Sampling wines in Saint Emilion

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
8
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
6
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
6
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
67 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
194th/457
Top 40%
continent
Europe
country
France
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$100 (typically $30 - $180)
Time of year visited
July
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Local villages Vineyards Wine
All Tags
UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100.
⭐⭐⭐

Summary

The Bordeaux region is arguably the most famous and respected wine region in the world.  Whilst staying in Bordeaux the city is indeed nice with its UNESCO World Heritage listed old town and wide variety of wineries and restaurants (see experience entry Wandering Bordeaux for more tips), it misses out on that wonderful feeling of staying in the wine region itself.

St Emilion and its surround wineries give you that feeling, and should be prioritised far ahead of Bordeaux the town.  The medieval village itself is gorgeous, sitting just above the vineyards for views all across the valleys (also UNESCO World Heritage listed), and its surrounding vineyards give that feeling of being in the premier spot for wine in the world.  Summer early evenings when the temperature is dropping, any remnants of the day tourists have left and you are there to enjoy world-class meal in a small part of paradise . . . the French, I must say, do this all very well.  Wow.

 

Tips:

St Emilion itself – it can get busy in the day, so considering trying to spend time there in the early evening to avoid the crowds.  It’s worth also seeing if you can get to the balcony of the Hotel de Pavie – other than one of the church towers, it has the best views of the village and largely overlooked by fellow tourists who head down to the main square.

Wineries – the highlight of the trip is finding a spot to have a meal in the vineyards, and potentially a wine tour / tasting.  I’d recommend:

  • Chateau Petit Faurie de Soutard (Le Jardin)
  • L’Atelier de Candale
  • Restaurant du Grand Barrail
  • I’d also recommend Chateau Soutard for the wine tour.

Where to stay – St Emilion is either daft expensive or very basic, so aim to stay out.  We stayed in a vineyard , Chateau Soutard Cadet, within walking distance of St Emilion and it was magical (but pricey).  Have a shop around for places further away that will be far cheaper and likely just as pretty, but be aware that public transport is basically zero so will need your own car.

 

Highlights

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#1 Booking a lunch or dinner in one of the vineyards and working your way through the menu and, in order not to be rude, the wines

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#2 Having drinks overlooking the town from the balcony of the Hotel de Pavie

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#3 Exploring the village itself - a surprising number of spots to explore

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#4 Checking out some of the churches within Saint Emilion itself, and seeing some of the stained glass windows with superbly bright colours

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#5 Heading out into the surrounding UNESCO World Heritage listed vineyards to learning to sample . . . a lot . . . of wine

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#6 Being fortunate enough to stay in one of the chateaus within walking distance of the town

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#7 Exploring the cellars - wandering through the hundreds (thousands?) of wines waiting to mature

Experiences Nearby

Wow Factor Score Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100. LowHigh
  • Elite, unmissable
  • World-class, downsides
  • Meets the Wow Factor
  • Worth it
  • Meh
  • Gash

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences - from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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