Bordeaux: Our Own Excursions

[PrissyLovesCabs]

Hi, I'm appreciative of everyone's help on my prior Chateaux, Rivers and Wine post so I'm coming back for more advice. We're going to book this cruise within the next couple days (getting referral numbers from friends) for Oct 2016. We want to do the optional truffle hunt & lunch, as well as the included Chateaux Kirwin experience.

 

I wondered if anybody from this cruise ever booked their own transportation and scheduled their own chateaux visits in addition to some offered by Viking. If so, how did it work out? We were hoping to find some places other than those offered.

 

Thank you,

Donna

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We were in Bordeaux overnight on a cruise ship and did Saint Emilion, a casual bistro lunch and visits to two chateaux. It was terrific. We were a group of 6. I don't remember the name of the company and it was 9 years ago anyways, but it can be done. The visits to the chateaux were amazing because they were small ones and we got an intimate look at their operations and tasted their products. St. Emilion itself is a lovely town.

[pontac]

 

I wondered if anybody from this cruise ever booked their own transportation and scheduled their own chateaux visits in addition to some offered by Viking.

 

There are at least 2,000 Chateaux in the Bordeaux apellation. Some are world famous and impossible to visit unless in the business (ITB), others small family operations, some geared for tourists, some willing to take bookings.

 

You can book a trip in a shared 10 seater mini-bus with the tourist office (short walk from boat mooring in Bordeaux), and if you take up the implied offer in Viking's pre-tour itinery that the concierge can arrange visits to premier wineries, that's what he'll try and book for you.

 

So you should think about whether you have a favourite winery you want to visit, prefer red, white or sweet, merlot or cab dominate etc etc etc.

 

The arranged tours with Viking give a very good insight and spread of wineries, to two world famous ones, (Kirwan and one other just before -- both 'classed growth'), an excellent visit to a sweet wine vineyard and winery, and other wineries.

 

I arranged a private tour of Bordeaux wineries for me and my friend visiting from the USA a couple of years before my Viking trip. The guide had the contacts to get us into, and tasting from the barrel at Ch Mouton-Rothschild (!), as well as more humble places whose wines I had been buying. For a personalised trip contact Hamish Wakes-Miller (who is ITB and based there) at http://www.bellawines.co.uk (note: I have no connection except as a very satisfied customer)

[Bet & Peg]

Pontiac offers excellent advice! The dinner at Chateau Kirwin was an excellent experience and an included tour - I didn't care for the timing of the pre-Kirwin part and let Viking know here on these threads and also on their comment cards.

 

I would think a perfect match to this cruise itinerary - time permitting - would be a few days in Bordeaux with some private/small tours to additional vineyards.

 

We took the Rhone River cruise in 2012 mainly because of the wine regions it went through. In Avignon Viking offered 2 optional tours and we wanted to do both - Pont-du-Gard and Chateauneuf-du-Pape. So we decided to see Pont on the cruise and remained in Avignon 2 nights so we could take a small private tour through Chateauneuf-du-Pape - worked beautifully!!! Our guide - he only does the Rhone Valley - was excellent and we had a wine-tasting lunch that was fantastic!!

 

I think it would be hard to combine private tours during the cruise but if you carefully study the itinerary it might be possible. Just be aware that Viking could make last minute itinerary changes due to weather or tides - but with Today's cell phones that might still be workable!!

[jpalbny]

We visited Bordeaux a few years ago and had an overnight on a Silversea cruise ship, roughly noon to noon. We did something a little different from what others have described.

 

We took the tram to the train station and rented a car for 24 hours. The first afternoon, we drove to St-Emilion, did a crémant tasting (which was located in the ruins of a monastery on the edge of town), then wandered about the town for a while. There is a church tower to climb, and also a tour that includes a grotto and the underground / rock church. Unfortunately we missed the only English tour for the day (the ship was late docking) so we had to do the tour in French...

 

We headed back to Bordeaux in the evening, parked the car near the ship, walked all around town, and enjoyed the sunset.

 

The next morning, we headed to Sauternes for a visit to a Chateau (and some beautiful countryside). That was lots of fun - it was only the two of us, we had a nice tour of the vineyard and the wine-making facilities, and a leisurely tasting. Since we bought 2 bottles, she didn't charge the tasting and tour fee. After that, we visited Barsac for another wine tour, then headed back to Bordeaux to drop off the car and sail away.

 

It was very relaxing, the driving was pretty easy, and we enjoyed doing things at our own pace. IIRC, each place was under an hour's drive from Bordeaux. The tastings were small so no worries about driving, especially if you give yourself time between tasting and driving. I was able to arrange the chateau visits by e-mail.

[PrissyLovesCabs]

I love the responses (esp Mouton-Rothschild), how exciting! We have friends here in Key West who are ITB and were quite helpful during our two trips to Napa & Healdsburg. JPAlbny, the car rental is an interesting idea also. (Says the person who wouldn't do the driving and a dh who hates the thought of driving in another country, lol).

[merlot101]

two years ago we were on a Celebrity cruise with an overnight in Bordeaux. Bogdan Ghita took us around for an excellent tour. We did tastings on both sides of the river at small and large wineries. His web is bordeauxvertigo. Hope this helps

[id4elizabeth]

We were on the Viking cruise spring last year. We talked to the concierge as soon as we boarded about arranging wine tours for our last day, a free day in the city of Bordeaux. Every time I ran into the concierge I would remind him, and he would say he was working on it. On the last day he admitted he hadn't had time to work on it and didn't have anything for us. So we ended up spending a pleasurable day in the city instead. If you really want to do a private wine tour I would not count on the Viking concierge - I would have something pre-arranged, particularly if you want the premiere class wineries.

[PrissyLovesCabs]

We were on the Viking cruise spring last year. We talked to the concierge as soon as we boarded about arranging wine tours for our last day, a free day in the city of Bordeaux. Every time I ran into the concierge I would remind him, and he would say he was working on it. On the last day he admitted he hadn't had time to work on it and didn't have anything for us. So we ended up spending a pleasurable day in the city instead. If you really want to do a private wine tour I would not count on the Viking concierge - I would have something pre-arranged, particularly if you want the premiere class wineries.

id4elizabeth, thank you very much for sharing your experience! We will absolutely arrange everything private ourselves!