The best day trips from Bordeaux

Bordeaux does city life and culture so well that it’s highly unlikely you’ll have any desire to leave. Yet its enviable location – on the banks of the Garonne River, a stone’s throw from the Gironde Estuary and Atlantic coast – should be enough to pique your curiosity about what lies beyond.

After you’ve taken on the city's top activities, sampled fine wine and explored the neighborhood streets and squares threaded with elegant mansions, consider a nearby excursion. Day trips deliver exciting encounters with unique natural landscapes and beaches, not to mention face-to-face meetings with the talented makers behind some of France’s finest wine.

So what’s the hitch? Finding time to do it all. Here are some of our favorite day trips from Bordeaux.

1. Savor powerful reds in St-Émilion

Travel time: 35 minutes
How to travel: by train

Older and more prestigious than any other Bordeaux wine, St-Émilion clarets (as the English have called Bordeaux red wine since the Middle Ages) fueled the merrymaking at Eleanor of Aquitaine’s 1152 wedding to the future king of England Henry Plantagenet and were the viticultural star of England’s King Edward I’s court in the 14th century. Discover one of the world’s most prestigious reds for yourself in the medieval village of St-Émilion, where AOC St-Émilion wines continue to be crafted with care, passion and priceless ancestral savoir faire.

The village is diminutive in size and best navigated on foot; allow a day to take in the info at the Maison du Vin de St-Émilion and the enchanting, church-clad streets. Wine aficionados eager to sip over dinner or take a guided tour with tastings at one of the village’s surrounding châteaux should stay overnight: you can’t go wrong doing both at the dreamy Château Troplong Mondot, with its modern eco-winery and Michelin-starred vineyard restaurant.

How to get to St-Émilion from Bordeaux:

Travel 35 minutes by regional TER train from the Gare St-Jean in Bordeaux to St-Émilion’s wee station, then go on a highly scenic 1.7km walk past vineyards from the village proper.

2. Hit the beach and a deserted island in Arcachon

Travel time: 50 minutes
How to travel: by train

Follow in the 19th-century footsteps of French aristocrats to this lovable seaside town on the Atlantic coast. You won’t find a longer, wider, softer strip of velvety golden sand, and Arcachon’s four romantic quarters, each whimsically named after a season, are an architectural delight. Come lunchtime, feast on fresh seafood and a view of the big blue at gastronomic Chez Pierre or its less-expensive neighboring Café de la Plage (owned by the same team).

When the sun-mad beach crowd gets too frantic, move into the slow lane with a guided kayaking expedition to Île aux Oiseaux. A migratory bird stopover, this slip of a deserted island all but disappears at high tide. Paddling expeditions run by Arcachon Kayak depart from the pleasure port, a 15-minute walk east along the sand from the town’s main beach.

How to get to Arcachon from Bordeaux:

Regional trains take 50 minutes to trundle southwest from Gare St-Jean to Arcachon on the coast. From Arcachon’s train station, it’s a 5-minute walk along Ave du Général de Gaulle to the seafront.

3. Hike up sandy Dune du Pilat

Travel time: 90 minutes
How to travel: by train

Whether in the cold of winter or when the sand is as hot as burning coals in the height of summer, Europe’s largest dune is best navigated barefoot. From Easter to October, a staircase – around 150 steps – is built on the dune’s eastern slope to help visitors stagger to the top. At other times, expect an exhausting hike up shifting sand. However you ascend, the seafaring panorama at the top is unmatched.

Dune du Pilat is the indisputable celebrity (meaning heavily touristed) sight on this stretch of the wave-whipped Atlantic coast. Access it by bicycle or public transportation to reduce your carbon load, and join a guided nature walk run by the Espace Accueil at the dune's entrance to learn about the fragility and diversity of this vulnerable sand mountain.

