Bordeaux · Backpacking

A dorm bed starts around €25, a single TBM ticket is €1.70 with an hour of transfers on it, and a day pass starts at €4.70. Add €10–15 for a market lunch, €6 for the Muséum and a few euros a glass at a wine bar and a full day lands around €55–70, without a château visit.

Six- and eight-bed dorms from €25 a night in the middle of the old town, with air conditioning, individual lockers (€4 for a padlock) and breakfast at €5.50. Laundry is €4 to wash and €2 to dry. Check-in from 3pm, out by 11am.

An HI France hostel in the Chartrons quarter near the Garonne quays, with individually screened bunks in the dorms and table football and a drinks counter downstairs. Further from Saint-Jean than the station hostels, but closer to Tram B and La Cité du Vin.

TBM journey tickets start at €1.70 and each validation buys an hour of unlimited transfers across trams, buses and the Bat3 river shuttle; one- and seven-day passes start at €4.70. The Bat3 crew also sell a €2 ticket on board if you only want the crossing.

Tasting in the city is cheap — the wine council's own bar pours Bordeaux by the glass for the price of a coffee elsewhere. The classified Médoc estates are the expensive half: almost all require a booking and sell tasting as part of a scheduled tour, so a château day costs more than a night's sleep.