If you are looking for a kid-friendly city trip, look no further. Bordeaux loves kids! During our road trip this summer, we visited Bordeaux for a day. Oh and we fell in love with this city! It’s like a mini version of Paris. The same vibe but smaller and more friendly. Beautiful old houses with shutters and french balcony’s, lot’s of green, designer shops,  amazing art, lovely food and of course, the Bordeaux wine makes it a perfect destination for a city trip. You can just feel the history of the city by strolling through the streets. We like to share with you our walking route through Bordeaux. We hope it inspires you!

BORDEAUX WALKING TOUR

We started our route at Rue Notre Dame. A very picturesque street with a mixture of vintage & antique shops (We scored some wooden Bordeaux wine boxes to use for the toys at home as a souvenir), coffee hotspots, boutiques and a couple of very cool interior shops. From Rue Notre Dame, we walked to the museum of Modern art, CAPC where we visited the retrospective of the Chilean artist Alejandro Jodorowsky.

After our cultural stop, we walked on Quai Louis XVIII with the Garonne river beside us. The kids loved watching the boats and they even saw a big cruise ship, but the highlight of the adventure was the Miroir d’Eau (water mirror) in front of Place de la Bourse. It’s an area that is covered with a thin layer of water, which gives it its mirroring effect. Every 15 minutes a system creates a fog which makes it even more magical. The kids loved splashing around in the water and cool off from the warm summer heat.

All this running  around in the water made us hungry so we started walking towards our lunch spot. We passed Reu des Lauries which has some fun shops and crossed the beautiful Le Place du Parlement. In a little side street, we found Le Petit Commerce where we had an amazing lunch. They serve the most delicious fresh fish and very good wines. Even the kids loved it (the fish not the wine).

After our lunch, we rolled to Rue de la Porte Dijeaux (via Rue du Pas-Saint-Georges and Rue des Remparts) and treated ourselves with one of the best ice creams we’ve ever tasted at Amorino! So many flavours to choose from, no artificial colours or flavourings and they make your ice cream look like a rose. How cool is that! After this sugar kick we gained enough energy to walk to Rue Guillaume Brochon, pass the amazing Opera National and finally walked back to where we parked our car. According to google maps our route should take one hour but it took us a whole day :-). We may not have seen everything, but we have experienced enough for Bordeaux to steal our hearts. Bordeaux est très beau!

WHAT TO DO:

  • Visit CAPC, the museum of moderns art,  7 Rue Ferrere, 33000 Bordeaux
  • Splash around in Le Miroir d’Eau
  • Just relax or have a picnic in the beautiful Jardin Public
  • Some wine tasting. The office du Tourism organizes excursions to wine regions like Médoc or Saint-Emilion or if you rather stay in the city check this list of the 10 best wine bars in Bordeaux from the Winerist.

WHERE TO EAT

  • Lunch & diner. Le Petit Commerce, 22 Rue Parlement St Pierre, 33000 Bordeaux +33 (0)5 56 79 76 58                 
  • Ice cream. Amorino 53 Rue de la Porte Dijeaux, 33000 Bordeaux

SHOPS:

  • Pia-Pia, boutique for men and woman ,  71 & 73 rue Notre Dame
  • R.K.R., interior & design, 73 rue Notre dame
  • Little Fabrik  family concept store, 17 rue Fondaudège
  • Bonton, kids concept store  9 bis, rue Guillaume Brochon
  • We Are Nothing, Gift shop,  1 rue des Lauriers
  • Le petit Souk, baby & children clothing + furniture, 26 Rue du Pas-Saint-Georges

We just visited Bordeaux for a day but if you would like to spend the night check out the trendy Mama Shelter . For more info and tips visit the website of Bordeaux tourism here.

(foto’s by Vesper and the Fox)