A comprehensive guide to living in Bordeaux

The city of Bordeaux and the surrounding area are a big draw for retirees and second-home owners. But what is it really like to live there? 

From property prices to transport, we investigate…

Property prices

The cost of housing is the fifth most expensive in France, behind Paris, Lyon, Antibes and Annecy, and varies from around €2,500 per m2 to around €9,500 per m2, with mean average prices hovering around €6,000 per m2. 

Properties on the upper floors of 18th Century buildings in the most desirable parts of the city are the most expensive. Prices drop as you move away from the city.

Many people live outside the city's ring road (La Rocade) and commute in, despite traffic at peak hours often being almost at a standstill. Libourne is also a popular option for commuters, with lower property prices and regular trains into Bordeaux. 

Around 5.2% of properties in Bordeaux are second homes.

Read more: Chateaux bargains to be had as Chinese investors leave Bordeaux vineyards

Renting in Bordeaux

Renting is less expensive than Paris and Lyon. A one-bedroom flat in the centre costs around €800 per month (dropping to €600 outside La Rocade ring road) and a three-bedroom flat is around €1,400 in the centre, dropping to €1,100 outside La Rocade. 

Flats are slightly cheaper in the pedestrianised areas of the historic centre, due to the inconvenience of not being able to park nearby and usually not having access to a garden. This makes them popular with students and younger people. 

Competition for the best properties is stiff, and agents demand full dossiers of paperwork before showing prospective tenants round a property. 

Healthcare

Bordeaux has 437 doctors (GPs and specialists) per 100,000 inhabitants, the seventh most in France (Paris has 888 doctors per 100,000 and the second is Hautes-Alpes with 503. 

The CHU (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire) in Bordeaux has 3,041 beds and ranks as the second best public hospital in France (Toulouse comes top and Lille is number three), with some of its departments ranked as the best in France. The specialist cancer Institut Bergonié is well-regarded, as are the Maison de Santé Protestante and the privately owned (and expensive) Clinique du Sport. 

Compared to countryside areas, it is not difficult to get appointments with specialists in Bordeaux. The wait for a hip replacement, for example, can be as short as six weeks.

Education

There is a wide choice when it comes to education in Bordeaux. Private schools include Bordeaux International School (BIS), the International School 33, Assomption Sainte Clotilde Bordeaux, Sainte-Marie Grand Lebrun, the Lycée François Magendie and La Petite Ecole Bilingue. Just outside the city, in Coutras, the Collège Henri de Navarre is a state school with an international section. 

There are also 54,000 students in the city's various universities and Grandes Écoles.

Population

The centre of Bordeaux is home to around 265,000 people, including 15,000 from Portugal, 15,000 from Morocco, 10,000 from Algeria and around 8,000 from Spain, making it a truly international city. There are around 40,000 British nationals living in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, but only around 1,500 of them live in central Bordeaux. 

Read more: Best places to live in France for over-60s, according to new ranking

Main industries and employers

Bordeaux’s major industries include wine-making, tourism, business tourism, defence and aerospace, laser and photonics, health and bio-technology, and digital industries.

Major employers include ArianeGroup (making space rockets, launchers, defence systems), Decathlon (sportswear and equipment), Inria (researching digital sciences and technological innovation), Orange (telecoms) and Sanofi (global healthcare), Dassault Aviation, Airbus, Thales (defence, security and aerospace). 

Château Lafite Rothschild, producing some of the most expensive wines in the world, is also a big employer. 

Every autumn during the vendanges (grape-picking season) the surrounding wineries employ hundreds of casual labourers.

Transport and access

Bordeaux is a major airline hub, easyJet having to a great extent picked up where Ryanair left off last year. Although some destinations are seasonal, it has direct flights to Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Montreal as well as all over Europe. Taxis and Ubers are available but the cheapest way into the city is via Tram A (€1.90) to the Saint-Jean train station in the city centre. There is also a shuttle bus (€8.00) which is slightly quicker.

Read also:  Bordeaux-Edinburgh flight route announced by easyJet

There are direct trains from Saint-Jean railway station to Paris (2h 8m), La Rochelle, Poitiers, Angoulême, Bergerac, Perigueux, Sarlat, Brive, Agen, Bayonne and Libourne. There are also direct trains to Barcelona (4h 30m) and to Strasbourg (4h 28m).

Bordeaux and its surrounding areas have more than 1,400km of cycling routes, 330km of which are in the city centre, which is mainly flat. There are around 800,000 thefts or attempted thefts of bicycles every year in France, and very few ever find their way home, so if you leave your bike anywhere ensure you use a secure lock. Walking is also a very practical option in the city centre. 

Parking in central Bordeaux costs around €15 an hour. Some parc relais (park-and-rides) allow you to leave your car for up to five nights and the reduced parking fee also includes the tram ticket in and out of the city. Find more information at aide.infotbm.com (TBM = Transports Bordeaux Métropole). 

Tickets on the buses and trams are cheap and a pass means you can hop-on hop-off almost all over town. Do not be tempted to travel without a ticket as controls are frequent and fines can be stiff. 

Another solution is InterParking Saint Jean d’Armagnac, which is €25 for three days. Very swish and modern, it has lighting and cameras, but is situated in a vast swamp of building sites populated (only after dark) by people who might make a solo traveller feel nervous. It is nearly one kilometre from the station, and a 10-15 minute walk to the Belcier tram stop. 

'I love living in Bordeaux'

Rorie Smith, author of The Station Philosophers' Club, has lived in Bordeaux since 2015. 

"It is a mini-Paris. It is a quarter of the size of Paris but has everything in a very compact, easily walkable centre. Museums, restaurants, theatres, a thriving cultural scene. Also, I love the river and having easy access to fabulous beaches at the coast, and all the wildlife in the Bassin d'arcachon salt marshes.

“It's quick to Paris and London, and for anglophones, there are several expat clubs. I belong to the International Club of Bordeaux. There is also the Bordeaux-USA association, the Bordeaux Women's Club and an American Football team. I’ve seen a new influx of Americans this year, which is not surprising as Bordeaux is such a wonderful place to live.”