Contact

Diane Roussel, self-employed licensed guide

Manager of Bordeaux Discoveries

06 65 47 04 63 – contact@bordeaux-discoveries.com

 

Opening hours

Bordeaux Discoveries is a service open all year round from Monday to Sunday, 9 am to 8 pm.

We may not be able to respond to you immediately by phone when we are leading a visit outside. However, we are always reachable by email and we will do our best to respond to you within 48 hours.

The Bordeaux Discoveries tours service is usually closed:

• during certain long weekends in May
• during public holidays such as December 25 and January 1st

Description of guided tours

Bordeaux Discoveries offers, in Bordeaux-center, walking and cycling tours, which can be private or semi-private: the prices indicated on the Website thus correspond to the formula chosen and to the number of participants present at the same visit time.

If you do not necessarily wish to benefit from an exclusive (private) guided service, we are likely to offer you a semi-private visit, shared with other visitors, in order to offer you a more advantageous price, depending on the number of participants at the same visit time. Example: two couples of distinct visitors and speaking the same language can come to form a small group of 4 people for a visit “Bordeaux Bike Tour” – Duration 3h30 if they accept it, in order to benefit from the services of the guide if the visit time is heavily asked.

Bordeaux Discoveries also offers, outside Bordeaux, tailor-made and personalized guided tours, which may include guidance and the Transport service, in order to get to the places of the visit (Saint Emilion, Médoc, Bassin d’Arcachon, Dune du Pilat , Blaye, Sauternes, Entre-deux-Mers, other …)

Good to know: Bordeaux Discoveries is not a travel agency; its manager Diane Roussel working as a licensed guide. As such, we do not reserve transport or accommodation services allowing you to organize your stay in the Bordeaux region. On the other hand, we can graciously book, in order to guarantee access, visits to wine estates opening their doors to us, admissions to museums or historical monuments, and the slots for “immersive workshops” with the “makers”, the partners likely to receive us in their establishment.

Note that these special visits fees will either be paid on site, directly by you, according to the payment terms available. Or they can also be paid in advance with a “facilitated payment” for the guided tour service (disbursement system), in which case the guide will take care, on D-Day, to pay the entrance tickets on site for all visitors accessing the visited places.

 

Included in the prices of guided tours:

• The services of a cheerful, ultra-dynamic tour guide and ambassador of her region, able to interact in several languages with travelers from all horizons and continents
• Search and selection of new “makers”, partners and craftmen of high quality in Gironde, allowing you to better understand the Terroir and their know-how via “immersive workshops”
• The translation service from French to German, English, Spanish (if necessary during your interactions with the partners leading the immersive workshops: to be previously determined with the guide)
• The organization of the day and the reservation of access to monuments, museums and wine estates
• Sharing favorite addresses in the region, gourmet or cultural recommendations that can enhance your stay

 Not included in the prices of visits or excursions:

• In general, personal expenses and anything not mentioned in the program
• “Immersive workshops” carried out at our partners’ establishments are to be paid on site, except in the case of an option for the global facilitated payment system (i.e. ” invoice with disbursement “)
• Wine tastings and other tastings of local specialties, unless explicitly specified in advance by the guide
• Meals taken during the day of the visit
• Entrances to paying monuments and museums
• Plane tickets, train tickets or accommodation to organize your stay
• Personal insurance

Visiting languages

Visits can be made in French, German, English or Spanish.

For specific requests requiring the simultaneous practice of several foreign languages during the same visit, a price increase may be applied.

 

Charter of good sanitary conduct

Due to the safety instructions applicable following the events of covid-19 and relayed by the representative body of the French National Federation of Conference Guides (FNGIC), , you may be asked to wear a mask, as well as to respect the minimum protective distances between individuals (1m), throughout the visit. The guide may wear a mask in places visited where it is essential, but reserves the right to remove it more than 1m away from the audience.

 

Booking conditions

The initial contact and exchange can be done via the contact form on the Website or by phone. However, reservation requests will only be processed and recorded by email exchange between Bordeaux Discoveries and the customer:

In this reservation email, you will be invited to enter the following personal data (these are subject to our Privacy Policy):

• Name / First name of the client (s)
• Customer’s address / Postal code / Country of residence
• Number of people (adults and children)
• Language of the visit
• Contact phone number
• Type of visit / Special requests
• Date of the visit
• Allergies / Handicap

The visit reservation will therefore only be effective and validated when a deposit of 50% of the service has been paid, by means of a bank transfer to the account of Bordeaux Discoveries, whose bank details are indicated at the bottom of the invoice documents.

 

Payment Terms

-> For “Bordeaux Unesco”, “Bordeaux à Vélo” and “Bordeaux Nouveau” tours, the prices are indicated on the Website:

The payment by bank transfer of the first 50% of the amount of the guided tour will be requested to validate your reservation, when you will confirm it by exchange of e-mail and on receipt of invoice. The payment of these first 50% has to be made at the latest one week before the date of the visit.

The remaining 50% due (the balance) must be paid no later than the day of the visit, and this before the completion of the guided tour service. The balance can thus be either paid in advance by bank transfer, (the guide has to certify the reception of the balance on her bank account), or paid on site on the day of the visit by check or cash.

-> For tailor-made visits:

After making contact, we will establish a quote and present you with a pre-visit program. No detailed program can be sent to you before confirmation of your reservation, corresponding to payment of the deposit of 50% of the service. Upon receipt, we can confirm the program with you.

However, if you wish to have a detailed program before any booking confirmation (tailor-made itinerary, precise data on the places visited, etc.), you will be asked to pay a minimum lump sum of 60 €. This corresponds to the time and intellectual investment dedicated to the production of documented research.

 

Bordeaux Discoveries policy

Bordeaux Discoveries reserves the right to refuse your reservation request for lack of availability on the calendar of its guide.

Bordeaux Discoveries reserves the right to suggest another visit time if there is a calendar availability problem regarding your first choice.

Bordeaux Discoveries reserves the right to subcontract certain visits to trusted licensed guides colleagues, after having previously informed you and having received your agreement.

Bordeaux Discoveries reserves the right to cancel or postpone a visit in the event of unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of its guide. These exceptional circumstances could lead Bordeaux Discoveries either to offer you an acceptable alternative solution in order to compensate the inconvenience, or to proceed with a full refund of the prepaid amounts.

 

Delays

We thank you for informing us of any delay by telephone, in order to be able to respect the overall program of visits, and above all to be able to warn the partners opening their doors to us on a pre-defined time slot (visits to wine châteaux, “makers” for immersive workshops, restaurants, etc.).

Beyond half an hour’s delay without any manifestation on your part at the start of the visit, Bordeaux Discoveries reserves the right to consider the service as due, whether or not the guided visit has taken place.

 

Terms of cancellation

Bordeaux Discoveries does not postpone visits due to a last minute impediment which is not the responsibility of its guide, but the responsibility of the client (delay, illness, strikes, etc.).

Visits are maintained regardless of the weather (rain), which does not constitute a reason for cancellation or refund.

 

Cancellation fees

Any cancellation request must be made to us expressly by email.

Bordeaux Discoveries reserves the right to retain cancellation fees, which will correspond to a percentage of the price of the service, depending on the date of cancellation made by the customer:

• Cancellation more than 10 days before the start of the service: No charge
• Cancellation between 10 days and 1 week before the start of the service: 10%
• Cancellation 1 week before the start of the service: 30%
• Cancellation 48 hours before the start of the service: 50%
• Cancellation 24 hours before the start of the service: 100%