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Astuces Voyage Bordeaux

A few useful hints for planning your trip to Bordeaux:

Contact the Bordeaux Tourist Office and get the tourist guide to the city, and a city map.

www.bordeaux-tourisme.com

For information on the Gironde département, the Comité Départemental du Tourisme (Département Tourism Committee) will provide with its « Carnet de Voyage » (Travel Notebook), which includes information on the vineyards, the Atlantic coast, the Arcachon Basin, the Libournais region, the Haute Garonne département, “Entre Deux Mers” (wine-growing area between the Garonne and Dordogne rivers), and much more.

www.tourisme-gironde.fr

The tourist guides will give you practical information to help in organising your stay: Le guide du Routard, Lonely Planet, Le Petit Futé etc.

There are many titles to help wine-lovers discover the riches of our region through the wine routes, including Voyages au pays des vins (Trip to Wine Country) from the Gironde Tourist Office, and vineyard maps from the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (Bordeaux Inter-professional Wine Council)

The bus and tram networks will take you to all four corners of Bordeaux. Stops are less than two minutes on foot from your accommodation in Le Village du Lac, and they will take you right into the city centre.

www.infotbc.com

Within a 50km radius: Vineyards and Châteaux

Le Village du Lac is ideal for exploring the length and breadth of the most prestigious vineyards in the world.

Wine is an integral part of the history of Bordeaux – for nearly two thousand years, vineyards have influenced the design of the city, and moulded the landscape and the wine routes of the Bordeaux region.

Bordeaux is at the centre of the largest (122,000 hectares) and oldest area of vineyards producing fine wines in the world. Among them are the famous appellations of Médoc, Pessac Léognan, Saint-Emilion, Lalande de Pomerol...

The area also has more than 8,000 wine-producing chateaux, 10,000 wine-growers, 60 wine co-operatives, 400 trading companies, etc.

Explore the wine route, and discover the landscapes shaped by the cultivation of vines, the buildings and the famous chateaux: Ausone, Pétrus, Cheval Blanc, among others.

Taste the most prestigious wines in the world: Yquem, Mouton Rothschild, Haut Brion, Saint-Emilion, and so on.

Adapt your route according to your own tastes.

Within a 50km radius of Le Village du Lac4-star Bordeaux campsite, you will find the château routes, from Sauternes to Graves, from Entre Deux Mers to Côtes de Blaye.

Follow the route of the Medoc appellation as far as Pauillac, exploring the famous châteaux classified as Grand Crus, such as Margaux, Kirwan, and Pichon Longueville. The Village is right on the edge of the Médoc area, and so you will find the first area of cultivation 6km away.

Follow the Graves route, and stop at the “Les Sources de Caudalie” Vinotherapy centre, next to the famous Chateau Smith-Haut-Lafitte.

In some towns, you can add exploring the wine area’s architectural heritage, for example the unmissable Saint Emilion – 45km from Le Village du Lac, 4-star Bordeaux campsite – a Mediaeval town listed among Unesco’s World Heritage.

Each year, over a weekend, the wine-growers open their doors to you to make their nectar known. The dates for these open-door events is available on request from the Maison du Tourisme de la Gironde (Gironde Tourism Centre).

Half an hour from Le Village du Lac, 4-star Bordeaux campsite, Planète Bordeaux invites young and old alike to explore the wine-producing heritage in an enjoyable, fun way.

There are other activities linked to the cultivation of vines for you to enjoy:

  • discover barrel-making at the Nadalié cooperage,
  • visit the musée du Négoce et du Vin (Museum of Wine and Trade) in Bordeaux,
  • stroll around the Mediaeval town of Saint-Emilion, listed among Unesco’s World Heritage,
  • depending on the seasons, take part in the grape harvest workshops to learn all about the job of being a wine grower,
  • take classes in production, to make your own wine,
  • follow an introduction to tasting, held by the Maison du Vin de Bordeaux (Bordeaux Wine Museum and Information Centre),
  • watch glass-blowing at the Verrerie des vignobles (Vineyards Glass Centre).

For information, contact the Tourist Office