Nicola recently finished writing the new edition of Lonely Planet's Pocket Bordeaux guidebook, which is out in May 2024. Here she shares her expert opinion on visiting Bordeaux as a family.
Fellow parents, forget the extraordinary wine for a brief moment (although there’s always grape juice for the kids). With its giddy mix of sweeping green spaces, river life, interactive museums and casual dining scene, Bordeaux tops the French charts for urban exploration en famille.
All too often, families seeking a baptism in French joie de vivre hit the country’s capital. Number one top tip: Bordeaux’s smaller size and more accommodating, provincial vibe make it an easier nut to crack.
This is a city with mountains of space for all ages – energy-burning tot to tech-smart teen – to paddle in puddles, toot bicycle bells, flip tricks in the skatepark, let off steam and have an all-around blast. Visit at the weekend and you’ll find yourself surrounded by Bordelais families, also making the most of their enchanting, dynamic playground of a city.
Why is Bordeaux good for kids?
How can a city whose signature gâteau (cake) is sandcastle-shaped be anything other than kid-friendly? Bordeaux’s super-efficient mix of trams, riverboats and bicycles make getting around a breeze – and fun to boot. With the exception of the old-world neighborhood Chartrons, and medieval St-Pierre and St-Paul, pavements are generally wide and easy to navigate with a pram or pushchair; bring a sling/baby carrier for historic quartiers (neighborhoods).
Many restaurants offer a good-value menu enfant (children’s menu for kids under 12), which, coupled with the city’s smorgasbord of cafes, casual bistros and pavement terraces, make eating out with children reasonably relaxed.
Weekend brunch is big with Bordelais families. The Saturday brunch buffet at Le Gabriel’s informal bistro Le 1544 on place de la Bourse, with playful entertainment for younger children, is a swish family favorite. On the right bank, Magasin Général at eco-driven Darwin – with kids’ play corners, ping pong and table football in the courtyard, and a skatepark in an old hangar – is a wildly popular weekend hangout for all budgets.
State museums are free to those under 18 and tiny travelers under five can ride public transport for free. Families keen to sightsee should consider a Bordeaux City Pass (24/48/72 hours adult €34/44/50, 6–17yrs €19/26/31) covering public transport, a city tour and admission to 15 major museums.
Where is best in Bordeaux for kids?
Keeping the entire clan happy is the key to family travel: cruising riverside along silky-smooth quays on foot or by bicycle, splashing around in the “magic mirror” of the world’s largest reflecting pool, delving into the world of wine at the interactive La Cité du Vin (lots of smelling for under sevens, a superb digital children’s tour for kids aged eight to 12, and tasting workshops for parents) all do just that.
Paris might have macarons, but Bordeaux seduces the sweet-toothed with canelés (bite-sized cakes flavored with vanilla and an exhausted-parent-fortifying splash of rum), dunes blanches (“white dunes” aka sugar-dusted balls of choux pastry stuffed with whipped cream) and historic chocolate shops much appreciated by all ages.
Best things to do in Bordeaux with babies and toddlers
Play hide-and-seek in the Jardin Public
Make a beeline for the vast space your toddler needs – preferably not within tumbling distance of the swirling Garonne river – in Bordeaux’s elegant city park dating from 1755.
Be it sitting on a bench with baby in pram and peacefully watching local life mill by, tracking rare beasts in Bordeaux’s state-of-the-art natural history museum (kids under six can enjoy their own dedicated Musée des Tout-Petits on the ground floor), or catching an outdoor puppet show in July and August, this flower-festooned park doesn’t disappoint.
A duck pond and playground are the icing on the cake. Shop for a picnic beforehand at the city’s covered market Marché des Capucins to enjoy on the pea-green lawns.
Devour ice cream on a medieval square
Navigating St-Pierre’s narrow, cobbled streets with a pushchair is challenging, but on the upside, there is no motorized traffic to worry about when inquisitive tots dart off in all directions. There’s also organic ice cream to enjoy at La Maison du Glacier on pretty place St-Pierre: green tea, almond, absinthe, acacia, cheesy Roquefort, black garlic and beer are wilder flavors to keep grown-ups on their toes.
