The side lanes
The good restaurants and independent shops are off it, not on it.
Langladure — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ardfern — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Superbass — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chabe01 — CC BY-SA 4.0
Europe's longest pedestrian shopping street, running about **1,200 metres** in a near-straight line from the Place de la Comédie at the Grand Théâtre in the north to the Place de la Victoire in the south, cutting through the whole old city. Its line is no accident: this is an **old Roman road**, the axis of the town of Burdigala, and the city grew around it century by century. Cars were banned from it altogether in 1984, leaving it to pedestrians. Hundreds of shops line it — the big international brands near the Place de la Comédie, giving way to smaller and cheaper ones as you go south towards the Victoire, where the quarter turns student, with its cafés and its prices. The lanes branching off left and right sometimes matter more than the street itself: the good restaurants and the independent shops are in them. Don't expect exceptional architecture — this is a busy, practical shopping street — but it is the spine by which you understand the layout of Bordeaux, and you will walk it regardless.
The good restaurants and independent shops are off it, not on it.
The street changes class as you walk south.
The street follows the axis of ancient Burdigala.
Rue Sainte-Catherine, 33000 Bordeaux
Grosse ClocheThe Grosse Cloche is the symbol Bordeaux loves best — you will find it on the ci3 minutes walk4.5
Musée d'AquitaineThe museum to start Bordeaux with, if you want to understand what you see afterw4 minutes walk4.6
Pey-Berland TowerThe Pey-Berland is Bordeaux cathedral's bell tower — standing alone metres away 7 minutes walk4.6
Fort du Hâ TowersTwo round stone towers are all that remains of the **Château du Hâ**, the fortre8 minutes walk3.7
Bordeaux Cathedral (Saint-André)Bordeaux's cathedral witnessed two marriages that changed Europe: here Eleanor o8 minutes walk4.7**Not on the street itself.** The Sainte-Catherine frontages are fast food and chains serving shoppers, priced above what they deliver. Better to turn off into any lane: the **Saint-Pierre** quarter to its east, with its small squares, is full of restaurants and bars and is the heart of Bordeaux's evening; and the **Marché des Capucins** to the south (mornings until midday, usually closed Monday) is where to go for oysters and local food at market rather than restaurant prices. The rule: get one street away from the crowd.
No, and that should be plain: it is a practical shopping street, not an architectural sight. But you **will walk it regardless**, because it links the Place de la Comédie and the Grand Théâtre to the south of the old city and passes near the cathedral, the Pey-Berland tower and the Place Saint-Pierre — it is the axis your visit organises itself along. Treat it as a route rather than a destination: walk it, and turn off it often, because the value is in what surrounds it.