Saint-Émilion and Margaux Wine Tour: Both Banks in One Day

What Is Included

The listing states these inclusions: a guide who doubles as the driver, transport by air-conditioned minivan, 3 winery tours, a tasting of at least 8 wines, a walking guided tour of Saint-Émilion village, and a picnic at a château with local artisanal products plus 1 glass of wine. The listing names no separate château visit or tasting fee.

The picnic comes from an artisanal and traditional Bordeaux caterer using fresh local products. Your guide sets it up at a table while the morning tasting runs.

What You May Pay on the Day

Tips are not included and are the only item the listing names as extra. Bottles bought at the wineries are your choice and your cost. Bring a reusable water bottle and fill it in the morning, and wear comfortable shoes for the cobbled village lanes.

Lunch is included, so food needs no extra budget.

Out of Bordeaux and Into the Village

You meet at 2ter Rue Mably, 15 minutes before departure. The van leaves the centre of Bordeaux and drives about 1 hour to Saint-Émilion on the Right Bank. The village has been a UNESCO World Heritage site as a cultural landscape since 1999, the first vineyard landscape so listed, and it draws over a million visitors a year.

Saint-Émilion Village Walk, 1 Hour

Your guide walks you through the UNESCO-listed village and its historical monuments for about an hour. Expect steep cobbled alleys, known as mounds and escalettes. The listing mentions the village's historical monuments without naming them and includes no underground monument visit, so treat this as a walking tour rather than a monument visit.

First Château and 3 Wines, Then the Picnic

A 15-minute van hop takes you to a château for a guided visit and a 3-wine tasting, about 1 hour in total. While you taste, your guide prepares the picnic at a set table. You then have 1.5 hours for lunch: local artisanal products from a Bordeaux caterer and 1 glass of wine from the château.

This is the meal break, so eat properly here, because the afternoon still holds two more winery tastings.

Across to Margaux

After lunch the van drives about 1 hour to the left bank and the Médoc. The first stop there is a family-run winery in the Margaux appellation, with a guided visit and 3 wines over about 1 hour. Margaux covers 1,413 ha across five villages and its grapes ripen 7 to 10 days earlier than elsewhere in the Médoc.

Right Bank wines you tasted in the morning lean on Merlot, around 60% of a typical Saint-Émilion blend, so the Cabernet Sauvignon structure of these left-bank reds is a clear contrast.

Photo Stop at Château Margaux

Next the van stops by the famous Château Margaux, the commune's one First Growth, for photos. This is a photo stop, not a visit or a tasting, so do not expect to go inside.

Third Winery, Classified in 1855

The last stop is a winery classified in 1855 under the Napoleon classification, with a guided visit and a commented tasting of about 1 hour. The 1855 ranking was created for the Exposition Universelle in Paris at Napoleon III's request and lists 61 red estates, all but one of them in the Médoc. The drive back to Bordeaux takes about 1 hour, and the tour ends where it began at 2ter Rue Mably.

Under 16s, and Children Generally

The listing says the tour is not suitable for children under 16, and unaccompanied minors are not allowed. There is no family departure here. If you travel with children, the Saint-Émilion Village and Grand Cru Half Day accepts kids from 4 years old, with a ticket for every passenger.

Travellers Who Want Lunch and Tastings Separated

Lunch is a picnic, not a seated restaurant meal, and it shares its slot with a tasting. If you want a longer food experience, the Saint-Émilion and Médoc Day with Lunch is built around a picnic with more than 10 tastings.

Travellers Who Want Only One Region

This day covers two banks with several van legs of about 1 hour each. If you would rather go deep on the Right Bank, the Saint-Émilion day trip with three châteaux keeps the whole day there. If you only want the left bank, the Médoc Full-Day Wine Tour makes 3 visits at classified growth wineries in 8 hours.

Mobility and Practical Limits

There is no hotel pickup, so you walk or tram to 2ter Rue Mably yourself. Saint-Émilion's cobbled lanes are steep, and the listing asks for comfortable shoes. The group is capped at 8, so the day is social by design and you cannot hide in a coach.

The listing states nothing about wheelchair access. Wine tasting on an empty stomach is a real risk if you skip breakfast, since the picnic is the only meal of the day. And note that the wineries and schedule may vary: the operator says the quality stays the same, but the specific châteaux can change.

Book the day for the format, not for one named estate.

Finding 2ter Rue Mably

The meeting point is 2ter Rue Mably. For trams, lines B and C stop at Place des Quinconces, the city's main transport hub, where the Monument aux Girondins is a 54 m column built from 1894 to 1902. A single tram ticket costs €1.90 and the network runs from about 04:30 to midnight, seven days a week.

The listing asks you to arrive 15 minutes before departure.

Before or After the Tour

The CIVB Bar à Vin at 3 Cours du 30 Juillet is open Monday to Saturday from 11:00 to 22:00, with glasses of Bordeaux listed at low prices such as 2 glasses for €3. If you have a spare morning, tram line B also runs to La Cité du Vin, the wine museum in the Bacalan district, where the ticket includes a wine tasting.

If You Would Rather do Saint-Émilion Yourself

You can skip the tour for the Right Bank entirely: Bordeaux to Saint-Émilion by train takes 30 to 35 minutes from Gare Saint-Jean, with fares from about €10, and the walk from the station up to Saint-Émilion village is given as 20 to 30 minutes uphill by one guide and 25 to 30 minutes by another. That works well for a village-only day, though reaching scattered châteaux without a car is harder, which is exactly what a minivan tour solves.