Cycling in Bordeaux, France - Hans on the Bike

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Bordeaux is probably not your first choice as a European destination, but if you want to avoid the crowds and you are craving for some cycling after a cold Canadian winter, Bordeaux in France might be the right choice for you.

Last year, in spring, we went cycling in Bordeaux, France. We flew to Amsterdam to visit family for a few days and from there we took the high speed train to Paris in just over three hours. We had a late lunch in (rainy) Paris and then continued by T.G.V. from Gare Montparnasse in the south west of Central Paris to Bordeaux, 600 km away, in a mind boggling two hours.

A large glass covered train station with several trains waiting in Bordeaux — We travelled by TGV and arrived at 8:15 pm in full day light at the St. Jean Central Station

A baker is working at an oven while a cart with dozens of fresh baguettes is waiting behind him — First course of action next morning: buy a baguette at the local bakery

A dozen bikes are parked in Bordeaux along the side of the road. Cycling in Bordeaux, France is very attractive — Bikes everywhere, both parked and on the move

We chose the city in southwestern France because we had never been in that corner of the country. We also didn’t really know what to expect. We had been reading up on it and discovered that besides the obvious wine reputation, it also had a pretty good cycling infrastructure from what we could see. After so many months without much cycling in Ottawa, we could use some spring cycling. First thing we noticed: everything is so green already.

Cycling in Bordeaux, France: A woman cycling in gold pants along the Garonne river in Bordeaux — The boulevard along the Garonne sees a lot of residents moving by bike. It is direct, safe and peaceful to bike here

A modern electric tram runs on tracks that have grass in between them — On some stretches the trams don’t have a catenary. They pull their power from the centre strip in the ground (not dangerous for peds, I stood on it). This is done where the catenary can be an eyesore in front of historic buildings

a child running through a few cm of water against the back drop of 19th century public buildings — Miroir d’eau: a lovely place to hang out, Kids and adults walk and play in the water. Bonus, you can’t drown in half an inch of water. There are water spouts surprising the kids when they come on all of a sudden

I can report back that Bordeaux is a really nice city to visit. In fact, we learned that more and more Parisians move to Bordeaux. With the T.G.V., the 600 km is only a two hour commute after all nowadays. A bit like getting from Stittsville to downtown Ottawa. And if you only have to be at work once or twice a week, why not? The city doesn’t have the crazy numbers of tourists you read about in places like Lisbon, Barcelona, Paris or Florence. You still feel like you walk through a city that is not converted into one big AirBnB theme park.

Routes to bike in Bordeaux

Cycling is not broadly advertised as a thing to do in Bordeaux, although bikes do appear in several promotional images, and we found it quite hard to find good cycling information and GPX routes online that would use (protected) cycling infrastructure, would be a loop, rather than in and out on one country road and wasn’t more than around 40 km. The info is there, but a bit scattered.

Eventually, we found a place that focused on alternative transportation options: the Bordeaux Métropole Maison Métropolitaine Des Mobilités Alternatives (MAMMA), a hub for sustainable urban mobility. We dropped in one afternoon. The staff were helpful and gave us maps with routes. The problem with those route maps was though that they were kind of high level without much reference points. So that evening I compared the routes with Google Maps and I was able to convert the paper suggestions to GPX files in Komoot by carefully comparing intersections and roundabouts and angles of roads, parks and rivers.

Karen in blue rain gear with her bike standing in front of a sing saying Itinerary Norvege - Espagne. The surroundings look wet — We picked up our bikes on a Saturday afternoon and kept them until Tuesday afternoon. We just happened to bike a tiny bit of the #3 route from Norway to Spain that runs through Bordeaux. I love they actually have a sign

a variety of breads is displayed behind glass in a bakery — One of the many Instagramable bakeries in the city. It is so hard not to stop at each one, so we allowed ourselves one visit per day for a mid day coffee. Subtle, but the Covid glass is still there and tastefully designed in metal as if it has always been part of the store

Renting bikes at Pierre qui roule

After several pleasant walks in different areas of Bordeaux during the first days, we eventually rented bikes for a few days for some day touring. We picked ‘Pierre qui roule’ for the reviews and it’s central location. Karen wanted an e-bike and I decided to do the same because we weren’t entirely sure how hilly the outskirts were and I really don’t like hills. In hindsight, I could have cycled on a regular bike.

A castle is surrounded by grape vines and trees — One of the many châteaux, château Haut Bergey in wine country

The owners of Pierre qui roule (which translate both as Rolling Stone and Rollin’ Pete I guess) were very friendly and took all the time of the world to help us. The company can also set you up with a multi-day bike trip along the Canal du Midi. They will pick up your rental bike if you decided you want to do it one way only.