How to get to Dune du Pilat from Bordeaux:

Take a 50-minute train to Arcachon from Bordeaux, then hop on local bus line 3 from the stop in front of the station – or walk 5 minutes to the seafront and rent a bicycle, then cycle to the dune, 10km south. The ride, mainly along a dedicated cycling path, might be as thrilling as the final destination.

4. Hobnob with oyster farmers on wild and windy Cap Ferret

Travel time: 90 minutes
How to travel: by train and boat

At the dock in Cap Ferret, urban Bordeaux feels a million miles away. Such is the raw, natural beauty of this little-touched cape, where sandy walking trails wind through dunes and pine forest, and oyster farmers grow silvery mollusks tasting of citrus, vanilla and even roasted hazelnut.

After stepping ashore at the tiny cafe-framed port, rent a bike at Western Flyer and cycle to the 53m-tall Phare du Cap Ferret for a bird’s-eye view of the cape and (at low tide) its offshore oyster beds. In the ramshackle fishing hamlet of Village Ostréicole du Cap Ferret, find a jumble of footpaths made from discarded oyster shells and shacks on stilts, then slurp oysters for lunch in a farmer’s backyard. In Village Ostréicole de l’Herbe, 6km north along a pine-scented cycling path, hook up with oyster farmer Guillaume (call +33 6 17 08 11 20) for a boat tour of his farm, then stuff yourself silly with oysters at ubercool bar Hôtel de la Plage.

The feral pull of wild and windy Cap Ferret is such that you simply might not be able to leave. Luckily, an overnight stay at 1950s-California-styled surf lodge Hôtel des Dunes is balm for the soul.

How to get to Cap Ferret from Bordeaux:

It’s the same 50-minute regional train from Gare St-Jean to Arcachon, then a 10-minute walk to the jetty on Arcachon’s seafront, where UBA shuttle boats sail across the bay to Cap Ferret in 30 minutes.

5. Château hop in Médoc wine country

Travel time: 90 minutes
How to travel: by car

No wine region in France is complete without a helping of châteaux, and the Médoc delivers. Eight appellations come out of what is considered some of the world’s finest wine territory, bolstered by mythical powerhouses with splendiferous châteaux, like Mouton Rothschild, Latour and Lafite Rothschild. Tasting or poking around behind the scenes at such top-drawer addresses is reserved for VIPs, but motoring past their lofty silhouettes en route to open-door chateaux like Château Lynch-Bages in Bages and Château La Haye in St-Estèphe contributes to the magic of a Médoc road trip.

Plan ahead by reserving tours and tastings online; book a table for lunch at wine bistro Café Lavinal in Bages and for dinner at the exceptional chef-owned Nomade in Labarde. At Pauillac’s Maison du Tourisme et du Vin on the waterfront, you can pick up walking itineraries (guided and DIY) and meet local winegrowers.

How to get to Médoc from Bordeaux:

Given the rural nature of this vineyard-stitched area, driving is the most practical option for navigating ribboning country lanes to isolated châteaux. A handful of regional trains head from Gare St-Jean to Pauillac (75 minutes); from there, bikes can be rented at L’Atelier Vélo by Fun Bike in Bages, 1.6km south.

6. Make a date with market day in Périgueux

Travel time: 90 minutes
How to travel: by train

Once done with the culinary pleasures of Bordeaux, insatiable gourmets can steer their taste buds east on a day trip to the Dordogne. Powered by “black diamond” truffles, decadent foie gras and duck in every luxuriant shape and form, this is one of France’s foremost culinary regions. Hit its tiny capital, Périgueux, in the morning, when market stalls are heaped high with fresh seasonal produce, blazing a tantalizing rainbow of color, and taste your way through the warren of old-world streets around the Cathédrale St-Front. After your shopping spree, lunch on magret de canard (slow-cooked duck confit) laced in orange at Hercule Poireau or pan-fried duck livers at nearby L’Épicurien.

How to get to Périgueux from Bordeaux:

Regional trains link Gare St-Jean with Périgueux in 90 minutes.