Living in Bordeaux

Hi
I currently live outside Lyon and I'm planning to move to Bordeaux - Could you tell me the pros and cons of living in the CUB area please such where is good for families and places to avoid living.  We visited in May and we really liked the city but with 6 children we can't really afford the centre or living in an apartment and we would like to consider carefully where to live, say about 10 km out the city as we'd like the children to take advantage of the international and european sections in schools in Bordeaux.   Any experience with schools catering for international children?

Whatever information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in advance

Did you get any feedback?  My family is moving there for a year next year.  Have heard good things about College Cheverus and the town of Latrense acress the river, but are still gathering information.

I have never visited Bordeaux, but because I love the wine and history I would like to, with the consideration of possibly moving there some day. In the meantime, I would be very interested in finding someone who lives in Bordeaux and might consider a trade of habitats for a week or two once in a while. My wife and I have a lake house on one of the nicesest lakes in the Adirondack mountains of Northern New York State. It is near a major ski area.

I love the architecture and splendor of the city!

See: my Bordeaux photos on Flickr

Hi Alexan, I am currently living and working in Bordeaux, mainly in the CUB area. If you want slightly more space to live then the CUB area is a must, but house prices are quite high (i say that and i am from the UK). The most popular places at the moment are Pessac, Merignac, St Jean d'Illac (Mainly North/West)
Hope that helps

Hi Ollyparkhouse, thanks for mentioning where you think are the most popular places to live.  I'm coming to Bordeaux in a few weeks to check out some areas where to relocate to.  We have two small children so ideally a family area rather than the centre I expect. We're moving not far awar from a small town in les landes as we are finding that the good schools are too far away from us and there is not much happening in the winter.  My husband works from home so we need to have some life around us (i.e. not surrounded by vineyards!) We're prepared to invest in a good property if it is in the right area.
Any further tips on where we should look around?
Thanks for reading.

there are lots of areas around Bordeaux, but  iguess the big question is how close do you want to be to the centre of town. the places mentioned above are very popular. To be honest if you take a map of Bordeaux and look at the places that are to the west and north west, these are very popular.
Within the ringroad (La rocade) there are some areas that are very nice. Le Bouscat, Bruges etc. Merignac (near the airport).
We have moved further out towards Lacanau but i work near Merignac. For the schools you can check out this site:
http://www.france-examen.com/palmares-t … TR=&DPR=33

cheers and good luck

Thanks again for your help.  As we don't need to come into Bordeaux every day for work we'll be looking at something nearer the coast as that is what we are currently used to.  I've heard a few people mention Lacanau so this will def be on our list! it's really helpful to have some advice to help prepare us before we start the dreaded house hunting!

we have tried to get best of both a moved to around Ste Helene.
its 10 mins from the lake, which is great for young kids and 15 mins from the coast. there is also a cycle path that goes all the way from Lacanau to Bordeaux, and goes via Ste Helene.
Thanks