Food and Wine Tours with Kids in and around Bordeaux

While many of our Bordeaux tours are created with adults in mind, we are seeing the importance of finding ways to include our smaller travellers. Aquitaine Travel Guide is happy to help you plan a trip with your children that can include not only a family friendly food tour, but excursions into the countryside to farms to meet animals and run around in the fresh air! Contact us to help plan your trip contact@aquitainetravelguide.com

Chandeleur and Crepes

The tasty aspect of this holiday, Chandeleur here in France, is the great amount of crêpes made, in each household, following a different recipe. My father in law is self-appointed crepe-master. He prepares, like every year, the batter 24 hours in advance, mixing fresh eggs, flour, butter, a pinch of salt and a mix of rum and pastis. There is no sugar in our mix, as the sweet will be added after being cooked.

La Camargue Estuary and Le Grau du Roi

Our first stop was for a carriage ride (balade en caleche) through the estuary, at Marais du Vigueirat. We took the tour in the late afternoon and it was rather hot this June day, so I would recommend an earlier morning visit. It was around an hour long and all in French, but the scenery was incredible and we learned a lot. Especially how important the role of the black bulls are. The course Camargue (bull fights) held in the Camargue are not to the death and the 'Razeteurs' (bull fighters) are less important than the bull.

The Palombiere and Wild Pigeon (Palombe) hunting in France

My in laws tell me that back in the day in South-West France, during the months of October and November, there were so many people hunting wild pigeons (when the birds migrate flying from the northern lands towards the Iberian peninsula), that it was not possible to get married because the priest would have been at the palombiere.

Bordeaux and the Gironde Estuary

We visited the east bank of the estuary right before the summer break in 2021, crossing from our home in Gironde into the department of Charente Maritime, luckily when restaurants were just restarting their on-site service. Being so close to the water, it was no surprise to learn how important the fishing sector has been throughout the years, with a few typical varieties getting the podium: the Lamprey, the Meagre (that, despite the name is of XXL size and can weight up to 55kg) and the Sturgeon that is a protected specie since 1982, after being overfished to the point of risking extinction in barely 60 years since the French "discovery" of caviar.

Largest Sand Dune in Europe near Arcachon

Located just west of Bordeaux, between the Landes pine forest and the Atlantic ocean, the mighty dune du Pilat is a great place to view both land and sea! It is almost 3km long, just a little over 106 meters high and more than 600 meters wide. Each year the measurement has to be recalculated, as the dune is still in movement and it continues to advance inland, through the forest from one to five meters per year.

What to do When Visiting Bordeaux

Built along the Garonne river, the historic part of the city is found on the left bank. If it feels like a mini Paris, you wouldn't be mistaken. 'Modern' 19th century Paris was modeled after 18th century Bordeaux. Even the Paris Opera was inspired by the Bordeaux Opera house. My favorite area to wander is probably along the narrow streets between the Grosse Cloche and the Eglise Saint Pierre. It's a great area to wonder around and find some of the old Medieval buildings on streets with names like 'Rue du Loup', named after the trades of people who used to work on them, in this case selling wolf skins. You can taste historic dishes like lamproie a la Bordelaise at the oldest restaurant La Tupina or more modern and unique meals at chef owned restaurant C'Yusha.

Guide to a Week in Sardinia, Italy

After a year of partial confinement in the French countryside, we looked forward being at sea as much as possible. Luck was on our side when friends told us they were going to Sardinia and accommodation in their same residence was available, at friend's discounted rate. Sardinia / Sardenga is an island south of the French island of Corsica. It is often thought of being filled with yachts belonging to the rich and famous. It's so much more, the natural landscapes and seemingly endless supply of beaches make it a nature lovers paradise.

Cap Ferret and Village l’Herbe

Where do you go to get away from it all? One of the great escapes for someone living in Bordeaux, or Gironde as a whole, is a trip to the Atlantic Coast. One of my favorite places is Cap Ferret, a peninsula that offers both Atlantic coast beaches and Bassin d'Arcachon shores which are perfect for small children. Granted, during high season it can be a like Saint Tropez in summer...filled with people, cars and boats.

Lanzarote and the Canary Islands Spain

...after flying over water to see this barren island in the middle of nowhere, with clear skies, we were all excited about our adventure...the apartment we stayed at on the North Coast. It was a perfect escape from the world. What is great about Lanzarote, most everything you'll want to see is outside and the wind blows year round so it's fresh air all the time. It is a rough, moon-like landscape due to a large volcanic eruption almost three-hundred years ago (smaller one since). It's not a tropical island, but it has its own wild beauty.

Langon, Verdelais, and Saint-Croix-du-Mont with Lost in Bordeaux

Gironde has so many beautiful places to visit, some of my favorite (especially in the summer months) are the Langon market (Friday), Verdelais, and Saint-Croix-du-Months. Ira of Lost in Bordeaux came with me a few weeks ago and her talents created a really fun video of some of my favorite places. I wanted to share the addresses and a few more if you should end up that way! A day trip from Bordeaux in Southeast Gironde / Discovering the Southwest of France - YouTube

Traveling with Kids in Aquitaine

There are unlimited amounts of things to do with children in Aquitaine, from Atlantic coast beaches to Bordeaux parks and museums. It's a very family friendly area, with lots of great camping grounds in all price ranges (the French version of a holiday home/camping/vacation park). Most larger French towns have a beautiful old carousel which kids adore, good parks and public pools.

Travel by Camper Van in France

I was hooked almost straight away. Even though we didn’t travel far and wide with that first trip, I loved the idea of the freedom and flexibility a CV would give us. I couldn’t stop thinking about how useful it would be to own one, especially here in the Nouvelle Aquitaine with so many wonderful places to visit literally on our doorstep. Not only could we go on long summer holidays, we could also decide on a whim to take a weekend break or overnight stop to the coast, or the mountains if the weather is good.

Train Travel in France During Covid by The Petit Guide

Over the summer, travel restrictions were lifted in Europe, and after months in a tiny city apartment, my family craved fresh air and nature. Our summer plans initially included an epic vacation in Africa… we held out hope until a few months before departure when it became clear CoVid-19 was not going away anytime soon. After a short mourning period, we jumped into action – what trip would get us out of the city, without much risk of losing money to cancelations or spreading germs? After much debate – we settled on a circuit between France and Switzerland, exclusively by train. This seemed like both the safest health wise (unless you can travel by car), and the least risky financially.

Agen, in the land of Prunes

Upon entering the tourist office in Agen, you are greeted with a selection of local goods which consists of Prunes (dried plums) in multiple forms. However, Agen is full of other delicious foods, timbered houses, and carved stone hotel particuliers, an impressive art museum, and a really unique canal/aqueduct system built in the mid-1800s that is still in use today.

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