Summary: Comfortable apartment, great location and view, excellent support from the hosts
The Chartrons district is vibrant and full of restaurants and shops—a great place to stay in Bordeaux. This apartment, just across the street from the Garonne, is on two tram lines (B and C) which are perfect for getting to the city center (of course you can also walk the pleasant riverside promenade). Within a few minutes’ walk is a Carrefour City for groceries and several boulangeries/patisseries. For restaurants, try Papa Lello for Sicilian-style pizza next door, and don’t miss wonderful Bocca a Bocca restaurant on Rue Notre Dame (we went twice in five days). You may want to skip Chez Dupont—for us it was disappointing. L’Entrecote and Peppino’s are chains.
As is made clear in the description, this is a third floor walkup. We happened to visit during a heat wave, and I was worried that the unit might turn into an oven. But as long as we kept the curtains drawn in the afternoon (western exposure—great sunsets!), we managed just fine.
It would have been a different story though, without the tremendous support from Arnaud and Alex, (and the fans they provided). They work for a company that manages over 100 units, yet provided surprisingly personal service, answering all our questions promptly. (Be sure to ask about the “secret” cutlery drawer on check-in.) They also delivered, tout de suite, a few basic food items missing from the kitchen when we arrived (olive oil, dish soap and a couple other things). I have never seen such great support from a management company before.
My only caution regards the parking space. It is not actually on-site, it’s in a garage around the corner. Like many garages in old buildings, the space is very tight. We had a Peugeot 508, and just barely squeaked in and out. If you have anything larger than that, I suggest using pay parking nearby.
That said, next time in Bordeaux we would not hesitate to book this property.