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If idyllic countryside, steeped in fascinating history, rich in gastronomy and offering some of the world’s best wine appeals, then a Bordeaux River Cruise should be top of your list. Good Housekeeping participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Get to know the idyllic town—the city wall’s remnants, the clock tower and the Gothic church. We'll keep you up-to-date with our latest news, travel inspiration and special promotions.
Panoramas of Route de la Corniche Fleurie with Blaye Fortress
Second, we were on a cruise titled the “Taste of Bordeaux”, which had me expecting a French-trained chef focused on local dishes. In fact, the bike tours were almost always the most popular excursions each day, with people biking eight to 17 kilometers. AmaWaterways also offered alternative excursions at each stop for those they called “gentle walkers”, meaning that there was very little walking involved. They also offered trekking poles on board to take on excursions to help with stability, as well as canes that offer folding knee rests.
Day 15
I wish we could have gotten out to take pictures at more or had other tastings, but that is something you can do easier if you are self-driving. Overnight, we sailed back to Bordeaux since our docking spot near Medoc was taken over by a children’s summer camp. On a river cruise, you do need to be a bit flexible with the itinerary as they may make adjustments to accommodate for water levels and incoming tides.
Day 5 – Medoc
Visit Château Royal de Cazeneuve, site of Henry IV’s and Queen Margot’s tempestuous love. If your cruise package includes a group arrival transfer or if you have purchased a private arrival transfer, you will be greeted by a Uniworld representative and transferred to the ship. The city's also graced with vibrant squares, and its piece de resistance is the gorgeous Place de la Bourse, fronting the Garonne River, with its mirror-like pool. The resorted waterfront stretches for four kilometers and offers all sorts of activities, from splash wading in the Miroir d'eau, the large reflecting pool, to cycling.
A few river cruise lines offer up visits to nearby Cognac, where fans of the famous brandy can participate in tastings and even blend their very own cognac at the Camus Cognac Visitor’s Center. The vast majority of river cruises through this region will operate roundtrip from the city of Bordeaux, and most (but not all) are a week in duration. The excursions offered were a mix of bike tours, walking tours, wine tastings, and specific attraction entrance tickets. On the app, each excursion listing gives a full description as well as an activity and difficulty level to help you decide on what to do. Viking River Cruises offers river cruises throughout the Bordeaux region aboard Viking Longship Forseti. Both cruise-only and Cruisetour itineraries are available, with the latter offering a three night pre-or-post-cruise stay in Paris coupled with an overland rail journey to Bordeaux, or a three-night pre/post stay in the nearby Loire Valley.
If you are staying in the city of Bordeaux, there are many short sightseeing and dinner cruises that operate on the river, but I’m talking about a multi-day Bordeaux river cruise on a ship built for river cruising. There are a number of river cruise companies that operate out of Bordeaux, but we chose AmaWaterways because they have a reputation of being one of the best in the industry and having good food. Bordeaux is synonymous with wine, and cruising on its rivers - primarily the Garonne and Dordogne - offers unparalleled access to some of the world’s most renowned vineyards. Take a vineyard tour right from the port and enjoy tastings of Bordeaux’s famous reds and whites. Our boat trips offer you a guided tour of the city while sharing the pleasure of sailing with a drink in hand.
Days Bordeaux to Bordeaux
It fell on hard times in the 20th century, but the tall merchant houses have since been reclaimed; now they... Bordeaux’s Port de la Lune is home to a submarine base with a checkered past. Originally built during the German occupation of France in WWII, and later the target of allied bombings, this building has since attracted artists who wish to reclaim the site for beauty and culture. Its stark walls and history have served as a poignant backdrop to artistic installations for decades. Tonight, you’ll experience this for yourself at the Bassins des Lumières, a stunning and immersive light show projected against the walls of the base.
Uniworld: Why it's the best river cruise line in the world - Good Housekeeping uk
Uniworld: Why it's the best river cruise line in the world.
Posted: Wed, 30 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
But while Libourne is cute, wine lovers will want to go farther inland, to the town of Saint Emilion and the surrounding vineyards of Pomerol. While almost all Bordeaux wines are blends, the primary grape grown on the Right Bank is merlot because of the area's porous limestone soil, and you'll find it the dominant varietal, along with cabernet franc. The seven-night Taste of Bordeaux cruise on AmaWaterways currently starts at $2500 to $4300 per person, depending on the time of year and what discounts and specials are currently available.
They also offered a walking tour of Bourg, but since the town was small, we decided to explore on our own so that Glenn had time to shower and rest a bit after his long ride. At the back of the ship on the top deck, there is a small restaurant set aside for the Chef’s Table experience. This is a complimentary offering for all guests once per cruise, but you do need to sign up for it within the first day or two as there is limited space each night. This restaurant offers a seven-course chef’s tasting menu, which is different from the main dining room but it is the same each night so you don’t need to worry about having a different experience depending on when you dine. South of here, on the Garonne, Cadillac is one for lovers of dessert wines – grab a tasting of Sauternes in its history-drenched Château Royal de Cazeneuve, where Henry IV and Queen Margot once resided. You can also visit the Château de Malromé, now a wine estate with the added attraction of an art collection in the well-preserved former apartments of one-time resident Toulouse Lautrec.
While your ship might not visit a winery specifically to seek out white Bordeaux, look for it at cafes, on restaurant menus and in shops. If you taste one you like, try to buy it, as chances are, you won't find it back home. We then continued our bike tour through vineyards and past crumbling old chateaux, before returning to the ship on the bike path. The bike ride had a few hills and bumps on the dirt roads through the vineyards, but there were plenty of stops along the way to catch your breath.
Personally, I’d recommend this excursion over the Cité du Vin but not everyone felt the same. We also had the same few English-speaking local guides throughout the trip, depending on what excursion you pick. The guides were friendly, funny, and informative — no complaints about any of the staff we encountered on our AmaWaterways cruise.
No visit to France would be complete without seeing the city that is widely regarded as the most beautiful in the world—Paris. Nothing compares to the charm of its neighborhoods, the grandeur of its awe-inspiring architecture and monuments, or the cosmopolitan elegance of its boulevards. Delve into the delights this magnificent city has to offer, from the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Élysées to the quaint neighborhood cafés beloved by locals. Libourne’s market is the heart and soul of the town; everyone comes here to choose the freshest vegetables, the ripest cheeses, the most luscious fruits, the loveliest flowers, and to chat with the... Château Ambe Tour Pourret, with five hectares planted with merlot and cabernet franc vines, is a comparatively young wine house, dating to 1925 in its current form (though parts of the chateau are much older). Tour the winery before you meet your chef/teacher, then walk to the well-equipped, modern professional kitchen.
Our menus are prepared on board by our chef and his brigade around regional southwest cuisine using fresh, seasonal products. Uniworld’s 15-day Portraits of Majestic France and 22-day Ultimate France packages both begin in Paris with a cruise along the Seine River. After the first river cruise, you’ll be transported to Bordeaux by high-speed TGV train to embark your voyage through Bordeaux. How could you visit this rich agricultural land without delving into a farmer's market?
Bordeaux river cruises are a good pick for those who want to explore France for the first time or for those looking to complete their “portfolio” of river cruises in France. Bordeaux river cruises also rank high for active travelers who appreciate hikes and bikes, and for those who savor the storied wines produced in the vineyards that give Bordeaux its understated, elegant and timeless beauty. Hilltop Saint-Émilion offers both exceptional architecture and historic vineyards.