Splash barefoot in the Miroir d’Eau
What's not to love about dancing and scampering barefoot in the world's largest reflecting pool across the tram tracks from 18th-century place de la Bourse? It keeps hot-and-bothered tots cool on summer days and casts a different perspective on the iconic square’s grandiose architecture.
Aim for the end of the day, when the softer early-evening sun turns everything gold and the insanely stylish bar at gourmet Le Gabriel serves apéritif drinks and nibbles on its sublime pavement terrace.
Best things to do in Bordeaux with young kids
Cruise along the Garonne River
Pair a fun boat cruise along the river with a visit to the Musée Mer Marine in Bassins à Flot. Aspiring pirates and seafarers will be awestruck by the 7m-tall (23ft) shark hanging in front of the entrance. Inside, contemporary exhibits dive into the marine world, naval battles, the history of navigation, and oceanography.
Watch, learn and play in city museums
Bordeaux spoils with its choice of museums. The comprehensive Musée d’Aquitaine is one of the most colorfully curated history museums in France; focus on just a couple of sections to avoid museum fatigue (the rooms devoted to discovery at sea and the trade of enslaved people in the 19th century, with model ships et al, are particularly well curated).
Other museum must-dos: a themed activity workshop at the science museum CAP Sciences and unearthing ghoulish finds in an ancient necropolis at the Site Archéologique de St-Seurin.
Scamper up towers for dizzying skyline views
The kids can count the steps and play “I Spy” at the top, while les parents are rewarded with uplifting city panoramas. Scaling the 233 steps inside the cathedral’s freestanding bell tower is free for under 18s. Porte Cailhau is a less demanding choice for shorter legs and parents with babes in slings.
Best things to do in Bordeaux with tweens and teens
Unearth digital art and works by urban street artists
The historic wine-trading district of Chartrons sizzles with rogue urban art – tucked down alleyways, on building facades, in hidden courtyards. Other prime spots to poke around for stencil art, aerosol paintings and wall murals by French and international artists are Darwin in La Bastide and around Les Vivres d’Art and Le Garage Moderne in Bacalan.
On quai de la Paludate, in the burgeoning Euratlantique district behind Gare St-Jean, hunt for the trademark half-human, half-animal character of Bordeaux’s most prolific street artist David Selor. Be prepared to be blown away by the immersive digital art shows projected onto bare concrete at WWII submarine base turned art venue Les Bassins de Lumières.
Dare taste buds to taste new flavors
Bordeaux cooks up some memorable gustative experiences, guaranteed to thrill, stun and occasionally shock. Ditch the unadventurous kids’ menu (usually served up to 12 years) for freshly shucked Atlantic Ocean oysters for breakfast at Marché des Capucins; sanguette (pig-blood pancake with duck neck and a garlicky, parsley sauce) for lunch at La Tupina; and lamproie à la Bordelaise (a red-wine stew made from lampreys, a local, eel-like sucker fish) for dinner in an old-town bistro in St-Pierre perhaps. All three meals may be a little too challenging for tiny diners but dare to try one at least.
Join local riders on ramps and artificial waves
Teenage rollerbladers, skateboarders and BMX riders congregate at the open-air, riverside Skate Parc des Chartrons and in an upcycled industrial hangar at Darwin across the water. Or keep older teens on their toes with urban surfing in an artificial wave pool at Wave Surf Café.
Planning tips
- Time your visit for the first Sunday of the month when admission to many state museums and monuments, including Tour Pey Berland and Musée d’Aquitaine, is free.
- In downtown St-Pierre, find baby changing facilities inside the department store Galeries Lafayette on the main shopping street rue Ste-Catherine.
- Wide, safe cycling lanes follow the Garonne’s left bank for 4.5km (2.8 miles). Rent children’s bicycles and inline skates at Pierre qui Roule; reserve online.
- Bordeaux tourist office organizes reams of family-friendly, themed walking and cycling city tours (street art, Roman history, fairy tales and legends, gastronomy, wine). On the river, think river cruises and fishing trips. Book ahead.
