3 Days in Bordeaux: A Wine Country Itinerary From a Family Estate

Three days in Bordeaux is enough for a proper taste of both the city and its wine country if you give each day one job: a day in Bordeaux city for the riverfront, the old wine merchants' quarter and the Cité du Vin, a day in Saint-Émilion for the medieval village and two château visits, and a day in Pomerol and at a family estate, tasting with the people who make the wine. Sleep among the vines rather than in town and the second and third days start 15 minutes from the first château instead of an hour away. You will need a car, or a driver for the day you taste most.

How many days do you need in Bordeaux?

Two days covers the city on its own. Three days is the shortest trip we would suggest if the wine is part of the reason you are coming, because the vineyards are a drive from the centre and every château visit needs booking ahead. With three days you can see the city properly, spend a full day on the Right Bank and still have a slower day at the end, with time for a long lunch and a tasting that does not run to a timetable. Four or five days lets you add the Médoc on the Left Bank, and a week brings in the coast and the Dordogne valley, which we cover in our guide to planning a Bordeaux wine holiday.

The plan below is the one we would give a friend arriving for three nights. It puts the city on the day you arrive or leave, because the airport sits on the city side of the river, and spends the two days in between in the vineyards.

Day	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Day 1: Bordeaux city	Place de la Bourse and the Chartrons quarter	The Cité du Vin	Drive out to the vineyards
Day 2: Saint-Émilion	The village and the monolithic church	Two booked château visits	Dinner in the village or at the farmhouse
Day 3: Pomerol and the estate	One Pomerol château by appointment	A tasting in a family cellar	A slow dinner among the vines

Day 1: Bordeaux city

Start at the river. The Place de la Bourse and the Miroir d'eau, the wide shallow pool in front of it that reflects the façades, are the picture most people have of Bordeaux, and the quays are good for a walk north towards the Chartrons, the quarter where the wine merchants once stored and shipped their barrels. The city centre is flat and easy on foot, and the tram covers anything further.

Spend the afternoon at the Cité du Vin, the wine museum on the river at Bacalan. It covers wine from every part of the world rather than only Bordeaux, which makes it a useful introduction before two days in the vineyards, and the visit ends with a glass in the tasting room on the top floor, looking out over the city. In the early evening, drive out to wherever you are staying. From the city centre or the airport our farmhouse is about 40 minutes, and arriving in time to sit outside with a glass is a good way to finish the first day.

Day 2: Saint-Émilion

Give the village the morning, before the coaches arrive. Saint-Émilion and its vineyards are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the steep limestone lanes, the views from the top of the village and the monolithic church, cut into the rock beneath it, are worth seeing in the quiet. The underground church can only be visited on a guided tour, which the tourist office runs. If you are there on a Saturday, the market is worth building the morning around.

Book two château visits for the afternoon, and no more. Almost every estate around the village receives visitors by appointment only, and two tastings with time to talk are worth more than four squeezed in. Our guide to planning Saint-Émilion wine tasting explains how to book and which kinds of visit to look for. This is the day when everyone will want to taste, so it is the one to hand to a driver or a guide, and our article on Bordeaux wine tours sets out the choices. Saint-Émilion is 25 minutes from our farmhouse, so dinner can be in the village or back at the house.

Day 3: Pomerol and a tasting at the estate

Pomerol is Saint-Émilion's quieter neighbour, a small plateau of Merlot on clay and gravel with only a small village and some of the most sought-after wine in Bordeaux. Many of its estates are too small to receive visitors, but a few open by appointment, including Château Beauregard, Château Gazin and Château Petit Village, and one of those makes a good morning. From our farmhouse, Pomerol is 15 minutes away. If your third day falls on a Sunday, the market in Libourne, between Pomerol and Saint-Émilion, is a better place for lunch shopping than any supermarket.

