Day 1: Arrival in Bordeaux and transfer to Saint-Emilion
Arrive in Bordeaux train station or Airport. Taxi transfer to your hotel in St-Emilion. Delivery of the route notes.
Day 2: Saint-Emilion vineyards, ~10 or 15 km
You will begin your week with a hiking day in the jurisdiction of St-Emilion. All around the city extends the vines: Châteaux and wine properties, like Petrus or château La Clotte or Beau Séjour, draw up themselves there, well planted in the grounds, proud of their history and the men who set them up. The circuit leads through the characteristic landscape of the comb as well as specificities of the vineyards. Exceptional site formed by a succession of comb covered with vines. This landscape was the first “no architectural” site, classified by the world heritance of UNESCO. Depending on you willingness, you can visit and taste the Château du Clos de la Madeleine (great classified vintage), located on your course.
Day 3: Saint-Emilion Exceptional medieval village (UNESCO world heritage)
In the morning, there is a private guided visit of one of the oldest wineries of Saint-Emilion. This winery is one of the jewels of St. Emilion: The Couvent des Jacobins followed by a wine tasting of 3-4 great wines of Saint-Emilion and Pomerol.
In the afternoon you will have a guided tour of the underground monuments of the city. Built in amphitheater and true museum in the open air, the town of Saint-Emilion will astonish you. Its troglodyte tradition is seizing: a single church monolith in the world, more than 70 hectares of underground galleries dug in the calcareous rock. The monuments and vestiges of the great Roman time follow one another along the steeps lanes, defying the rules of time the most established. In the afternoon.
At the end of the afternoon, there is a taxi transfer to Camiran in the “Entre-Deux-Mers” vineyard. The dinner and night is in guesthouse.
Day 4: Saint-Martin-de-Lerm > Caudrot, ~15 km
The Entre-Deux-Mers area, between the Dordogne and the Garonne rivers, is a triangle of ground, water and stones which surprises by its cultural variety. You will cross a part of this vineyard which profits from an exceptional geographical site on the slopes dominating the valley of the Garonne. At the end of the afternoon, you will arrive at a place down the Garonne Valley.
At the end of the walk in Caudrot, return transfer to yout previous accommodation, dinner, in your guesthouse.
Day 5: Along the Garonne to Saint-Macaire, ~10-13 km
You will walk in a landscape of greenery, along the vines and estuary of the Gironde. Castles and fishermen huts of the area offer astonishing sights. You will be able to make a halt in the small port and its locks marking the departure of famous “Canal du Midi”, linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The footpath lead you directly to one of the doors of the medieval city of St Macaire, site protected by the historic buildings since 1965. You will take time to visit by your own this village.
Day 6: Loop Saint-Macaire > Sainte Croix du Mont, ~8 or 16 km
Above Saint-Macaire the hills open splendid scenic views. One guesses there the dark spots of the tobacco drying sheds. In this landscape of hills and small valleys, the vines succeed the meadows and the thickets of leafy trees. One discovers many mills and castles there, opening very broad sights on changing reliefs. This circuit will carry out you to the “Domaine de Malagar”, residence of the writer François Mauriac, whom you will be able to visit and to the tomb of the famous painter Toulouse Lautrec. You will reach the village of Sainte Croix du Mont, perched on a slope, offering a spectacular view on the Garonne Valley and remarkable for its wines and caves, whose walls are covered with fossilized oyster benches and where cellars and even a vault were arranged. Do not forget the church as well.
At the end of the afternoon, a taxi will transfer you to Sauternes.
Day 7: Sauternes > Barsac, ~15 km
Located on left bank of the Garonne, the prestigious vineyards of Sauternes are offered to the discovery. Throughout your hiking, you will walk by well-known wine producers, like Château La Tour Blanche and château Rayne Vigneau and will appreciate the small local heritage (churches, mills, wash-houses...) but also a varied natural heritage: landscapes of vine, forest and the Ciron River, wild small rivers formerly used to transport wood.
You will walk in a exceptional, two centuries old vineyard with a single soil, which gave quality and prestige to the wines of Sauternes and Barsac.
Day 8: Unfortunately end of the tour
Breakfast and transfer to the Barsac or Langon train station.