La Cité du Vin in Bordeaux: What €23 Gets You, From the Exhibits to the Rooftop Glass
Bordeaux spent most of its history selling wine to the world and very little of it explaining wine to visitors. In 2016 it fixed that with La Cité du Vin, a museum of wine set in a building that looks like the swirl in a glass.
The architects, Anouk Legendre and Nicolas Desmazières of the Paris studio XTU, designed it as a single curving form clad in glass and shimmering metal panels, rising to a tower at one end. People call it a decanter, a wave, a vine root. The photo below, in moody blue tones, shows it from across the water in the old docks district, its striped tower twisting up above the trees.
What's inside
The permanent tour fills a single huge open floor, laid out as a maze of themed stations. You walk through at your own pace with a handheld guide that talks to you in your own language as you approach each display.
It covers wine around the world, not just Bordeaux: vineyards from Georgia to Chile, the history of wine trade by sea, wine in religion and art, how soil and weather shape what's in the bottle. There's a smell station with jars of aromas to sniff and guess. It's interactive in the good sense, playful without dumbing down.
Allow two hours. Most people take three.
The rooftop glass
The ticket ends on the eighth floor, at the Belvédère, a bar with floor-to-ceiling windows and a view over the Garonne, the port and the city. Your ticket includes one glass, chosen from a list of wines from around the world that changes regularly. Under-18s get grape juice.
Go up near the end of the afternoon, when the light over the river turns gold.
Tickets and hours
As of 2026 adult tickets cost €23, with reduced tickets at €17, ages 6 to 17 at €10 and under-6s free. The price includes the permanent tour, the Belvédère and the glass. Temporary exhibitions and tasting workshops cost extra.
It opens 10:00 to 18:00, until 19:00 on Saturdays, and closes on Christmas Day. Book a timed slot online in summer.
Getting there
The Cité du Vin is in the Bacalan district, on the river north of the centre. Tram B runs there from the old town in about 20 minutes, or walk along the quays, about 45 minutes from the Place de la Bourse. The river shuttle boats, the BatCub, stop nearby too.
While you're up there, look around Bacalan. The old submarine base, now the Bassins des Lumières digital art centre, and the market hall of Les Halles de Bacalan are a few minutes' walk away.
More on the building: La Cité du Vin, Bordeaux: The Building That Looks Like Wine in a Glass on Travel Marketing.