Keep the afternoon for a family cellar. After two days of grand châteaux, tasting with the people who grow the grapes and make the wine gives you a different Bordeaux, one where the questions get answered by someone who was out in the vines that morning. At Château Méaume that is Mark and Sandra, and the wine in the glass is the Right Bank Bordeaux that James Suckling gave 90 to 91 points for the 2023 vintage. Then let the last evening be slow: dinner outside, the vines going gold in the low light, and nowhere to drive.

Can you add the Médoc in three days?

You can, but something has to give. The Médoc châteaux around Margaux and Pauillac are 45 minutes to an hour from the Right Bank, and the wine there is different, Cabernet Sauvignon on gravel rather than Merlot on clay and limestone, which our guide to Left Bank vs Right Bank Bordeaux explains. If the grand Left Bank names are why you are coming, swap Pomerol for a Médoc day and book a driver for it. If you would rather see both banks properly, add a fourth day. Trying to cover Saint-Émilion and the Médoc in the same day means more time on the road than in the cellars.

Do you need a car for a Bordeaux itinerary?

For the city day, no. For the two vineyard days, almost certainly. Public transport reaches Libourne and Saint-Émilion but not the estates around them, and taxis are scarce outside the city. The difficulty is the tasting. France's drink-drive limit is 0.5 grams per litre, lower than in England and Wales, so whoever drives has to spit at every visit or stay off the wine. Most people solve it the way we suggest above: drive yourselves on the quieter days and book a driver for the one where everyone wants to taste.

The other rule is to book ahead. Château visits fill up from late spring to the end of the harvest, and some of the most famous names do not open to visitors at all. Our guide to the Bordeaux wine châteaux you can visit explains which ones do.

Where to stay for three days in Bordeaux wine country

If the city is the main reason for the trip, stay in Bordeaux and take a tour out for one day. If the wine is the reason, stay among the vines on the side of the river you most want to taste, so that two of your three days start close to the first château. Our guide to where to stay in the Bordeaux wine region compares the city, Saint-Émilion village and the vineyards in more detail.

Our farmhouse is an 18th century house on our working vineyard at Maransin, 15 minutes from Pomerol, 25 from Saint-Émilion and around 40 from the city and the airport, with four double bedrooms, three bathrooms and room for up to ten. Every stay includes a tasting in our cellar with Mark and Sandra, usually the current vintage and something older if Mark has it open, and we are happy to point you to the neighbours worth visiting. Three nights is our shortest stay for most of the year, which suits this itinerary exactly, though in July, August and during the harvest the minimum is five. The farmhouse is rural, so you will want a car, and because we are a working estate with machinery and cattle we can't accept guests under 17. You can see the house and check dates on the page for our farmhouse on the vineyard, and taste what we make on our Right Bank Bordeaux wines page.

Quick answers

Is three days enough in Bordeaux? Yes, for the city and one wine region. Spend a day in the city and two in the vineyards, and add a fourth day if you want both the Right Bank and the Médoc.

How many days do you need in Bordeaux? Two days for the city alone, three if you want to taste in the vineyards, and five to seven for both banks and the coast.

What is the best day trip from Bordeaux? Saint-Émilion, about 45 minutes from the city centre, for the medieval village and the Right Bank wine together.

Can you visit Saint-Émilion and the Médoc on the same day? It is possible but not worth it. They are on opposite sides of the river, and the day becomes more driving than tasting.

Do you need to book château visits in Bordeaux? Yes. Almost every château receives visitors by appointment only, so book before you travel.

So how should you spend three days in Bordeaux?

Give the city one day and the vineyards two, put the city at the start or end of the trip, keep to two château visits a day and book them before you leave home. Hand the busiest tasting day to a driver, and sleep among the vines so that the wine country is outside the window rather than at the end of a long drive.

If you would like to spend those three days on a working vineyard, the farmhouse sits among our vines on the Right Bank, every stay includes a tasting in our cellar, and we will happily help you plan the rest. See the farmhouse and check dates.