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Bordeaux River Cruises

Bordeaux and Dordogne River Cruises

Explore the Bordeaux area of Aquitaine and the top French wine growing areas along the Dordogne and Garonne rivers, with excursions to chateaux and along the Wine Route and its famous vineyards.

The city of Bordeaux has long connections with the English and the wine trade. A World Heritage Site, Bordeaux has many 18th century buildings around the Grand Theatre and impressive facades lining the quays along the river. The city centre has extensive pedestrian areas and street cafes to enjoy the city bustle.

Cruise Collection 2024/ 2025/ 2026

Finding Cruises
  • Chateaux and Wine of Bordeaux

    Viking River Cruises
    Viking Forseti
    Place de la Bourse, Bordeaux 7 Nights Fly Cruise from £2495pp UK - Bordeaux (France), Cadillac, Libourne - Saint Emilion, Bourg - Blaye, Blaye - Pauillac, Bordeaux, Bordeaux - UK

    Discover scenic terraced vineyards, magnificent World Heritage Sites and spectacular architecture on this superb Dordogne, Garonne and Gironde rivers cruise on Viking Forseti. Includes excursions and flight package from the UK

  • Bordeaux Affair

    Scenic
    Scenic Diamond
    Bordeaux 7 Nights Cruise Only from £2532pp Exclusive special early booking discounts on 2025 cruises - call us for details! Bordeaux, Bordeaux > Saint-Émilion, Libourne, Blaye, Médoc, Cadillac, Bordeaux, Bordeaux

    From impressive chateaux to opulent architecture and verdant vineyards, this 7-night all-inclusive river cruise is the perfect way to explore the famous wine growing region of Bordeaux. Includes unique shore excursions and complimentary drinks

  • Bordeaux Wine Cruise

    CroisiEurope
    Cyrano de Bergerac
    St Emilion 4 Nights Cruise Only from £860pp Save 10% on 2025 cruises! Bordeaux (France), Bordeaux - Pauillac, Pauillac - Blaye, Blaye - Libourne or Bourg - Saint Emilion, Bordeaux
  • Bordeaux the Gironde and Wine Country

    CroisiEurope
    Cyrano de Bergerac
    Bordeaux Pont de Pierre 5 Nights Cruise Only from £995pp Save 10% on 2025 cruises! Bordeaux (France), Pauillac, Pauillac - Blaye, Blaye - Libourne - Saint Emilion, Libourne - Bordeaux
  • Christmas in Bordeaux

    CroisiEurope
    Cyrano de Bergerac
    Christmas Toast 4 Nights Cruise Only from £998pp Bordeaux, Cussac-Fort-Médoc, Blaye, Bordeaux, Libourne, Bordeaux
  • New Year in Bordeaux

    CroisiEurope
    Cyrano de Bergerac
    Bordeaux 4 Nights Cruise Only from £1197pp Bordeaux, Cussac-Fort-Médoc, Blaye, Libourne, Bordeaux
  • Cruise Through The Aquitaine Region

    CroisiEurope
    Cyrano de Bergerac
    Bordeaux 6 Nights Fly Cruise Package from £1521pp Save 10% on 2025 cruises! Bordeaux (France), Cussac-Fort-Medoc - Gironde Estuary, Royan - Rochefort - La Rochelle, Libourne, Bordeaux - Cadillac, Arcachon Bay, Bordeaux
  • Brilliant Bordeaux

    Uniworld
    Bon Voyage
    Bordeaux 7 Nights Fly Cruise from £2969pp Bordeaux, Cadillac, Pauillac, Blaye, Libourne, Bordeaux
  • Taste of Bordeaux

    AmaWaterways
    AmaDolce
    Saint Emilion 7 Nights Fly Cruise from £4565pp Exclusive special early booking discounts on 2025 cruises - call us for details! Bordeaux (France), Bordeaux - Libourne, Libourne - Blaye, Blaye - Bourg, Pauillac, Cadillac - Bordeaux

About Bordeaux River Cruises

This part of Aquitaine came under English control with the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II in 1152. The border with France was fortified by Henry II and his successors, leaving ancient castles and fortified medieval bastide towns across the landscape and overlooking the Gironde river. Returned to France in 1453 after the Hundred Years War, the whole area is packed with interesting historical sights.

