Day 2: Bordeaux’s markets, museums and Cathedral
On day 2, there are more things in Bordeaux to explore. My second day in Bordeaux was a bit more cloudy and rainy, so I chose to do most of the indoor activities on this day. But if you have a different weather pattern on your visit, you can easily mix and match these activities and the things from Day 1.
Marche du Capucins
About a 10 minute walk further south of the city centre, you’ll find a really impressive French market. This market is best to visit in the morning, so make this your first stop of the day. You can walk around the market and browse the stalls selling fresh vegetables, fish, meat, cheese, olive, pasta, and so much more.
There are also several places in the market where you can sit down to eat some of the fresh food, and of course have a glass of wine. Or, you can buy food for later.
Bassins des Lumieres
The digital art museum called Bassins des Lumieres has quickly become one of my favourite museums I’ve ever visited. It’s truly impressive and will definitely be a highlight of your visit.
The museum is quite far north of the city centre, so it’s best to take the tram there. You can take the tram up to La Cite du Vin (the famous wine museum) and then walk about 20 minutes to Bassins des Lumieres. I booked my ticket for the museum online in advance. I think it would be ok to just turn up and buy a ticket on the door, but having the ticket in advance means you’re guaranteed entry at the time you want.
Inside Bassins des Lumieres
This museum is in an old submarine bunker that dates back to World War Two. But it’s been magically transformed into a digital art museum. Or more of a digital art experience – it’s so much more than a museum.
The art is projected onto walls all around you. It’s constantly evolving and moving, and the music that accompanies it adds to the atmosphere. It’s difficult to describe in words, and the photos can’t do justice to the feeling of being completely immersed and surrounded by the art. But that still didn’t stop me taking many hundreds of photos, trying to capture everything!
I found it really moving how the old WW2 building had been re-purposed in this way. It was really moving that something so beautiful was now in a place where something so terrible had happened. The WW2 submarine bunker had been built by the Germans when they occupied France, and had been built by prisoners of war. It’s almost incomprehensible to imagine the amount of suffering that this building represented at the time. But now, it’s showing some of the world’s best art and music. It’s like some of the worst aspects of humanity (war, prisoners, and all the suffering and death) have now been replaced by some of the best aspects of humanity (beautiful art and music and storytelling). It’s just a really incredible place.
It takes just over an hour to watch the entire sequence of art visualiations. But I wanted to stay for longer and watch some of it again from different angles. So be prepared to spend several hours here.
La Cite du Vin
La Cite du Vin is probably Bordeaux’s most famous museum. Bordeaux and the region around it is famous for its wine. So it makes sense that Bordeaux would have a huge museum dedicated to wine.
To be honest, I wasn’t an impressed with this museum as I thought I’d be. Some of that might just be the time that I visited – it was very busy, and I was quite tired so didn’t enjoy how crowded it was everywhere. A lot of the exhibits were interactive, which doesn’t work well when it was very crowded as you couldn’t get near things to try them. The museum was also very focussed on people’s audio guides, so everyone would be pushing to try to scan their audio guide at the designated point to be able to listen to the next content. There’s no clear route around the museum so everyone was just getting in everyone’s way.
Having said all that, I’m still glad I went to visit this famous museum. There are some interesting sections that teach you about where wine is grown in the world. And there’s the ‘smelling’ section, where you can try to identify different smells like wine connoisseurs do.
It’s an interesting and some people might really enjoy it. But for me, it wasn’t a highlight of my trip. But I’m still glad I went.
La Cite du Vin rooftop bar
A highlight of the museum for me was the rooftop bar. You get a free glass on wine with your entrance ticket to the museum. So after looking around the museum, you can head up to the rooftop bar to enjoy some wine. There’s a huge selection of wine to choose from. I chose a local red wine, and it was really nice. It was nice to drink wine while enjoying the views out across the city.
Latitude 20 Brasserie
Just outside La Cite du Vin is a Brasserie called Latitude 20. It’s a nice place to stop for some dinner after looking around the museums. The food is nice, and of course there’s an extensive wine list as well. I enjoyed a vegetarian starter of sweet potato and pea puree, with delicious fresh French bread. And for main course I had veal with seasonal vegetables, which was really delicious. And a glass of red wine was the perfect accompaniment.
Bordeaux Cathedral
Back in the centre of Bordeaux, it’s definitely worth visiting the cathedral. It’s an impressive building from the outside, and just as impressive inside. I really enjoyed seeing the colourful stained glass windows and the impressive size of the cathedral.
Place de la Bourse at night
I also recommend visiting Place de la Bourse at night. It was my favourite place in Bordeaux from my first day of exploring, so I wanted to see it at night as well. And I wasn’t disappointed. The whole area looked stunning at night as well.
It was easier to get photos of the perfect reflection at night, as there were fewer people standing in the water in the fountains. It was a really peaceful place at night, and the colours and reflections were just stunning.
The streets of Bordeaux are lovely at night as well, with the bars and restaurants lively into the evenings.
Keep reading on the next page for more ideas for your trip to Bordeaux in 5 days without a car, including some amazing day trips you can do from Bordeaux without a car.