Gironde property guide

Gironde property guide: With the great city of Bordeaux at its heart, the département of the Gironde is home to world famous vineyards and wild dunes, long sandy beaches and lush green countryside dotted with charming villages. Whether you’re looking for an elegant city-centre apartment, a stone cottage in a rural idyll, a seaside holiday retreat or a detached family home in a typical market town, you’ll find it in the Gironde.

Mags Deniaud and her French husband moved from Yorkshire to the Gironde in 2003 in search of a slower pace of life, with more time outdoors. Now an estate agent with Leggett Immobilier, Mags explains why they were drawn to this part of southwest France.

“The area around Bordeaux ticked lots of boxes for us, being close to a vibrant city with good transport links and an international airport that operates all year round,” she explains. “It’s also close to the coast, with beautiful landscapes of pretty villages and rolling vineyards, and there are year-round activities.

We wanted a semi-rural lifestyle but with the option of being able to go to restaurants, join in local events and get to a city easily. The Gironde is still very much an authentic French area, though it’s popular with other nationalities too. It’s a great place to settle and bring up children, but it’s also an ideal location for a second home, with plenty of activities and places to visit.”

Bordeaux

Bordeaux sits at the centre of the Gironde, a photogenic city that boasts 1,000,000 residents and over 350 historical monuments, many of which have been restored and renovated over the past two decades. The nearby airport and high-speed rail connections make this city highly accessible – you can get here from Paris in just two hours.

And despite its metropolitan grandeur, Bordeaux is surrounded by vineyards – the famous Saint-Emilion area is just a few kilometres from the city – and lakes, including the vast lac d’Hourtin-Carcans. Just 55km from the coast, it’s easy to balance city living with outdoor activities. Understandably, it’s an attractive choice for businesses and the city is home to 80,000 university students. A 150,000€ budget buys a central 22m² studio complete with balcony, while 500,000€ would buy a 2-bedroom house near the parks or a spacious 3-bed duplex apartment in a traditional stone building.

“Saint-André-de-Cubzac, north of Bordeaux is also a great location,” says Mags. “It’s more affordable than central Bordeaux and is easily commutable to the city thanks to the A10 motorway and a regular, direct train service as well as easy access to park-and-ride trams.”

The Atlantic coast

Of course, one of the main attractions of the Gironde is its 125 km of coastline, including the largest sand dune in Europe, the Dune du Pilat, rising to an impressive 106 metres. To the north, you’ll find the lagoon-like waters of Arcachon Bay, sheltering several beautiful seaside resorts such as Audenge and Lanton, offering seaside studio flats in purpose-built holiday complexes for around 150,000€.

Following the curve of the bay, you will reach the chic resort of Cap Ferret, a slim peninsula of beaches and oyster farms that is very popular with wealthy Parisians, giving it a Côte-d’Azur feel. This exclusivity and desirability mean that even a modest 30m² studio fetches around 500,000€ in Cap Ferret, but the people-watching is hard to beat!

More for your budget

If you want to get the most from your house-hunting budget in the Gironde, simply head away from the coast.

“Property and land are cheaper the further you are from Bordeaux and the coast,” explains Mags. “One example is Blaye, a town of about 5,000 residents that offers good value for money while still offering plenty of activities and great transport links including the A10 motorway and a car ferry that crosses the estuary to the Médoc beaches. Located to the north of the Gironde, Blaye is on the estuary and it’s a really pretty town with a defensive citadel dating from the late 1600s that’s free to visit. It’s well known for the red wine Côte de Blaye, produced in the surrounding vineyards that you can visit for tasting sessions.”

In Blaye, a budget of around 100,000€ would buy a 2-bedroom house or apartment in need of a little work, while 500,000€ puts you in reach of a detached, fully renovated townhouse complete with large gardens and a swimming pool.

“Properties are also cheaper as you head towards the Dordogne, in locations such as the riverside town of Gensac, where you’ll find a pretty village home in pale stone complete with a winding wooden staircase and ceiling beams for just 125,000€. Or try the wine-making town of Pineuilh, also near the Dordogne border, where you’ll find detached family homes for between 150,000€ and 200,000€.”

Nearby, the market town of Sainte-Foy-la-Grande is another great location, almost midway between Saint-Émilion and Bergerac. It’s a walled Bastide town of timbered buildings, terracotta rooftops and pale stone, with the Dordogne river running through the centre and plenty of charm. If you’re prepared for a little renovation, a 100,000€ budget here will buy a 3-bedroom house with a garden or a 4-bedroom historic townhouse in the centre.

Gironde property guide

“We’ve lived here for over 20 years now,” says Mags, “and for us, it’s the perfect compromise of having a more relaxed lifestyle while still having everything on our doorstep – the best of both worlds. If location really is the key, then the Gironde is very well situated, drivable in a day from the channel ports, an easy drive to visit the coast for the day, and only a couple of hours from Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz and the Spanish border. And if you love skiing, it’s also not far from the Pyrénées resorts. Visitors come from all over the country to spend their holidays here and we get to live here, we feel very lucky!”

You can see Mags’s property portfolio in the Gironde here: frenchestateagents.com/mags-deniaud

(Note: Prices are as at 2025).