Bordeaux itinerary for first-timers

The Gothic cathedral of Saint-André stands on a broad square at the western edge of the old town, and beside it, on its own, rises the Tour Pey-Berland, a 15th-century bell tower built apart from the church so that its bells would not shake the nave. A long spiral staircase climbs to a platform with the best view in the city: the cathedral roofs, the spires of Saint-Michel and the whole curve of the Garonne. Across the square is the Palais Rohan, an 18th-century archbishop's palace that is now the city hall.

• Cathédrale Saint-André
• Tour Pey-Berland
• View from the tower
• Palais Rohan

Climb the tower first thing; the staircase is narrow and the platform small, so it is far more pleasant before the late-morning groups arrive.

Two of Bordeaux's old city gates survive in the streets between the cathedral and the river. The Grosse Cloche, a twin-towered gate with a great bell hung between its pointed roofs, straddles Rue Saint-James and was once the belfry of the town hall. A few streets north, the Porte Cailhau is a slim, turreted gateway built in the 15th century to celebrate a French royal victory, and it opens straight onto the quay and the arches of the Pont de Pierre.

• Saint-Paul church
• Rue Saint-James
• Grosse Cloche
• Porte Cailhau
• Pont de Pierre

Saint-Pierre is the oldest corner of Bordeaux, a tangle of narrow streets behind the quays where the Roman port once was. At its heart, the Place du Parlement is an almost perfectly preserved 18th-century square of matching facades around a fountain, and a few steps away the Place Saint-Pierre gathers café terraces around a Gothic church. It is the natural place to stop for lunch and a canelé.

• Place du Parlement
• Place Saint-Pierre
• Église Saint-Pierre
• Old town lanes

Rue Sainte-Catherine, the long pedestrian shopping street, runs just to the west; the lanes of Saint-Pierre are the quieter way to cross the old town.

The Grand Théâtre, finished in 1780, fronts the Place de la Comédie with a row of twelve Corinthian columns topped by statues of the Muses and goddesses. It marks the corner of the Golden Triangle, the grid of grand avenues laid out in the 18th century between the theatre, Place Gambetta and Place Tourny, where the city's most elegant facades and shopping streets are.

• Grand Théâtre colonnade
• Place de la Comédie
• Cours de l'Intendance
• Golden Triangle

The Place de la Bourse opens the old town to the river: a long, symmetrical U of 18th-century palaces around the Three Graces fountain. In front of it, on the quay, the Water Mirror is a vast granite slab covered by a thin layer of water that alternates with clouds of mist, so the palace appears twice, once in stone and once upside down. Children splash across it in summer, and at dusk, when the facades light up, it is the most photographed view in Bordeaux.

• Place de la Bourse
• Three Graces fountain
• Water Mirror
• Garonne quays

Stay on until the lights come on; the reflection is sharpest when the water settles between two cycles of mist.

The Capucins is Bordeaux's main covered market, a big hall south of the old town full of fish and oyster counters, cheese, charcuterie, fruit and dried goods from the southwest. Early in the day it is where locals do their shopping, and it is the easiest place to taste the region's produce in one go.

• Covered market hall
• Oyster counters
• Local produce stalls

Weekend mornings are the busiest and most atmospheric; on weekdays it is calmer and easier to browse.

A few streets from the market, the Gothic basilica of Saint-Michel and its separate bell tower, one of the tallest spires in southern France, rise over a busy square where a street market and flea market set up on certain mornings. From there the quay leads north to the Pont de Pierre, the brick and stone bridge Napoleon ordered across the Garonne, with seventeen arches and long views back to the city's riverfront.

• Saint-Michel bell tower
• Basilica of Saint-Michel
• Place Saint-Michel
• Pont de Pierre

North of the Grand Théâtre, the Esplanade des Quinconces is one of the largest city squares in Europe, closed at its inland end by the Girondins monument, a tall column surrounded by bronze fountains of horses and allegorical figures. A short walk away, the Jardin Public is an 18th-century garden reworked in the English style, with a pond, lawns and shady paths, and it leads straight into the Chartrons.

• Esplanade des Quinconces
• Girondins monument
• Jardin Public

The Chartrons grew outside the old city walls as the quarter of the merchants who shipped Bordeaux wine around the world, and their tall limestone houses and cellars still line the streets behind the quay. Today Rue Notre-Dame is a slow, village-like street of antique dealers and small shops, the iron-framed Halle des Chartrons stands on a quiet square, and the spires of Saint-Louis-des-Chartrons rise above the rooftops.

• Rue Notre-Dame
• Halle des Chartrons
• Saint-Louis-des-Chartrons
• Quai des Chartrons

On Sunday mornings a market sets up along the Quai des Chartrons by the river.

Further north along the river, the old docklands of Bacalan have been turned into a new waterfront. Its landmark is La Cité du Vin, a museum of wine cultures from around the world whose golden, swirling tower is meant to evoke wine turning in a glass, with a viewing floor at the top. Around it, a covered food hall and the restaurants and shops of the riverside make an easy place to finish the day before walking back along the quays.

• La Cité du Vin
• Halles de Bacalan
• Bacalan waterfront
• Quai des Chartrons

Allow at least two hours inside La Cité du Vin; the visit ends with a glass on the top floor, looking out over the river.