CRUISE BORDEAUX DESTINATIONS


Mine’s a red


Bordeaux is ripe for river cruising, writes Jane Archer


choose a Bordeaux river cruise in France? If you said wine, award yourself 10 points. Then give yourself a pat on the back if you spotted the deliberate mistake – it’s a trick question, as there is no such river. In the world of river cruising,


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‘Bordeaux’ has become shorthand for an itinerary that starts in that city, zig-zags up and down the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers and also navigates the tidal Gironde Estuary, which flows from the point where the two waterways meet into the Atlantic Ocean. CroisiEurope was the first river cruise company to patch such an itinerary together and has been joined by companies including Viking River Cruises, Uniworld River Cruises and Scenic. New this year, AmaWaterways


and APT are offering eight-day, round-trip voyages from Bordeaux on the AmaDolce. In 2017, Crystal Cruises will join the fray. It will offer seven-night cruises from Bordeaux starting August 8 on the 84-passenger Crystal Ravel, one of six new vessels Crystal is building as it


hat top tipple can your clients enjoy if they


enters the river cruise market. Each offers a slightly different


itinerary but over the course of a week they navigate all three waterways, never straying far from Bordeaux, but packing in plenty of sightseeing, including the towns of Libourne, Pauillac and Cadillac. These are the jumping-off points for tours and tastings in the wine regions of St Emilion and the Médoc, famous for their full-bodied reds, and Sauternes, which produces sweet dessert wines. Most itineraries also include a night and day in Bordeaux, France’s second most-visited city after Paris. The river runs through the city so clients disembark and cross the road to arrive in the historic centre.


w VINE TIME Not surprisingly, many customers choose this cruise for the opportunities to taste wine. The Médoc is home to famous wine houses such as Châteaux Lafite Rothschild, Latour and Mouton Rothschild, and companies such as Uniworld, Viking and Scenic have complimentary vineyard tours and tastings.


9 June 2016 travelweekly.co.uk 55


Win a team night out by making three river bookings with


TOP TIP


AmaWaterways – email agency-sales@ amawaterways. co.uk


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