Bordeaux

Driving through the vineyard-clad slopes that surround Bordeaux each road sign reads like a line from an exceedingly expensive wine list.

Bordeaux has been synonymous with wine ever since the mid 12th Century - when Eleanor of Aquitaine's marriage to King Henry II strengthened trade ties between Bordeaux and England while the rest of the country remained at war. But far from resting on her viticultural, vinicultural and gastronomic laurels - Bordeaux - like her wines is well rounded, refined and not without a kick.

Bordeaux's cultural aorta runs along the Allées de Tourny, marked at one end by the elegant neo-classical Grand Théâtre and a short walk from the riverside Esplanade des Quinconces, the largest public square of its type in Europe.

Nearby the Jardin Public has been providing respite from city life for more than 250 years, and houses the Jardin Botanique and the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle, (Natural History Museum), as well as a few architectural mementoes of Bordeaux's Roman past.

Perched on a plateau overlooking what's arguably France's richest crop of 18th century architecture, Bordeaux's old town is a cats-cradle of narrow streets tangled round two of the city's biggest attractions: the Cathédral St-André and the neighbouring Musée des Beaux-Arts.

The starting point of any serious wine pilgrimage should be the slick Maison du Vin, where you'll find everything you need from maps and opening hours to telephone numbers.

While most head inland to the medieval splendour of St Emilion, aficionados turn their attentions north to the 180 chateaux that dot the Médoc peninsula and the most expensive wine cellars in France.

The surrounding forests, lakes and beaches of Aquitaine offer great hiking, canoeing and diving, and a chance to give your liver some well earned time off.