| Bordeaux-Mérignac airport is 12km west of the city and is connected by half-hourly shuttles to the main tourist office (30–45min; €5.34). Arriving by train, you'll find yourself at the gare St-Jean, with its own small tourist office (May–Oct Mon–Sat 9am–noon & 1–6pm, Sun 10am–noon & 1–3pm; Nov–April Mon–Fri 9.30am–12.30pm & 2–6pm; tel 05.56.91.64.70), right at the heart of a somewhat insalubrious area, nearly 3km south of the city centre; buses #7 or #8 run into the centre. Single-journey tickets are available on the buses (€1.14), but it's cheaper if you buy a carnet of ten from a tabac (€8.40), or an unlimited-use ticket for one to five days from the transport office at 4 rue Bonnac. You must punch your ticket on the bus; carnet tickets are then valid for one hour, during which period you can change bus up to four times, re-punching the ticket each time. There's no central gare routière, but most regional bus services terminate on the north side of the esplanade des Quinconces. The new tram system, due to open in autumn 2003, will doubtless make it easier and quicker to get into the city. In the meantime, however, the resulting roadworks make arriving in Bordeaux by car a daunting prospect. Bordeaux's main tourist office, near the Grand Théâtre on 12 cours du 30-Juillet (Nov–April Mon–Sat 9am–6.30pm, Sun 9.45am–4.30pm; May–June & Sept–Oct, Mon–Sat 9am–7pm, Sun 9.30am–6.30pm; July & Aug Mon–Sat 9am–7.30pm, Sun 9.30am–6.30pm; tel 05.56.00.66.00, www.bordeaux-tourisme.com), can book accommodation free of charge, and it has useful information on the city and surrounding vineyards, to which it also arranges Tours. The tourist office for the Gironde region is at 21 course de l'Intendance (tel 05.56.52.61.40, www.tourisme-gironde.cg33.fr). The area right by the station – particularly rue Charles-Domercq and cours de la Marne – is full of one- and two-star hotels, though this is not the most appealing area to stay. Better to head for the city centre, where there's a good choice, from the basic to the luxurious. Rooms are generally not difficult to come by, with the notable exception of the week of the Vinexpo trade fair (in odd-numbered years) and Fête du Vin (in even-numbered years) in June, when Bordeaux is packed to the gunnels.
Pages in section ‘Arrival’: Hotels, Hostel and campsite.
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