Busabout Adventures

The city centre lies between place Gambetta and the tidal, 350m- to 500m-wide Garonne. From place Gambetta, place de Tourny is 500m northeast, and the tourist office is 400m to the east.

The train station, Gare St-Jean, is in a seedy area about 3km southeast of the city centre. Cours de la Marne stretches from the train station to place de la Victoire, which is linked to place de la Comédie by the long and straight pedestrianised shopping street, rue Ste-Catherine.

The sights mentioned below appear pretty much from north to south.

Entrepôts Lainé was built in 1824 as a warehouse for the rare and exotic products­ of France’s colonies (such as coffee, cocoa, peanuts and vanilla). Its capacious spaces now house the Musée d’Art Contemporain (Museum of Contemporary Art; CAPC; (05 56 00 81 50; Entrepôt 7, rue Ferrére; h11am-6pm Tue & Thu-Sun, 11am-8pm Wed). Most of the exhibits that the museum hosts are temporary, presenting major artistic movements over the last 30 years.

The beautifully landscaped Jardin Public (cours de Verdun), established in 1755 and laid out in the English style a century later, includes the meticulously catalogued Jardin Botanique ((05 56 52 18 77; admission free; h8.30am-6pm), founded in 1629 and at its present site since 1855; and the nearby Musée d’Histoire Naturelle (Natural History Museum; (05 56 48 29 86; h11am-6pm Mon & Wed-Fri, 2-6pm Sat & Sun). There’s a children’s playground on the island.

The most prominent feature of esplanade des Quinconces, a square laid out in 1820, is the fountain monument to the Giron­dins, a group of bourgeois National Assembly deputies during the French Revolution, 22 of whom were executed in 1793 after being convicted of counter-Revolutionary activities.

Nowadays, place Gambetta is an island of greenery in the midst of the city centre’s hustle and bustle, but during the Reign of Terror that followed the Revolution, a guillotine placed here severed the heads of 300 alleged counter-Revolutionaries.

The Musée des Beaux-Arts ((05 56 10 20 56; 20 cours d’Albret; h11am-6pm Wed-Mon) occupies two wings of the Hôtel de Ville complex (built in the 1770s); between them is a verdant public park, the Jardin de la Mairie. Founded in 1801, the museum has a large collection of paintings, including Flemish, Dutch and Italian works from the 17th century and a particularly important work by Delacroix.

In 1137 the future King Louis VII married Eleanor of Aquitaine in Cathédrale St-André ((05 56 81 26 25; admission free; h10-11.30am & 2-6.30pm Mon, 7.30-11.30am & 2-6pm Tue-Fri, 9-11.30am & 2-7pm Sat, 8am-12.30pm Sun, but 2.30-5.30pm 1st Sun of month), now listed as a Unesco World Heri­tage site. Behind the choir, the 50m-high, 15th-century Tour Pey-Berland has a panoramic view at the top of 232 narrow steps.

The outstanding Musée d’Aquitaine (Museum of Aquitaine; (05 56 01 51 00; 20 cours Pasteur;
h11am-6pm Tue-Sun) presents 25,000 years of Bordeaux’s history and ethnography. Exceptional artefacts include several stone carvings of women and a collection of Gallo-Roman steles, statues and ceramics. A detailed, English-language catalogue is worth borrowing at the ticket counter (€1.50 deposit).

Banks offering currency exchange can be found near the tourist office on cours de l’Intendance, rue de l’Esprit des Lois and cours du Chapeau Rouge.

Main post office (37 rue du Château d’Eau)

NetZone ((05 57 59 01 25; 209 rue Ste-Catherine; per hr €3; h9.30am-midnight) Internet access.

Tourist office ((05 56 00 66 00; www.bordeaux-tourisme.com; 12 cours du 30 Juillet; h9am-7.30pm Mon-Sat Jul & Aug, to 7pm May & Jun, to 7pm Sep & Oct, 9.30am-6.30pm Sun May-Oct, 9am-6.30pm Mon-Sat, 9.45am-4.30pm Sun Nov-Apr) Helpful and well informed, it is right next to the tram stop Comédie.

Cassolette Café ((05 56 92 94 96; www.cassolettecafe.com; 20 place de la Victoire; cassolette (5 choices) €10.50, lunch/dinner menus €8.50/10.50; hnoon-midnight) Extremely popular and great value, you order your menu or the ingredients of your cassolette (casserole cooked on a terracotta plate) using a check-off form.

Le Bistrot d’Édouard ((05 56 81 48 87; 16 place du Parlement; menus €11-20) The great-value three-course menu at €11 keeps this bistrot packed. Outside tables are in a calming spot by the fountain in place du Parlement.

Marché des Capucins (h6am-1pm Tue-Sun) A few blocks east of place de la Victoire is this one-time wholesale market. Nearby rue Élie Gintrec has super-cheap fruit and veggie stalls on weekdays and Saturday until 1pm.

Le Fournil des Capucins (62-64 cours de la Marne) Near place de la Victoire, this bakery never closes.

Bodega Bodega ((05 56 01 24 24; 4 rue des Piliers de Tutelle; hnoon-3.15pm & 7pm-2am Mon-Sat, 7pm-2am Sun) Two floors of tapas, tunes and trendy types; this is the biggest and best Spanish bar in town.

Café Brun ((05 56 52 20 49; 45 rue St-Rémi; h10am-2am) This bar-bistro with a warm atmosphere and cool jazz is great for an apéritif.

Bordeaux has a vibrant nightlife scene; details of events appear in Bordeaux Plus and Clubs & Concerts (French website at www.clubsetconcerts.com), both free and available at the tourist office.

Subtitled films are screened at two art cinemas: Centre Jean Vigo ((05 56 44 35 17; 6 rue Franklin) and the popular, five-screen Cinéma Utopia ((05 56 52 00 03; 3 place Camille Jullian).