Bordeaux's sights sit close together on the left bank, between the Quinconces and Saint-Michel, and only the Cité du Vin needs a tram ride. Three of them are towers you climb: Pey-Berland, the Flèche Saint-Michel and the Porte Cailhau. Keep them for a clear day.
The Bordeaux CityPass costs €37 for 24 hours, €48 for 48, €56 for 72 and €62 for 96 hours. It includes trams, buses and Le Bato, the Cité du Vin, the Bassins des Lumières, the city's museums, the Porte Cailhau, the Flèche Saint-Michel, one city tour, and guided visits of underground Saint-Émilion and of the citadel of Blaye; the Pey-Berland tower is also free with it. The card exists only on paper and is collected at the tourist office, 12 cours du XXX Juillet. Even the 24-hour card pays for itself if you combine the Cité du Vin, the Pey-Berland tower and a day of travel.
On the first Sunday of every month except July and August, the city's museums, the Porte Cailhau and the Flèche Saint-Michel are free for everyone.
1Place de la Bourse and the Miroir d'eau
Photo: Miguel Cuenca / Pexels, Pexels License
Until the eighteenth century Bordeaux turned its back on the river behind medieval walls. The Place de la Bourse, built between 1730 and 1775 to designs by the royal architects Jacques Gabriel and his son Ange-Jacques, was the first part of the city to open onto the Garonne, and it set the pattern for the long classical front of the quays that followed. The two palaces facing each other across the square were built for trade: one houses the chamber of commerce, the other the national customs museum. In the middle, the Fountain of the Three Graces dates from 1869.
The Miroir d'eau across the road was added in 2006. It is a vast slab of granite covered by a film of water only a couple of centimetres deep, which drains away, fills again and every so often vanishes in a cloud of cool mist. When the surface is still, the square, the sky and the people standing on the stone are reflected as clearly as in glass; children run through the mist on hot afternoons, and in the evening, with the façades lit, the reflection is at its most striking. The square and the mirror are the centrepiece of the Port of the Moon, the river front listed by UNESCO in 2007.
Time
30 min to 1 h, longer on a summer evening
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
Early morning for sunlight on the façades, dusk for the reflection
Getting there
Tram C to Place de la Bourse
Tip: For the best reflection, wait until the mist has cleared and the water has settled, then crouch at the edge of the pool so the façades double without a ripple. Out of season, when the mirror is off, the square is still worth a look on your way along the quays.
The square is free and always open. The Miroir d'eau runs daily from 10 am to 10 pm and is switched off from November to April.
Eleanor of Aquitaine married the future King Louis VII of France in this cathedral in 1137, bringing her vast duchy to the French crown. The Gothic church grew over the following centuries, and its north side, with twin spires and a carved portal, faces the square.
The bell tower stands on its own a few metres away. Archbishop Pey Berland had it built in the fifteenth century, apart from the church, it is said so that the swinging bells would not shake the vaults. A gilded statue of Notre-Dame d'Aquitaine was added to the top in the nineteenth century. A narrow spiral staircase climbs to the upper platform, from where you look down on the cathedral roof and across the old town to the river and the right bank.
Time
45 min to 1 h 15 min, cathedral included
Setting
Both
Best time
A clear day, when the view reaches across the river
Getting there
Tram A, B or F to Hôtel de Ville
Tip: The tower sells timed tickets online only, so book a slot on the official tower site before you go. The staircase is narrow and steep and not suitable for anyone uneasy with heights or confined spaces.
Tower €9; free under 18, for EU citizens and residents of France aged 18 to 25, and with the CityPass. From 25 May to 27 September daily 10 am–6 pm; for the rest of the year daily 10 am–12.30 pm and 2 pm–5.30 pm.
One of the few pieces of the medieval walls still standing: a fifteenth-century gateway between two round towers with pointed slate roofs, a clock face on the front and, hanging in the arch above it, the great bell that gives it its name. It was the belfry of the old town hall, and the bell, cast in 1775, used to announce the start of the grape harvest. The street still runs beneath it.
Time
30 min for the guided visit
Setting
Both
Best time
Any time from the street; inside on a guided visit only
Getting there
Tram B to Musée d'Aquitaine, then a few minutes on foot
Tip: For the view in the photo, stand in the rue Saint-James and look along it towards the gate. The guided visits inside are run by the tourist office in small groups; dates are on the tourist office page.
A city gate on the quays, built at the end of the fifteenth century in honour of King Charles VIII's victory at Fornovo in Italy, and as much a triumphal arch as a defence. With its dormers, turrets and pointed roofs it looks more like a small château than part of a wall. Inside, the floors above the archway hold a small exhibition on the gate and the medieval city, and the windows at the top look out over the river and the Pont de Pierre.
Time
45 min to 1 h
Setting
Both
Best time
Morning, when the sun lights its river side
Getting there
Tram A or F to Place du Palais
Tip: If you plan to climb the Flèche Saint-Michel as well, buy the combined ticket for both at €11; the two are a walk of about ten minutes apart along the quays.
€7, free with the CityPass and for children up to 13. April to October daily from 10 am to 6 pm with a lunch break; November to March Wednesday to Friday from 2 pm to 6 pm, at weekends and on holidays also in the morning from 11 am.
