Bordeaux

[Chuns]

Yes, yes, the wine, but right now I am planning a visit to the place itself, and wondered whether I could draw on the experience of others.

I want to go to the Riverside Festival in June, so am looking to stay somewhere close to the tram network as the buses seem to stop fairly early in the evening.

There are a couple of campsites that fit the bill, but they are not normally our 'thing'. I have found one aire at the Marina, and wondered whether anyone had first hand experience of it, as it is only a ten minute walk to the tram.

We could cycle in on the e-bikes, but there is the issue of security. And of course it wouldn't be the end of the world if we had to take a taxi back.

Does anybody have a view?

Thank you reading thus far.

Cheers

Peter

 

[Chuns]

Sorry, a closer look shows the buses do run quite late, so choosing somewhere could be a bit easier. I'd still be interested in any input from anybody. Thanks.

 

[Richard Birkett]

If you don’t mind being out of town, we stayed at a lovely aire at Chateau Saint Ahon. Campercontact site code 22977. The tram is a 15 minute walk away and €7 per night includes free hook up.
The wine was good as well.
Richard

 

[Dorwyn]

Yes, consider the train,and camping away from town. You get right into the centre, your van is safe on the campsite or whatever, and the trains are clean and efficient. Just hope you have better luck with the electronic ticket machine than we did. Mind you, we got through the gates at Bordeaux without being arrested. Not to be recommended though.

 

[Xabia]

Stayed here a few years ago, easy to find and bus about 100 metres from site.

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[suavecarve]

If you don’t mind being out of town, we stayed at a lovely aire at Chateau Saint Ahon. Campercontact site code 22977. The tram is a 15 minute walk away and €7 per night includes free hook up.
The wine was good as well.
Richard

We stayed here as well. It was France Passion and therefore free when we stayed about 3 years ago. About 1km to the terminal for the tram.
You stay in the vineyard and being british we bought one of their bottle of wine, a merlot, a prize winning merlot, a 13 euro bottle of merlot. Well, to be fair it was a very bloody nice wine. Worth every penny and that is from someone who doesnt pay over 3 euros a bottle generally and normally out of a box for economy.
We drank the wine on a lovely night in the vineyard. One of the best nights with our own company ever. Lovely spot.

 

[Devon Sue]

We wanted to visit Bordeaux a few years ago, and stayed at Village du Lac, using our ACSI card. Like you, not normally a site we would have chosen, but it was worth a couple of nights for the convenience of getting into the city. Bus right outside that takes you to the tram terminus at the stadium and you can get to the site without going right through the city centre. Oh, and the experience wasn't as bad as we feared, we have found worse on our travels

 

[DangerMousy]

We stayed at Village du Lac last year. Its a decent campsite with a bar on site and we found it was an easy cycle route into town mostly on segregated cycle paths rather than in the road. I'm not sure if they also have an aire de camping car outside the gates - I seem to recall some MHs parked in that area but I can't find anything out about it on their website.

We visited the submarine pens whilst we were there and noticed there were a couple of old motorhomes parked up in the car park outside which looked like they were permanently occupied and had been there a long time (lots of junk scattered around them). But we wouldn't have been comfortable staying there so were glad we'd opted for the campsite. I think the marina parking is the other side of the basin to the submarine pens - we didn't check it out, but it doesn't look that great to me on google maps/streetview.

 

[Jenowen]

If you’re happy to use a campsite try Camping Beausoleil in Gradignan, a small site, unpretentious place but has everything you need on ACSI rates. (Contact by phone as they don’t reply to email! ) It’s not too difficult to get to by the Rocade. V good bus service into city about 300m from site. There’s a very good restaurant opposite the bus terminus ,K2, as well as a depot de pain/tabac next door for breakfast. Gradignan itself has shops, cafes and vet.

 

[Chuns]

Thank you all for your helpful and constructive replies. I think our plan will be to arrive in Bdx fairly early and have a look at the place by the marina. It doesn't look too bad, being ex-boaters we are fairly used to the extremities of French boatyards being used for a broad spectrum of activities. The bus is close by,and the tram pretty close too.

However if it doesn't appeal we'll go to the Lac in the hope we are early enough to get a space, even though it is a Festival weekend. It it all goes to rats we'll go further North to Ch Ahon, which seems very attractive. We like staying at vineyards!

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