Office de Tourisme et des Congrès de Bordeaux Métropole — Local services in Bordeaux

The CityPass is an amazing concept... IF you are NOT a TOURIST!

The CityPass is available for 24, 48 or 72h. So I guess all you tourists out there would be aiming for a weekend in Bordeaux and spending 2-3 days right? Well, you are in for a disappointment.

We bought the 48h pass. The problem is that you can only start using the CityPass AFTER picking it up in person from the Tourist Office. No way of obtaining it online.

So, say you arrive on a Friday afternoon/evening. Well, they close at 18h30, so good luck picking your CityPass to start your activities, which for example could have been a night visit to the Bassin des Lumières. Nope.

Now it's Saturday morning. Technically your tram tickets for the day are included in the CityPass. But you need to take a tram to arrive to the Tourist Office, unless your hotel is close by ... And that's not included because you don't have the card yet! Bonus points if all trams in Bordeaux are malfunctioning, which was our case for the entire weekend and had to take taxis.

So now you're in the Tourist Office and you try booking a walking tour for the following day. But no, it's all booked out and there was no option to book it beforehand because you can only book the tours in person. Great. Another useless activity added to the card.

Finally, now you've wasted all this time and your first impression of Bordeaux is that they should really invest in some IT improvements.

I conclusion, the Bordeaux Tourist Office and CityPass are in need of serious modernisation. However, if you live in Bordeaux, have unlimited time and your own car, this should be...

We were part of “the best tour” to visit 3 vineyards and the whole experience was great. You get the bus and just relax/enjoy all the way without have to think about travel details. On each château we got a local guide to explain about the château and their wine, making the experience even more interesting. We also had tasting of 3 wines in each place and a delicious lunch. We’ve visited: Château La Tour Blanche (lovely place, Sophie, the local guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. They have the best dessert wine we’ve tasted so far) Château Réaut (we had a lovely lunch viewing the field) Château Champion (the owner Veronique, was very friendly and received us to explain about the château and the whole process of their production. Our degustation was in a lovely old room, making the whole experience even more especial. My only point to improve the tour is for your guide don’t mix up French and English while explaining. We sure understood what she was trying to explain but the experience would be more pleasant if the she does as the other guides: firstly speaking in one language and later in another, despite that, we loved and sure will be back for more excursions. Highly...

Overall, Bordeaux was a beautiful city. The transport links in the city are brilliant, with one journey anywhere on the tram being €1.70. The links are easy to understand and the routes easy to navigate. We had no issue getting around in the city and were able to visited everywhere we wanted to with ease. The city was clean and well kept and we never felt unsafe or cornered (unlike Rome for example). The shopping g was great and the restaurant selection was ample. Our wine tour started outside the tourism office and was easy to navigate and we were found and directed easily. Lovely city with brilliant links and overall a beautiful city to visit. I enjoyed the walks along the river and the history that the place had to offer. Our outings were easy to navigate and we had no issue getting anywhere. The museums were easy to find and everything was translated so that we could learn the history of the great city with ease. I would definitely return to the city and enjoy everything it had to offer. Special shout out to our hotel Best Western and the Central pub on the Riverbank for a gorgeous lunch and...