Staying at a Bordeaux Château: Rooms, Labels and Visits

Staying at a Bordeaux château means a night or more in a guest room on a wine estate. The Bordeaux tourist office lists château rooms in Bordeaux and the surrounding area, often in the vineyards, as bed-and-breakfast stays.

In the Greater Saint-Émilion Area, some wine estates and properties offer accommodation, and what they offer varies from one property to the next. Across Gironde, on wine estates, the Bacchus accommodations let guests share the winemaker's life.

This page covers how château stays work, how to find a room through the official tourist offices, the trains and roads from Paris and Bordeaux, and how visits and tastings work at the estates. For the wider region, see Bordeaux.

How château stays work

Gironde's chambres d'hôtes are guest rooms in the hosts' own homes, let for one or more nights. Depending on the address, the hosts also serve a table d'hôtes dinner, either a family meal or a gastronomic one.

Gironde Tourisme lists 92 chambres d'hôtes. Of these, 14 are in its Châteaux et demeures de prestige category, 23 offer table d'hôtes and 19 lend bikes.

The Saint-Émilion tourist office's holiday rental listings (gîtes and meublés) carry the same Accommodation on a wine estate filter as its guest rooms.

The Vignobles & Découvertes label

Vignobles & Découvertes is a national label, run in Gironde by Gironde Tourisme. For accommodation, it promises a privileged welcome, an immersion in the history of the estates and time shared with the people who make the wine.

Each labeled address meets strict criteria of comfort and wine-tourism services. Its hosts point guests to tastings, leisure activities and cultural sights.

Gironde Tourisme lists 42 labeled accommodations across 6 wine territories, rated from 1 star to 5 stars. Around Saint-Émilion, the Bordeaux Wine Route through Saint-Émilion, Pomerol and Fronsac holds the national Vignobles et Découvertes brand.

Finding a château room

Start with the tourist offices' own listings. The Bordeaux tourist office has a Rooms in a château category with 41 listings, and its accommodation search filters by price range, from € to €€€.

You can also filter the Bordeaux tourist office's château rooms by equipment, including a restaurant, swimming pool, spa and parking, and by whether pets are accepted.

Its wine château directory, with 139 entries, has a With accommodation filter alongside Online booking, Open on Sunday and With restaurant. Its Labels filter picks out Vignobles et découvertes and Best of Wine Tourism estates.

The directory's five region filters are Médoc, Saint-Émilion region, Graves et Sauternes, Bordeaux–Entre-deux-Mers and Blaye et Bourg.

The Saint-Émilion tourist office lists 32 guest rooms. Its Accommodation on a wine estate filter narrows them to rooms on estates, and other filters cover table d'hôte, bike rental, swimming pool, parking, number of rooms and labels such as Vignobles & Découvertes and Best of Wine Tourism.

Gironde Tourisme's chambres d'hôtes search filters by labels, including Accueil Vélo and Vignobles et découvertes.

For help, call the Bordeaux tourist office on +33 5 56 00 66 00. It opens every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays and public holidays.

Getting there

The fastest route from Paris is the direct TGV INOUI from Paris Montparnasse to Bordeaux Saint-Jean, which takes 2 hours 4 minutes. There are 33 round trips a day between Bordeaux and Paris.

OUIGO's low-cost trains also run direct from Paris Montparnasse, from 2 hours 7 minutes, with adult fares from €19 ($21). For Saint-Émilion, the TGV also stops at Libourne, 7 km from the village, with tickets from €25 ($27); from Libourne, continue by taxi or TER.

From Bordeaux Saint-Jean, TER trains reach Saint-Émilion from 29 minutes, with 16 trains a day. The Le Verdon line stops at Margaux and Pauillac, and the fastest train to Pauillac takes 1 hour 4 minutes, with 12 a day. Trains to Barsac take from 42 minutes, with 9 a day.

If you fly in, tram line F runs from Bordeaux Airport to Saint-Jean station in about 45 minutes. Several car rental firms operate at the airport, which is 54 km from Saint-Émilion.

For the full train guide, see Paris to Bordeaux by Train.

