Bordeaux wine region
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Vineyards near Pomport © Vincent Rousserie

Touring the vineyards and sampling a few local wines is one of the great pleasures of the Bordeaux region. The wine-producing districts lie in a great semicircle around the city, starting with the Médoc in the north, then skirting east through St-Émilion, before finishing south of the city among the vineyards of the Sauternes. In between, the less prestigious districts are also worth investigating, notably those of Blaye, to the north of Bordeaux, and Entre-Deux-Mers, to the west.

There's more to the region than its wine, however. Many of the Médoc's eighteenth-century châteaux are striking buildings in their own right, while the town of Blaye is dominated by a vast fortress, and there's a far older, more ruined castle at Villandraut on the edge of the Sauternes. St-Émilion is by far the prettiest of the wine towns, and has the unexpected bonus of a cavernous underground church. For scenic views, however, you can't beat the green, gentle hills of Entre-Deux-Mers and its ruined abbey, La Sauve-Majeur.

All these places are relatively well served by public transport. There are train lines from Bordeaux running north through the Médoc to Margaux and Pauillac, and south along the Garonne valley to St-Macaire and La Réole. St-Émilion, meanwhile, lies on the Bordeaux–Sarlat line, but the station is a couple of kilometres out of town. In addition, there's a very comprehensive regional bus network, with connections from Bordeaux to most of the towns mentioned here – you can pick up a route map at the tourist office in Bordeaux. Though the buses are operated by several different companies, there's a central information service on 05.56.99.57.83.