Luxury hotel holidays to Bordeaux region

The region covered by this page is broad, running from the city of Bordeaux and its vineyards north to Cognac and the Atlantic islands, and each area offers a different kind of stay. Bordeaux itself has been transformed over the past two decades, its stone façades cleaned and its quays restored, and staying in the centre allows you to explore it on foot and visit the vineyards by day; here we offer the Hotel de Sèze, on a leafy boulevard close to the Grand Théâtre, and Le Burdigala, a comfortable hotel in the heart of the city. For clients who prefer to be among the vines, Les Sources de Caudalie, set within the vineyards of Château Smith Haut Lafitte in Pessac-Léognan, combines a vinotherapy spa with Michelin-starred dining, and Le Saint James, a small Relais & Châteaux hotel with a cookery school on the hillside at Bouliac, looks across the vineyards to the city. An hour and a half to the north, Cognac is a quieter, more intimate region of vineyards and riverside towns along the Charente: the Hotel Chais Monnet occupies historic cognac cellars dating from 1838 in the centre of the town, while the Château de Mirambeau, a Relais & Châteaux château-hotel in parkland, makes a peaceful country base between Cognac and the Gironde. Finally, the Île de Ré, linked to La Rochelle by a bridge, offers a relaxed island stay of whitewashed villages, salt marshes and cycle paths, with the Hotel de Toiras on the harbour of Saint-Martin-de-Ré and its sister hotel, the Villa Clarisse, a short walk away. A combination of two of these, such as Bordeaux and the vineyards, or Cognac and the Île de Ré, works particularly well.

Yes, and planning matters here, because most of the great Bordeaux estates receive visitors only by appointment and some only by introduction. The region divides naturally into the Left Bank and the Right Bank. On the Left Bank, the Médoc is home to the communes of Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe and to many of the châteaux ranked in the 1855 classification, producing Cabernet Sauvignon-led wines; south of the city, Pessac-Léognan and the Graves produce both red and dry white wines, and Sauternes and Barsac are the home of the great sweet white wines. On the Right Bank, Saint-Émilion and Pomerol are Merlot country, with smaller estates and a more intimate scale. We arrange private visits to classified growths and family châteaux, tastings with a specialist guide who can explain the differences between appellations and vintages, and itineraries that balance famous names with smaller estates whose wines are less widely known. We recommend no more than two or three visits a day, with a driver for days spent tasting. In Cognac, the great houses such as Hennessy, Rémy Martin and Martell offer tours of their cellars, and we can also arrange visits to small family producers who distil and age their own cognac and make Pineau des Charentes. The cellars of Cognac are recognisable by the dark fungus on their walls, nourished by the evaporating spirit known as the angels’ share. For clients who want to go further, our cookery holiday at Le Saint James and vinotherapy spa holiday at Les Sources de Caudalie add a different dimension

Bordeaux is above all an eighteenth-century city, and much of its historic centre, the Port of the Moon, curving along the Garonne, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007, the largest urban area to be listed. The Place de la Bourse, reflected in the Miroir d’Eau, the wide shallow pool on the quays opposite, the Grand Théâtre, completed in 1780, and the long sweep of classical façades along the river are best seen on foot, and the restored quays, cleaned stone and tram network make the city easy and pleasant to explore. The Chartrons district, once the quarter of the wine merchants, is now known for its antique shops, restaurants and markets, and the Cité du Vin, opened in 2016, offers an imaginative introduction to the wines of the world. Bordeaux also has the Gothic cathedral of Saint-André, the basilica of Saint-Michel, and the Bassins des Lumières, an immersive digital art centre housed in a former wartime submarine base. Saint-Émilion, under an hour east of the city, is a medieval village of honey-coloured stone set among the vineyards, and its whole wine-growing jurisdiction has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999; its monolithic church, carved out of the limestone hillside, is among the largest of its kind in Europe. To the west, the Arcachon Bay, with its oyster villages, Cap Ferret and the Dune du Pilat, the highest sand dune in Europe, makes a contrasting day out, and the Île de Ré’s fortified harbour of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, built by Vauban, forms part of another UNESCO listing. We can arrange private guides in Bordeaux and Saint-Émilion and plan touring days that combine culture with tastings.

Bordeaux is easily reached from Britain, by air and particularly by rail. Since the opening of the high-speed line in 2017, TGV services from Paris Montparnasse reach Bordeaux in a little over two hours, so with Eurostar from London the whole journey can be made comfortably in a day, and our rail-drive holidays combine the train with a hire car collected in Bordeaux for touring. La Rochelle, for the Île de Ré, is also reached directly by TGV from Paris. Bordeaux airport has direct flights from London and several UK regional airports, and La Rochelle has some seasonal services. For clients who prefer to drive, a ferry to Normandy or Brittany shortens the journey considerably, and from Calais we recommend an overnight stop each way, for example in the Loire Valley. In the city, a car is unnecessary, but for the vineyards, Cognac and the coast a hire car or a private driver gives the greatest freedom. The region combines naturally with its neighbours. The Dordogne is around two hours east, and a combination of Bordeaux’s vineyards with the castles and river valleys of the Dordogne is one of our most popular touring holidays. The Loire Valley lies to the north, the Basque Country around two and a half hours south, and Carcassonne, Albi and the Tarn to the south-east. The Île de Ré and Cognac also combine well with the Dordogne for a holiday that moves from the Atlantic coast inland. We will advise on the combination and pace that suit the length of your holiday.

The region has a mild Atlantic climate, with warm summers and generally mild winters, and each season has something particular to offer. April to June is a particularly good time: the vineyards are coming into leaf, the city is lively but not crowded and the coast is green and quiet, although early April brings the en primeur week, when the wine trade descends on the châteaux and visits for private clients can be harder to arrange. Bordeaux Fête le Vin, held on the quays in June every other year, is a popular celebration of the region’s wines. July and August are warm and settled, the best time for the Île de Ré and the Arcachon Bay, though the islands and beaches are busy with French holidaymakers and need to be booked well in advance. The harvest takes place from September into October, the most atmospheric time in the vineyards, but many châteaux receive fewer visitors during the picking, so wine-focused holidays are often best timed just before or after it; September is also an ideal month on the coast, with warm sea and fewer people. In Cognac, the distillation season runs from November to the end of March, and visiting while the copper stills are working adds a real dimension to a stay. Winter is quiet in the countryside and some smaller hotels close for a period, but Bordeaux makes a rewarding city break at any time of year, with its restaurants, wine bars and cultural life continuing unchanged. We will always advise on timing in relation to your interests and the hotels you are considering.