Things to do in Bordeaux | How we spent 36 hours in Bordeaux

Weekend trips are always fun, right?

Our trip to Bordeaux this weekend was no exception. In this post you’ll find some things to do in Bordeaux. Before visiting Bordeaux, I had no expectations for the city, except having a nice couple of days with the girls.

I was blown away and here’s why:

Awesome things to do in Bordeaux France

Bordeaux is seriously charming! It feels like there are cute cafés and cozy restaurants on every corner of the city. That is something that goes directly to a food-lover’s heart, but more about that later!

We arrived around noon. The weather was sunny and not too cold, which made a perfect first impression of the charming city of Bordeaux. We got the biggest tourist map ever and walked from the train station towards the center of the city. The plan was to get some lunch as fast as possible. We had been surprised before by how early the french eat compared to the spaniards!

It is easy to find a nice restaurant in Bordeaux;

We found a super cute place near Basilique Saint-Michel, which I’ll come back to later. The food was amazing and an absolute terrific start to our 36-hour vacation.

While we ate I couldn’t help thinking about how much time (and resources) it must have taken to build and decorate the Basilica in front of the restaurant. Travelling in Spain and France we have seen quite a few churches and cathedrals, but I still think it is amazing how many details there are!

Bordeaux is beautiful to explore by foot

After a nice lunch we were ready for touring Bordeaux. Because we had very short time in the city we took a walk to see all the must-see’s of Bordeaux as fast as possible. There are plenty of things to do in Bordeaux, so it was almost hard to decide where to go.

The following are some things, you can’t miss!

Our walk went past some of the most famous sights of Bordeaux. We saw Porte de Bourgogne, which is an arch that functions as the port to the city, then we saw the Grosse Cloche de Bordeaux, which is a beautiful bell tower. Later we visited Le Miroir d’eau, which is a water-mirror in front of Place de la Bourse. I think the water-mirror is quite cool, especially at night! I could imagine it being super beautiful around sunrise and sunset too. Before we went to our hotel to check in, we walked past Cathédrale Saint-André de Bordeaux, another beautiful cathedral, and Mairie de Bordeaux which is the city hall.

To me the best things to do in Bordeaux is more than just visiting its famous sights,

I think the narrow streets, all the cute squares, cafés, restaurants and parks are much more interesting. I think these places gives you a better feeling of the culture and the atmosphere of the city. I definitely enjoy visiting these kind of places the most. However, I also think you should see the most important sights the city has to offer.

Why you should experience Bordeaux at night

At the hotel we changed into some nicer clothes and got ready to go out for dinner. Then we walked back to the city center. I think Bordeaux is extremely cosy at night and there was a lot of people eating outside even though it was the middle of november. We sat down for drinks at a café before we headed to another restaurant for dinner. In general all food and drinks we had in Bordeaux were really good and it was hard to choose where to go!

A couple of places you shouldn’t miss

Our next day in the city we went to see La Cité du vin and the food market just across the street from it. I found the food market super nice and they had a lot of good stuff, I would say!

Later we took a walk in Jardin Public,

The park is super beautiful and a very calming place to stroll around. We also spend some time shopping at Rue Sainte-Catherine, which is Europe’s longest shopping street. Honestly, it felt like it was going on forever! Of course we also spent some time trying some of the good french food and drinking coffee.

My best food recommendations for Bordeaux

One of my favorite things to do in Bordeaux was eating, as I have already mentioned, you eat really well in the city. So here are a few places we tried and a few thoughts on them.

Le Ginkho

This was the first place we visited. The restaurant serves typical french food. We sat outside and had an amazing view to Basilique Saint-Michel, the waiter was nice and the food and wine was perfect! The place is perfect for people watching and hanging out with friends.

Nom d’Une Crêpe

I’m a sucker for crepes and this creperie was seriously cute! The restaurant is pretty big and their menu too. They have a lot of different kinds of crepes and I was amazed by how crispy they managed to make them. So good!

Echo

The food at Echo was delicious and beautifully presented. They did not have a lot to choose from on the menu, but I would say there would be something for everyone. The restaurant was very pretty and well decorated and the waiter were very good at explaining everything on the menu to us, as none of us speaks french. I would definitely recommend you to go here!

Couleour café

This café has the best waiters ever! We were at the café twice, once for drinks and once for breakfast. We had two different waiters and both of them were super fun and were really nice. Besides of their awesome service they also make really good drinks and breakfast. If I ever go back to Bordeaux I will definitely go here again.

Cilicie le restaurant

Can we talk about how good lebanese food is? Oh my! This place has really, really good lebanese food and is extremely cosy. The restaurant is so small and the tables so close to each other, that it almost feels as if you are eating lunch with all the people, who’s also there. The staff was super nice too!

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