A young woman with reddish long hair in jeans and T shirt stands next to Hans on the bike, who is wearing shorts and a light blue long sleeve shirt. They are surrounded by bikes in a tight store. — At *Pierre qui roule* with one of the owners

First bike ride in Bordeaux

Our first ride (35 km) sent us through the neighbourhood we were staying, along the Garonne, over a bridge across the Garonne and after Floirac and suburban areas into the modest hills. We entered rolling wine country with narrow farm roads and the odd château. We followed a rail to trail route for a while and passed a converted railway station where we stopped for coffee and cake. Here is the ride on Komoot (slightly adjusted as we started from a suburb).

A sone building with a red roof, formerly a train station and now a cafe-restaurant. Several people are sitting in front of the building on the patio enjoying drinks — Former railway station where we stopped for drinks on our first day of cycling, outside Bordeaux on the right bank of the Garonne

Second bike ride in Bordeaux

Our second ride (30 km) went south of Bordeaux through suburbia into an area with a number of châteaux. This route was partly on protected infrastructure or quiet roads. As May is not a particularly busy tourist time, several châteaux weren’t open (not that we were going to stop at every château), but we did find one, Château La Louvrière, that was open and where we were the only visitors.

We were free to bike on the property’s unpaved paths between the vines and we had a half hour chat with a staff person. We talked about terroir, the challenging market conditions, the LCBO and tasted two wines while sitting on the patio underneath the trees. To be honest, I hesitate to visit wineries for the expectation of buying wine as I really don’t feel like buying wine, but there was no pressure at all here. Here is the ride in Komoot (also somewhat adjusted). If you only have one day to bike, I’d pick this ride.

Two bottles of on a table outside from the PEssac Leognan region, just south of bordeaux — Wine tasting at Château La Louvrière. After a day of cycling all wines tastes great

Hans on the bike on a bike cycling between grapevines, now that is picture perfect Cycling in Bordeaux, France

Third bike ride in Bordeaux

The third ride (35 km) was more urban along busier roads, but often on separated pathways. It brought us to the north end of the city to a large park and back via several hip neighbourhoods. This was the least interesting one, but it is always nice to just be out on the bike, although we suspect we cycled past a landfill at some point. Later, I discovered this is near the end point of line E, which is a great starting point for yet another 30 km loop further north into the Medoc area.

Hans on the bike in front of the outside of a large building that says Velodrome stadium on the outside in large letters — The large park also has a Velodrome, a dream several people would like to realise in Ottawa too

Cycling is a big thing in Bordeaux and we very much enjoyed cycling in the Bordeaux area. It ranks 80th out of nearly 3000 cities that US Based People for Bikes ranks every year. For the record, Ottawa ranks 324th and Gatineau ranks 141th. But to be honest, cycling in Bordeaux has more je ne sais quoi. We saw bikes everywhere all the time in the older parts of the city. There is quite a lot of bike infrastructure, from really old narrow lanes to brand spanking new pathways. Many one way streets in the old core are two ways for cycling. There is a very wide pedestrian and cycling boulevard along the Garonne where people bike, jog, walk, sit and watch the world go by.

We dropped by at the large L’Eco Système Darwin. It was set up in the old Niel military barracks in 2007 and has become the second-most visited site in Bordeaux, just after the Miroir d’eau. It is repurposed for shops, artists, a bakery, a skate park, a second hand shop and other cool stuff. Definitely worth a visit for its relaxed vibe. Take the ferry and throw in a few stops so you get to experience the Garonne for the price of a transit ticket

We saw some interesting cargo bike set ups

We really fell in love with life in Bordeaux. People had warned us it is a boring city, but we didn’t find that at all. As I mentioned before, it doesn’t have the crowds and it still has a considerable old core with narrow cobblestone streets, historic buildings, museums, small specialized retail stores, small and large squares, countless patios, ice cream shops, bakeries, a large covered market, a flea market, several tram lines with dedicated space and many bus routes and a bike share system.

I will write more specifically about cycling infrastructure in Bordeaux in a follow up post. It made me think somewhat of Ottawa-Gatineau’s network, although Bordeaux’ urban network is better developed I felt, but not complete either. And in Bordeaux too, some politicians are pushing back against the loss of parking:

“Philippe Dessertine and Thomas Cazenave thus declare themselves against the reduction in street parking, the Macronist candidate recalling that he proposes a moratorium on the removal of surface spaces “in order to identify needs and solutions”. It conditions the construction of a bike path on a clean site on the boulevards to a feasibility study according to the width of the tracks. (Auto translated from French). Source:

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