Getting around

By car, allow around 35 minutes from Bordeaux to Saint-Émilion, depending on traffic. Margaux is about 45 minutes from Bordeaux on the D2 toward Blanquefort, Macau and Margaux.

Pauillac is 50 km from Bordeaux, about 1 hour by the D2 or the D1215.

Without a car, Saint-Émilion station is about 1.5 km from the village, a 20-minute walk. The Tuk-Tuk des Cordeliers transfer costs €5 ($5) per person, and taxis must be booked in advance.

At Margaux Cantenac station, a taxi or rental car is available on request. To find rooms reachable without a car, use the Accessible by Public Transport filter in the Bordeaux tourist office's accommodation search. See also Bordeaux Vineyards Without a Car.

When to go

Saint-Émilion can be visited all year. Spring and fall are particularly pleasant for the village and vineyards, and summer is the busiest period; in July and August, visit in the morning or at the end of the day.

Winter is quieter, though some wine estates, restaurants and activities reduce their hours. Château Pape Clément in Pessac opens to visitors all year, and Château Lynch-Bages runs cellar visits Monday to Saturday.

The grape harvest generally takes place in September, depending on ripeness and the weather. Some Saint-Émilion estates offer experiences around the harvest, and these vary from year to year.

Half a day covers the essentials of Saint-Émilion village, and a full day adds an estate visit. Two days or more leave time for a cycling tour through the vineyards, and a longer stay lets you explore the 22 municipalities of the Greater Saint-Émilion Area.

Visiting the estates

In Saint-Émilion, visiting conditions vary from one estate to another. You can book a visit directly with an estate or through a tour offered by the tourist office, and tours may include the vineyards, the cellars and a tasting. Some estates offer tastings without a full tour.

Château Lynch-Bages in Pauillac takes bookings for a 1-hour-30-minute cellar visit, Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Visits run in French, English and German, depending on availability.

Château Duhart-Milon, also in Pauillac, receives visitors Monday to Friday all year. Its 30-minute Guided Tasting needs no reservation, subject to availability, while the 1-hour Discovery Tour is by reservation only.

Château Haut-Bailly in Léognan takes online bookings for a 30-minute tasting of two wines and a 1-hour-15-minute Classic visit of the vineyard and cellar.

Château Pape Clément, a Grand Cru Classé de Graves in Pessac, takes all visits by online reservation. Its Visite et Dégustation lasts 1 hour 30 minutes.

Château Climens in Barsac runs the 1-hour Discovery of Climens through the vineyard, the cellars and an herbal tea room, with two wines. Book on its website, by email or by phone.

In Pauillac, the Maison du Tourisme et du Vin books visits at its partner châteaux and provides a map of the Grand Cru châteaux. For lead times and booking days, see Booking Bordeaux Château Visits.

What it costs

A standard visit with tasting at these estates costs €20–80 ($22–86). The Saint-Émilion tourist office's estate listings start from €7 ($8).

• Château Duhart-Milon: Guided Tasting €20 ($22), Discovery Tour €30 ($32).
• Château Haut-Bailly: tasting €20 ($22), Classic visit €50 ($54), Grand Cru Visit with four wines €75 ($81).
• Château Lynch-Bages: cellar visit €25 ($27), tasting classes of 2 hours 30 minutes from €75 ($81) per person, for two people or more.
• Château Pape Clément: Visite et Dégustation €25 ($27).
• Château Climens: Discovery of Climens €45 ($49).

At the top of the range, Château Figeac in Saint-Émilion charges €80 ($86) per person for a visit of 1 hour or 1 hour 30 minutes. It covers the vineyard, the new winery and the vat-house and ends with a guided tasting of two or three wines.

For rooms, the Saint-Émilion tourist office sorts its guest rooms and holiday rentals into three price bands: under €100 ($108), €100–200 ($108–216) and over €200 ($216). Ask each château for its room rate and what it includes when you book.

Before you go

• The Saint-Émilion tourist office strongly recommends booking château visits in advance, and some estates can only be visited by reservation.
• In the Médoc, unless a château clearly announces visits without an appointment, a visit is always by reservation, and some estates are booked up for several days.
• Château Margaux and Château Mouton Rothschild receive visitors Monday to Friday only and stop visits during the harvest. Château Margaux also closes in August.