Bordeaux and Arcachon

Summary

April 2018
Ages of children: 3 years and 16 months
We flew to Bordeaux, spent two days in the city and surrounding areas, and two days over on the Atlantic coast

Accommodation

We stayed in an AirBnB studio appartment, about a 15 minute drive south of the city. This worked well for us – there was a bit of outside space, and I could get the car right to the door of the apartment, which was handy considering I was on my own with two children.

Getting into Bordeaux

Trams in Bordeaux

There is a great tram network in Bordeaux which the children loved. We were staying too far out to walk to a tram stop, but there is a really easy park and ride system. The tram map shows the stops that have P+R car parks (watch out for the ones that say abonnés underneath them because they can only be used with a season ticket).
€4.50 for parking and tram journey

Things we did in Bordeaux

  • Wonder round the centre
    I mainly avoided “Europe’s longest shopping street” Rue Ste Catherine, but I guess if you have any interest in shopping, it is probably a good thing. We enjoyed the pretty little streets near Église Saint-Pierre, but much of central Bordeaux is worthy of just enjoying a wander. I find couching activities like this in terms of “Croissant hunts” tends to vastly increase the patience of my daughter…
    1 hour, including eating the Croissant
  • Miroir d’eau (Place de la Bourse)

    Playing in the Miroir d’eau

    This was what made me think of taking the children to Bordeaux in the first place. I was so taken with this when I was last there, and predictably, they absolutely loved it. The full cycle lasts about 15 minutes. First there is about an inch of water, an enormous paddling pool, which creates the magisterial mirror effect, reflecting the buildings around the Place de la Bourse. Next, the water drains and the magical mist arrives. Finally, the mist clears and the water bubbles back up. We were there for about 30 minutes. Obviously they got soaking wet, so I was pleased to have a full set of new clothes for both of them to change into.
    30 minutes, free

  • Walk along the Garonne
    The Garonne is really wide here, and its a really impressive view. We just wondered up on the west bank, north from the Miroir d’eau.
    30 minutes, free
  • Le Jardin Botanique de Bordeaux
    This garden is over on the Rive Droite (East bank), and I think is at the heart of a regeneration project. I’d say that they need one or two more gardeners to keep on top of things – there were areas that were almost going wild. However, it wasn’t busy at all, and my 1 year old enjoyed the freedom that I could give him here. There were a lot of interesting flowers for them to enjoy and there are also raised ponds with water habitats – we saw lots of tadpoles. It’s a linear park, so we took the tram to the Le Jardin Botanique stop, and walked through on our way to the Darwin Eco-système.
    30-40 minutes, free
  • Darwin Eco-système
    This is well worth a visit. It is a former military site that is now pioneering an alternative vision of city life. It calls itself a “full-scale innovation crucible”. The only place I can liken it to is the Bussey Building in Peckham. There is a restaurant  Don’t do what I did and assume that on a week day in term time, it will be easy to get a table without reservation at the Magasin Général (the restaurant there). It was heaving and we had to get a sandwich from the cafe next door, so we missed out. There is a lovely outdoor but roofed area with sofas/pub benches, a coffee/beer bar, and plenty of flat space for children to run around.
    1 1/2 hours, lunch was about €18 for sandwiches, crisps, biscuit and drinks for 2 (my youngest was asleep at this point)
  • Jardin Public
    Lovely gardens very close to the centre, with a lake and pretty bridges going over to a playground in the centre. There are signs up everywhere asking that you don’t feed the ducks which is a shame… but we enjoyed saying hello to them. The playground in the middle has a good range slides and climbing frames suitable for children of all ages. And… there is a merry-go-round.
    1 hour, merry-go-round was €2.50 per ride.
  • Place Des Quinconces 

    We walked through here on a Saturday afternoon. There was an incredible market going on with lots of antiques and interesting items. We enjoyed looking and not touching… My daughter was really taken with the Girondins Monument fountain at the west end – she stared at it for about 15 mintues and still talks about it.
    30 minutes, free

Things we did near to Bordeaux

  • Trip to Saint-Émilion
    OK, so it wasn’t really possible to do a morning of wine tasting, but there are other good reasons for visiting Saint-Émilion. The UNESCO Heritage Jurisdiction here is for the wine landscape, but that includes the monuments, and everyone can enjoy those! They loved the fairy-tale-like architecture – towers and cloisters galore. We parked at the north end of the village, walked past the Mairie, and then up to the bell tower of the Monolithic Church, which they loved. The streets are cobbled and getting a buggy around was hard work, particularly on the very steep street down to the square at the bottom of the church… This was another “croissant hunt”, and we completed the loop via the excellent Boulangerie “Mie And Merlot” at the far south of the village.
    30 minute drive, 2 hours looking around, free (free parking)
  • Day on the beach at Arcachon
    Nearby to Bordeaux is this wonderful seaside resort. Easy to drive there, we took some back roads to enjoy driving through the Landes de Gascogne Regional Natural Park, the most extensive forest in Europe. There is a pretty reasonably-priced underground car park (Parking Municipal du Marché) that seems to go under nearly the whole town! No doubt in the peak of summer parking is trickier, but there was loads of space.The town is very attractive and stocked with fashionable shops, but somehow less pretentious than the French Riviera. The market apparently runs every morning except Monday. There is a covered food section and an open air area too – on our second day here, we enjoyed shopping there for our picnic lunch on the beach. On the first day there, we had lunch at La Pizzeria, which was friendly, very good and reasonably priced (they shared a pizza). There are opportunities to buy good ice creams every 5 metres or so.Gorgeous large sandy beach either side of the Jetée Thiers, and because it is in a protective bay, the waves here are much more like the Mediterranean than the Atlantic. We were very lucky with the weather and went in the water for 30 minutes or so which is pretty good going for April!45 minute drive, 5 hours, parking about €8, lunches €25 (restaurant) and €10 picnic, ice creams €8
  • Dune du Pilat
    We headed here after one morning at the beach in Arcachon – it is very close. Easy parking here, not too expensive. It’s a really striking sight – it looks like a bit of Arabia on the French coast. I wasn’t expecting that we would manage to walk up the dune, but before I knew it, we had walked to the bottom of it, and my daughter was saying she wanted to go up. Actually it really isn’t that hard – they have steps there (not out of season), about 250 of them, so it was like walking up the stairs at home 15 times or something. Obviously I carried the 1 year up. There are amazing views from the top, and my daughter felt a great sense of achievement. It was pretty busy, but the dune is absolutely massive so it doesn’t feel crowded. We decided to try going down the other side of the dune, which looked less steep and I thought it would allow us to avoid using the stairs on the way down. I wish we hadn’t – it quickly became much steeper and we had to walk all the way back up to the top and use the stairs!
    2 hours, including a lot of stopping along the way, plenty of time at the top, parking about €4

Budget £570

Travel to airport: We drove, Meet and Greet at Gatwick £40
Flights: British Airways, return from Gatwick to Bordeaux £155 for 3, including one checked bag
Accommodation: AirBnB, 4 nights, studio appartment £185
Hire car: From Bordeaux Airport £54
Spending money: €150

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