Photo: José Antonio Otegui Auzmendi / Pexels, Pexels License
The Gothic basilica of Saint-Michel stands at the heart of the city's most cosmopolitan quarter, among market stalls, North African groceries and café terraces. Like the cathedral, it has a bell tower set apart from the church: the Flèche Saint-Michel, 114 metres high, the tallest spire in the south of France. It was begun in the fifteenth century and its top was rebuilt in the nineteenth.
The Flèche reopened to visitors in June 2026 after restoration. A narrow staircase leads up to the viewing level, from where you see the whole bend of the Garonne, the quays and the roofs of the old town.
Time
45 min to 1 h 15 min
Setting
Both
Best time
A clear day between April and October
Getting there
Tram C or F to Saint-Michel
Tip: Bring a card: the Flèche does not take cash. The Marché des Capucins is a five-minute walk away, so the climb and a market lunch fit easily into one morning.
Flèche €7, free under 13 and with the CityPass; with the Porte Cailhau €11. Open April to October, from 10 am to 6 pm with a lunch break. The basilica is free.
Victor Louis's theatre opened in 1780 and closes the Place de la Comédie with a portico of twelve Corinthian columns, each topped by a statue: the nine Muses and three goddesses. Inside, a grand staircase rises beneath a dome to a horseshoe-shaped auditorium in blue and gold. It is still a working house, home to the Opéra National de Bordeaux, with opera, ballet and concerts through the season.
Time
45 min to 1 h 15 min
Setting
Both
Best time
The first Sunday of the month, when the doors are open to all
Getting there
Tram B to Grand Théâtre
Tip: The most memorable way to see the auditorium is from a seat during a performance; the programme and tickets are on the Opéra's website. On other days the guided visits are booked through the tourist office.
Guided visit €10, ages 13 to 17 €7.50. On the first Sunday of the month the theatre is open to everyone free of charge from 2 pm to 6 pm.
Since 2016 a curved, shimmering building on the river at the northern edge of the centre has given Bordeaux a museum devoted to wine. Its shape is meant to recall wine swirling in a glass. The permanent exhibition is about wine across the world and through history rather than a showcase for local châteaux: you move through it with a handheld guide, at your own pace, past films, scents to identify and rooms on wine in history, trade and art.
The ticket ends with a glass of wine, chosen from a list of wines from around the world, at the Belvédère, the bar at the top of the building, with a view over the Garonne, the Pont Chaban-Delmas and the docks of the Bassins à flot.
Time
2 to 3 h, Belvédère included
Setting
Indoor
Best time
Any weather; aim to reach the Belvédère in the late light
Getting there
Tram B to La Cité du Vin
Tip: Buy tickets on the Cité du Vin website for a set time, and leave the Belvédère for last: the glass is served only at the end of the tour.
Permanent exhibition with a glass of wine €23, children 6 to 17 €9; included in the CityPass. Until 3 January 2027 daily from 10 am to 6 pm, Saturdays until 7 pm; from 3 January to 2 April 2027 daily until 6 pm, closed from 25 to 31 January.
8Esplanade des Quinconces and the Monument aux Girondins
Photo: Karl Forterre / Pexels, Pexels License
The vast esplanade was laid out in the nineteenth century where the royal fortress of Château Trompette once kept watch over the city. At its western end rises the Monument aux Girondins, a tall column crowned by Liberty breaking her chains, raised in memory of the Girondin deputies executed during the Terror. Its bronze fountains of horses, sea creatures and allegorical figures are among the finest sculpture in the city. Fairs set up on the esplanade in spring and autumn, Ferris wheel and all.
Time
20 to 40 min
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
A sunny day, when the bronze of the fountains shines
Getting there
Tram B or C to Quinconces
Tip: Walk all the way round the monument: the two fountains on either side are different. Then cross to the river end of the esplanade, where two rostral columns stand by the water and Le Bato leaves from the pier.
Laid out in the 1740s as a formal garden and remade a century later as an English-style park, the Jardin Public has winding paths, wide lawns, a pond with ducks and a small botanical garden. The natural history museum stands at its edge. On fine days the lawns fill with students, families and picnics, and it is the easiest green break between the old town and the Chartrons.
Time
45 min to 1 h 30 min
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
A dry, sunny afternoon
Getting there
Tram C to Jardin Public, or tram D to Fondaudège - Muséum
Tip: With children, this is the place to let them run between sights. Buy something for a picnic in the Chartrons on your way.
Free. Opens daily at 7 am; closes at 6 pm from 1 November to 14 February and at 9 pm from 1 June to 31 August, at times in between for the rest of the year.
Napoleon ordered the first bridge across the Garonne at Bordeaux, and it took until 1822 to complete against the river's strong tides. Its seventeen arches of brick and pale stone, each pier marked with a white medallion, are said to number as many as the letters in "Napoléon Bonaparte". Closed to private cars, it now belongs to trams, cyclists and people on foot, and the walk across gives the best view of the whole river front.
Time
20 to 40 min
Setting
Outdoor
Best time
At sunset and after dark, when the quays are lit
Getting there
Tram A to Porte de Bourgogne, or to Stalingrad on the right bank
Tip: Cross from the Porte de Bourgogne and stop halfway: the Place de la Bourse lies downstream on your left, the Flèche Saint-Michel upstream on your right. If the wind is cold on the river, tram A takes you back.
