Visit Bordeaux

Bounded by cours Clemenceau, cours de l'Intendance and allees de Tourny, the Golden Triangle concentrates the 18th-century mansions, the great wine-trade houses and the neoclassical facade of the Grand Theatre. Rue Sainte-Catherine, a 1.2-kilometre shopping street, runs south from it. Nearby, Place des Quinconces is one of the largest squares in Europe at almost 12 hectares, edged by the Girondins monument and its basin. The Christmas market sets up along allees de Tourny in December.

This is medieval and Renaissance Bordeaux, a tangle of lanes between the Garonne and the cathedral. Porte Cailhau, a triumphal arch from 1495 standing 35 metres tall, opens onto Place du Palais; the square, cobbled Place du Parlement lines up terraces. People come mainly to dine: the district has the city's highest concentration of restaurants, often full after 8pm on weekends. Allow a good hour to walk it, city gates included.

A former quarter of wine merchants, Chartrons keeps its converted warehouses, the antiques shops of rue Notre-Dame, and a Sunday-morning market on the quays. The redesigned promenade runs almost 4.5 kilometres from the Pont de Pierre to the Chaban-Delmas bridge, on foot or by shared bike. At its northern end, La Cite du Vin offers a visit of about two hours, rooftop tasting included, for a ticket around 22 euros.

More working-class and cosmopolitan, this area centres on the Saint-Michel basilica and its free-standing spire of 114 metres, the tallest in southern France, whose steps can be climbed from April to October. The Capucins market, the belly of Bordeaux, opens at dawn Tuesday to Sunday and closes on Monday: it is the place for a dozen oysters at the counter on a Saturday morning. Around it, the Place Saint-Michel flea market and affordable tables run by the North African and Portuguese communities.

Linked to the centre by the Pont de Pierre and tram line A in about ten minutes, the right bank gives the best distance on the listed facade of the quays. The free botanical garden unfolds its themed plots there; the submarine base, a German bunker from the Second World War, hosts immersive digital exhibitions in its concrete bays. The long-industrial district is changing fast around the station and the Euratlantique quarter.

Bordeaux is an ideal base without a car. Saint-Emilion, a UNESCO-listed wine village, is 40 minutes away by direct train; Arcachon Bay and the Dune du Pilat, the tallest in Europe, 55 minutes. The Medoc chateaux route, by contrast, needs a car and half a day at least. The city is one of the main gateways to south-west France; for a comparable stop, also turned toward its vineyard, Colmar plays the same part on the Alsace wine road.