone houses on a hillside east of Bordeaux, it has a bell tower rising above an underground church hewn from solid rock, cloisters, ramparts and wine shops at every turn, and it is surrounded on all sides by vineyards whose names are spoken with reverence. The whole landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Day-trippers leave by late afternoon, and that is when staying over pays off. In the village are small guesthouses in old stone houses and one very grand hotel with a celebrated restaurant; a few kilometres out, a 19th-century château stands in its own park. Bring flat shoes for the cobbles and a designated driver for the tastings.

Bordeaux’s vineyards start almost at the ring road. To the south, the Pessac-Léognan estates are only about twenty minutes from the city centre; to the north, the Médoc runs up the estuary through Margaux and Pauillac, a flat, gravelly landscape of turreted châteaux and immaculate rows of vines.

A handful of estates and country houses take guests, and they are among the most indulgent places to stay in south-west France. Expect rooms looking over the vines, spas using grape-based treatments, golf at one address, a winery attached to another, and dinner taken very seriously. You will want a car. Come for a night or two of pure pleasure, either side of a stay in the city.