Gates, squares and a golden leopard: Bordeaux as a riddle trail
The Bordeaux scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk from landmark to landmark, solve a riddle at each one by looking closely at what is in front of you, and unlock the stories and legends behind it. From the cathedral to the belfry the 10 stops spread over 4 km, yet the walking itself comes to only about 49 minutes, so most of the roughly 3 hours belongs to riddles, stories and the river views, and the clock starts only when you open the game.
Highlights include the Cathédrale Saint-André, the Grand Théâtre, the vast Place des Quinconces, Place de la Bourse with the Miroir d'eau, the castle-like Porte Cailhau and the Grosse Cloche. Bordeaux's centre, listed by UNESCO in 2007 as the Port of the Moon, is flat and full of pale 18th-century stone façades, so it is easy and rewarding to explore on foot.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 49 min · 4 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
A game through the Port of the Moon, from Saint-André to the Grosse Cloche
Muses on the roof, a leopard on the belfry
The riddles are written into the city's stone: the statues lined up above the portico of the Grand Théâtre, the turrets of the Porte Cailhau, the gilded leopard high on the Grosse Cloche. You solve them by looking hard and thinking a little, without reading up on Bordeaux first.
A royal wedding and a cinema in a church
Every solved riddle opens a story: Eleanor of Aquitaine marrying the future Louis VII in the cathedral in 1137, a fortress torn down to make room for Place des Quinconces, films now shown inside the old Saint-Siméon church. Tired eyes after all that pale limestone? Switch on the audio narration and let the stories come through your earphones.
4 km on level streets beside the Garonne
The walking adds up to about 49 minutes, from the cathedral west to Place Gambetta, north to the theatre and the Quinconces, down the quays to Place de la Bourse and into the lanes of Saint-Pierre. The city barely has a slope, and between the stops you just follow Google Maps.
A canelé on the way, a pause by the water
Nobody is timing you, so stop for a canelé or a glass of Bordeaux, sit by the Miroir d'eau, and carry on the same afternoon or on another day. Between Saint-André and the quays the app also flags a few local addresses for lunch or a bottle to take home.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Weekend visitors, wine-country travellers, families and teams
A first day in Bordeaux
In about 3 hours you link the cathedral, the opera house, the biggest square in town, the riverfront and the medieval gates, which gives you a feel for the whole centre before you head out to the vineyards. The riddles keep the long stone façades from blurring into one.
Children who like gates that look like castles
Young players enjoy the pointed turrets of the Porte Cailhau, the bronze horses and fountains of the Monument aux Girondins and the shallow Miroir d'eau, where the paving turns into a mirror. An adult plays in every team, and the flat streets make the 4 km easier for small legs.
Colleagues on a seminar by the Garonne
Teams of up to 5 play at once, each member following the game on their own phone, and several teams can leave the cathedral square a few minutes apart. The Grosse Cloche at the end makes an easy place to gather again, with no room to book on top of the tickets.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.


























Anonymous (verified owner) –
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Germany –
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Belgium –
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France-Simone –
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Anonymous (verified owner) –
Excellent and very practical. Kids loved it
Cindy– France –
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cecile– France –
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Permet de découvrir les monuments emblématiques de Bordeaux. Il serait intéressant d’avoir un audio pour éviter la lecture un peu fastidieuse de toutes les explications Ajouter quelques endroits insolites
Audrey– Switzerland –
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Germany –
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Hat spass gemacht. Würde es wieder machen
christelle– France –
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christelle– France –
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ERANSUS– France –
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Permet une visite de Bordeaux et nous apprend plein de choses.