There are some 10,000 wine producing chateaux in the Bordeaux region, including some of the most expensive wines in the world. Five ‘premier cru’ wines - Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Mouton Rothschild, Margaux, Haut-Brion are here. Visit Pauillac, capital of the Medoc area, and Blaye, both noted centres for wine culture.

Between the rivers Garonne and Dordogne is the Entre deux Mers wine area. Up the Garonne river from Bordeaux is Cadillac, a bastide town fortified by the English king in 1280 and subsequently a chateau built for the Dukes of Epernon. On the Dordogne call at the market town of Libourne, and from here or Cadillac travel to the village of St Emilion, noted for its catacombs and huge underground church as well as its wine.

The citadel at BlayeThe citadel at Blaye St EmilionSt Emilion

Bordeaux River Cruise Highlights

Here are a few highlights of a cruise from Bordeaux:

  • Stately wine châteaux along the River Dordogne
  • Blaye’s 17th-century citadel
  • The city of Bordeaux’s fine architecture
  • Bourg and its citadel castle
  • The fortified town of Cadillac
  • Libourne’s renowned vineyards
  • Pauillac and the Medoc wine region where some of the finest Bordeaux wines are produced
  • Meschers-sur-Gironde with its Troglodyte houses
  • St Emilion’s monolithic church carved out of limestone rock
  • Medieval Roquetaillade Castle

Bordeaux River Ports

Blaye

Blaye

Libourne

Libourne

Pauillac

Pauillac

Bordeaux Cruise Reviews

We very much enjoyed our recent cruise. The quality of the ship, the food and the staff were fabulous. Husbands very strict Gluten Free diet was very well catered for. Our favourite spot on the ship was the outside seating area at the back of the ship down the steps from top deck with its own little bar behind it. It was lovely to be sailing along enjoying the passing scenery and having a nice young lady serving you whatever drink you wanted.. all included in the price.

All the staff were very very pleasant and helpful, they worked together as a team very well and it was clear that they were a happy bunch.

Bordeaux is a great city and easy to get around using the tram system.

Just a note tosay how much we enjoyed our recent river cruise. The boat (Princess DAquitaine) was lovely, the crew friendly and the food fabulous. We were the only English passengers on board but were made very welcome by the crew, many who spoke English and went out of their way to ensure we were included in everything (we speak some French so were actually able to manage anyway). Even some of the French passengers chatted to us once they realised we could understand them a little! Raquel, the hostess, was particularly helpful and friendly, and if possible we would like you to send on our thanks to her at CroisiEurope. Also Jean Pierre the musician. He was from Durham so we were able to have some late night chats with him. The waiting staff were all attentive, in fact we found all the crew (25 of them) lovely - bar staff, cleaners, Purser etc. We would definitely recommend the company cruise, and are planning a trip on the Rhone cruise at a future date.

We enjoyed the cruise immensely. The boat, crew, food and service could not be faulted. Comparing it to last year on the Douro the only thing not so good was the show put on by the crew. Last years was more amusing and more professional. The pianist however was really good and we enjoyed his playing. We didnt find the Dordogne cruise so scenic and the two outings we went on were ok, but again the one in Portugal had much lovelier scenery and the fact that this time, the river was so much wider most of the time, made for less to see. The area is not so interesting. We were given some English translations on the tours but as we were only 4 English speakers on the boat and the other two didnt go on the tours, we realised that this was difficult. Having said that the guides were good and gave us as much time as they could. We did enjoy it and on board was someone who works at the head office in Strasbourg. She was on holiday but obviously interested to see how the cruise was doing. She told us that you were the best firm to deal with! If we cruise again next year we will book with you and probably use Croise Europe as their standards are so high.

Total Reviews: 7 Read More Reviews...