Question 1

Bordeaux on Your Own

Accepted Answer

If your ship berths in the city, Bordeaux is an easy place to explore without a tour, because the old center and the riverside quays are right there. From Pauillac or Le Verdon, reaching Bordeaux on your own means a long transfer, about two hours from Le Verdon, so the ship's transfer or a closer outing is usually the better choice. From the river pontoon: Place des Quinconces is about 15 minutes on foot along the quays, or a short ride on tram B from the Chartrons stop. The tourist office's two walking routes through the UNESCO area start there and take about an hour and an hour and 20 minutes. The tourist office: It is at 12 cours du 30 Juillet, by the Quinconces tram stop, and opens Monday to Saturday from 9:00 to 18:30, and on Sundays and public holidays from 9:30 to 17:00. Along the river: Place de la Bourse, built between 1730 and 1775, faces the Garonne. On the same walking routes, the narrow paved streets around the Église Saint-Pierre make up the old town. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own.

Question 2

Getting Around

Accepted Answer

A single ticket on Bordeaux's trams and buses was €1.90 in October 2026, or €2.10 if bought on the bus, and it covers one hour of travel. The same tickets work on Le Bato, the river shuttle across the Garonne. You can make one or more journeys within that hour. Check fares before you go. Tickets are sold from machines at tram stops, on buses, in the TBM app and at TBM agencies. Tram line F runs to the airport, about 35 minutes from Hôtel de Ville.

Question 3

What to Eat

Accepted Answer

The canelé, a small cake caramelized outside and flavored with vanilla and rum, is the sweet Bordeaux is known for. The savory classics lean on wine, shallots and the river. The canelé recipe is credited to nuns of the Couvent de la Miséricorde. Entrecôte bordelaise is a rib steak grilled over vine cuttings, finished with wine and covered in shallots. Lamprey, a river fish in season mainly in spring, is often slow-cooked in a wine sauce with leeks. Oysters from the Arcachon basin are on many menus.

Question 4

Tipping and Currency

Accepted Answer

In France the service charge is already included in restaurant prices, so you can simply pay the bill as it stands. After good service, many people round up, for example from €47 to €50, or leave a few euros. In a smarter restaurant, around 5 to 10 percent is a kind gesture, not an obligation. France uses the euro.

Question 5

Wine Country

Accepted Answer

The Bordeaux wine region has 57 appellations and about 10,000 wine-producing estates. In the city, the Cité du Vin, a museum and venue devoted to wine, opened in June 2016. After Paris, Bordeaux has more protected buildings than any other French city. A CityPass, sold in adult and junior versions, covers museums, a city tour and unlimited public transport, and includes the Cité du Vin.

Question 6

History

Accepted Answer

Bordeaux has been a river port for more than 2,000 years, and its peak came in the 18th century on the back of the colonial trade, including the trade in enslaved Africans. That wealth built the riverfront that UNESCO listed in 2007. Burdigala: Around 300 BC a Celtic people, the Bituriges Vivisci, founded a settlement here called Burdigala. The English centuries: Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, married Henry Plantagenet, who became King of England months later, and Bordeaux prospered under the English crown from the 12th to the 15th century. French again: France took Bordeaux in 1453, after the Battle of Castillon. The Port of the Moon: The river port took its name from the crescent-shaped bend the Garonne makes through the city. The 18th century: Bordeaux became the busiest port in France, and Place de la Bourse was built along the river between 1730 and 1775. The slave trade: Bordeaux shipowners carried about 150,000 Africans into slavery in some 500 voyages. When Haiti won its independence in 1804, the colonial trade the port depended on collapsed. A wartime refuge: The French government moved to Bordeaux for a time in 1870, again during the First World War, and briefly in 1940. In May and June 1940 the Portuguese consul, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, issued thousands of visas here to refugees fleeing the German occupation. World Heritage: In 2007 UNESCO listed about 40 percent of the city's area, around the Port of the Moon. A bridge that lifts: The Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas, a vertical-lift bridge with a main span of 110 meters, opened in 2013. To learn more ashore: The Musée d'Aquitaine at 20 cours Pasteur, near the cathedral and served by tram B, traces Bordeaux and its region from prehistory to the present, with rooms on the city's part in the slave trade.

Question 7

With Children

Accepted Answer

A family day in Bordeaux can stay close to the Garonne: water to play in at the Miroir d'eau, a science center up the quays and a park a short way inland. The trams make it easy to move between them. Younger children: The Miroir d'eau in front of Place de la Bourse is a granite pool covered by about 2 cm of water, and a mist rises from it every 15 minutes. It is switched off in winter. A park break: The Jardin Public, first laid out in 1746 and reworked as an English-style garden in 1856, is in the center beyond the cours de Verdun. School age: Cap Sciences, the regional science center at Hangar 20 on the quai de Bacalan, puts on exhibitions and workshops for all ages. Teenagers: A ride on Le Bato across the Garonne uses an ordinary tram ticket, and the junior CityPass, for ages 6 to 17, covers museums and transport for a fuller day.

Question 8

Accessibility

Accepted Answer

Bordeaux tram platforms are level with the tram floor, so wheelchair users and people with strollers can roll straight on and off. Ask your cruise line about step-free access at your berth. Every TBM bus has one or two wheelchair spaces, and stops marked as accessible have a raised curb and a ramp for boarding. Tactile strips on the ground guide visually impaired passengers, and ticket machines have a text-to-speech function. Assistance dogs in harness may travel anywhere on the network. TBM staff on the network can give information and accompany you if you need help.

Bordeaux

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