Museums · Bordeaux · France
4 best museums in Bordeaux
The collections worth your time, how long each takes and how to fit them together.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Prométhée33, CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answer
Start with La Cité du Vin, Musée d'Aquitaine and CAPC musée d'art contemporain. Together the 4 picks below take roughly 6–9 hours across 3 areas; all charge for entry.
Key facts
- Places in this guide
- 4
- Free entry
- 0
- Time to see them all
- 6–9 hours
- Areas
- Bassins à Flot, Victoire and Chartrons
Museums in Bordeaux
Museum · Bassins à Flot
1.La Cité du Vin
Opened in 2016 in a swirling gold-toned building on the Garonne, the Cité du Vin is a museum of world wine culture rather than a Bordeaux tasting room.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Iconic
- Rainy day
- Views
- Food
- Architecture
Museum · Victoire
2.Musée d'Aquitaine
The regional history museum runs from prehistory, including the carved Venus of Laussel, through Roman Burdigala to Bordeaux's port trade.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Rainy day
- Art
Gallery · Chartrons
3.CAPC musée d'art contemporain
Bordeaux's contemporary art museum occupies the Entrepôt Lainé, an 1820s warehouse built to store colonial goods such as coffee, cocoa and sugar.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Art
- Architecture
- Rainy day
Museum · Bassins à Flot
4.Cap Sciences
A hands-on science centre in a former riverside hangar near the Chaban-Delmas bridge, with changing interactive exhibitions on technology, the body and the environment and a dedicated area for younger children.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- Rainy day
Grouped by area
| Area | Places | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Bassins à Flot | La Cité du Vin and Cap Sciences | 2–3 hours + 1.5–2 hours |
| Victoire | Musée d'Aquitaine | 1.5–2 hours |
| Chartrons | CAPC musée d'art contemporain | 1–1.5 hours |
Booking and timing
Of these 4, 3 low cost, 1 mid-priced. Book ahead for La Cité du Vin. The longest visit is La Cité du Vin; group the rest by area to save travel time.
- La Cité du Vin: Timed tickets can sell out on summer weekends and holidays; buy online a few days ahead.
How to fit them into 2 half-days
Grouped by area and kept to about four hours each, so you walk more than you ride.
- Half-day 1 (Bassins à Flot): La Cité du Vin → Cap Sciences, at least 4 hours.
- Half-day 2 (Victoire and Chartrons): Musée d'Aquitaine → CAPC musée d'art contemporain, at least 3 hours.
The quietest months for queues
- February: highs of 12°C (54°F), about 10 rainy days, very quiet crowds. Still cool and grey, but one of the least expensive months; vineyards are bare and being pruned.
- January: highs of 10°C (50°F), about 12 rainy days, very quiet crowds. Cool and often damp, with short days; museums and wine bars are quiet and hotel prices are low.
- March: highs of 15°C (59°F), about 10 rainy days, quiet crowds. Days lengthen and café terraces reopen on sunny afternoons, though showers are frequent.
The neighbourhoods they are in
- Chartrons — Old wine-merchant quarter with antiques, brunch cafés and a Sunday quay market
- Victoire — Student bars around Place de la Victoire at the south end of Rue Sainte-Catherine
- Bassins à Flot — Former docks turned new district with the Cité du Vin and the submarine base
More of Bordeaux
Questions travellers ask
+Where should I start in Bordeaux?
La Cité du Vin. Opened in 2016 in a swirling gold-toned building on the Garonne, the Cité du Vin is a museum of world wine culture rather than a Bordeaux tasting room.