The lift
The whole deck rises into the air in about ten minutes.
Prométhée33 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Grand Parc Bordeaux — CC BY 2.0 · Grand Parc - Bordeaux, France — CC BY 2.0 · Grand Parc - Bordeaux, France from France — CC BY 2.0
The newest bridge over the Garonne at Bordeaux, opened in **2013** north of the city, and a **vertical-lift bridge**: its central span, close to 117 metres long, rises whole between four white towers when a tall-masted ship needs to pass upriver towards the centre. That makes it one of the longest vertical-lift bridges in Europe, and a sight you cannot see in many places: the entire deck rises tens of metres into the air over about ten minutes, traffic stops, and people stand and watch. The lifts are not random but **scheduled in advance** according to ship arrivals and the tides, and published on the Bordeaux city website — so anyone who wants to see one can plan for it. Its nights are handsome: the four towers are lit in changing colours that reflect on the water, and it is among the best things to photograph in modern Bordeaux, facing the old stone city to the south.
The whole deck rises into the air in about ten minutes.
Four towers in changing colours reflected on the water.
Facing the old stone city to the south.
Pont Jacques-Chaban-Delmas, 33300 Bordeaux
Cap SciencesAn interactive science centre on the bank of the Garonne in the docks area north3 minutes walk4.4
La Cité du VinThe Cité du Vin is Bordeaux's great modern museum of wine as civilisation: a twi6 minutes walk4.2
Bordeaux Maritime History MuseumA museum of Bordeaux's maritime history, in the wet docks area north of the city7 minutes walk4.2
Musée Mer MarineA relatively new museum — opened in 2019 — in a large contemporary building on a12 minutes walk4.1
Bassins des LumièresThe world's largest digital art centre lives in the strangest possible place: a 18 minutes walk4.8**The schedule is published in advance** on the Bordeaux city website, and depends on the arrival of tall-masted ships and on the Garonne tides — so it is irregular and days can pass without a single lift. If seeing one is your aim, check the timetable and plan your day around it, arriving a quarter of an hour early because a crowd gathers. If no lift falls in your dates, the bridge is still pleasant to walk and photograph at night, but then it is only a bridge.
**The Pont de Pierre**, if you must choose: it is in the heart of the city, minutes on foot from the Place de la Bourse, and gives the best view of the historic riverfront you came to Bordeaux for. The **Chaban-Delmas** is further north and needs a trip, and its value is engineering rather than scenery — except at the moment of a lift, or at night with its lighting. The ideal combination: walk the Pont de Pierre at sunset, and go to Chaban-Delmas only if a lift is scheduled or you are visiting Bacalan anyway.