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What to do in Bandol?


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We were in Bandol earlier this year. We did a long inland trip to Les Baux de Provence and St. Remy de Provence. Almost anything in Provence should be accessible for a day trip as long as you don't mind the 1-2 hour drive... Cassis looked to be a very nice town and our guide mentioned that the Calanque National Parc is gorgeous. We picked up multiple bottles of wine to drink on board. The Bandol area is known for their reds while Cassis is known for white and rose.

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I was in Bandol last week. It was shopping with the chef day and we did that for the morning. There was wine tasting in the market we went to but not for me in the morning and after being on the ship for 17 days drinking wine (and more). After lunch we went to the beach for a swim and wandered around the town.

 

I don't know about wine tours from Bandol.

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I was in Bandol last week. It was shopping with the chef day and we did that for the morning. There was wine tasting in the market we went to but not for me in the morning and after being on the ship for 17 days drinking wine (and more). After lunch we went to the beach for a swim and wandered around the town.

 

I don't know about wine tours from Bandol.

Was the beach in walking distance and were you able to rent loungers and umbrella?

 

A few years ago, Captain Andersen told me that Cassis was one of his favorite ports. If it's not too far that might be the place to go.

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We were back in Bandol last week on the Encore. Having had a villa outside Bandol for many years, we know the area well.

It is famous for its roses (particularly Tempier, Ott and Salettes) and they are probably the best roses in France.

For whites Cassis is the best.

If you want places to visit, you must go to Le Castellet and La Cadiere, the latter being less touristy. You could also take the ferry to the Ile de Bendor (five minutes ride) for lunch (as we did) and for a nice beach.

If you want a good coffee, we also go to l'Amiral. Auberge du Port is a good fish restaurant, both adjacent to the daily market.

If you want to taste Bandol wines, there is a shop opposite the Casino where you can taste all the local wines.

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and La Cadiere, the latter being less touristy.

 

Yes, that is where we went for shopping with the chef. There was a small local market. Not many tourist there other than us which was nice (after Positano). I liked Bandol itself, it was nice to wander around.

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Is it fun to go wine tasting? Who would you use to take you?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

When in Bandol we organised a tour through this tour company.

 

http://bandolwinetours.com/english/shore-excursions.html

 

 

Richard's tours are very popular though so depending on how close your cruise is he may be booked out. We found this one year when I tried to book him about two weeks before a cruise. So the next time we were going to Bandol I booked a couple of months out.

 

Julie

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  • 2 weeks later...
We were in Bandol earlier this year. We did a long inland trip to Les Baux de Provence and St. Remy de Provence. Almost anything in Provence should be accessible for a day trip as long as you don't mind the 1-2 hour drive... Cassis looked to be a very nice town and our guide mentioned that the Calanque National Parc is gorgeous. We picked up multiple bottles of wine to drink on board. The Bandol area is known for their reds while Cassis is known for white and rose.

 

As someone who's spent a fair amount of time in the area, I say this is very good advice!

If you want a private wine tour, we did one as a cruise stop from Bandol (with Gaetane) several years ago. She was charming and took us to two beautiful wineries:

http://www.provencewinetours.com/private-tours/

Or if you don't mind driving, cars are easy to rent and the roads are good. We love St Remy and Les Baux.

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Sanary has a wonderful street market right on the seafront. We also thought about buying some Bandol Rose while in the area but were to lazy to carry the bottles back to the ship - now kicking ourselves, having tried some elsewhere!

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