France –
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intéressant
France –
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int?ressant
Sylvain– France –
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Very fun way of strolling around the city in a “treasure hunt” way! Loved to feel like a child seeking the treasure of an old knight! Another good thing is that you can pause the game at any time and discover the city at your own pace. (we’ve been splitting the tour in 2 days) But to me, the given commentaries and stories about the monuments and history of the city are (I used the tour in its french language version), pretty inconsistent, hard to follow, sloppy: they look like they were written by some 9th grade student on his Bordeaux’s main monuments presentation. (maybe elaborated using some copy-paste from a famous generative IA …) If you’re an History lover, you’ll feel like missing your dessert…
Caroline– France –
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Tr?s bon choix pour d?couvrir Bordeaux ? 4 avec des activit?s int?ressant autant des cinquantenaires qu’une ado de 16 ans 🙂 Nous avons d?couvert des lieux et appris plusieurs choses, m?me celle d’entre nous qui est bordelaise. Tant le parcours que sa dur?e est adapt?e. Bravo !
Ben– United Kingdom –
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I liked that it gave us information about the key sights in the city
Helene– France –
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super activit?e pour d?couvrir les lieux, le plus c’est de pouvoir mettre le jeu en pause pour prendre un go?ter ou autres selon les go?ts de chacuns . simple et ludique simple et agr?able
Leanne– Ireland –
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Fantastic way to explore a city at your own leisure and pace, would definitely recommend
Sonia– France –
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Un bon moment de d?tente. Ce qui est appr?ciable c’est surtout de faire l’activit? ? notre rythme, sans contraintes. Bon ?quilibre culture/ ludique. Tr?s bon rapport qualit?/prix.
So– Germany –
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Super moyen pour d?couvrir la ville
Andr?a– France –
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Tr?s bonne activit? ? faire, nous fait visiter la ville ? notre rythme tout en s’amusant avec les ?nigmes.
Australia –
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Enjoyed that it was self paced – was the right length and easy to use app, good info provided
Alexandre– France –
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Visite tr?s sympa. La visite guid?e via appli permet de faire ? votre rythme, faire des pauses, visiter les lieux pr?sent?s, prendre un verre en terrasse. En visitant la cath?drale, deux ?glises et une pause boisson sur une terrasse du grand th??tre, nous avons mis ~4h
Anne– France –
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Tr?s bien pour d?couvrir l’essentiel du centre de Bordeaux en fl?nant ds les rues et ruelles Peut ?tre une autre explication de d?part pour bien d?marrer (le dessin pr l’explication des diff?rences est pas explicite) A faire
Angelique– Netherlands –
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Echt een aanrader!
Susanne– Canada –
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My adult daughter and I spent three hours roaming the streets of Bordeaux, from one historic landmark to another. The route was well thought out and most of the clues were fairly obvious to solve at each destination. We saw, and appreciated much of the old town, that we might otherwise have missed. I would not recommend this for young children, there may not be enough to keep them engaged but for anyone able to follow google maps… it was interesting and fun! Enjoyment of walking is a must!
Timm– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Ich denke man kann sein Geld besser in eine walking Tour investieren. Die Aussprache der vorgelesenen Texte war schrecklich, die R?tsel ein Witz. Hatten so etwas schon mal in Cusco mit einer richtigen Karte gemacht und waren von der Aufmachung entt?uscht.
Val?rie– France –
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C’est une excellente fa?on de d?couvrir Bordeaux et les sites les plus embl?matique de la ville. L’activit? est libre au niveau du temps, on peut effectu? une pause entre les diff?rents sites.
Pedro– Spain –
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Muy divertida y educativa.
Peter– Switzerland –
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Da diese Aktivit?t auf Deutsch erh?ltlich ist, kann auch eine Tour auf Franz?sisch damit ersetzt werden und die Stadt kann so besser verstanden werden
Sue– United Kingdom –
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Well organised. A fun way to see all the key city sights and their history. Great to be able to do it at your own pace and as flexibly as you wish.
Willy– Germany –
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Wir haben es mit den R?dern gemacht. Sehr sch?n.
FATIEN– France –
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Top! id?al quand on ne connait pas la ville, cela permet de la d?couvrir de fa?on ludique, en autonomie avec un parcours qui pr?sente les monuments les plus importants sans avoir ? perdre du temps ? chercher quoi visiter. Je recommande.
Australia –
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Entertaining and interesting learning the history of Bordeaux. Like I could do it at my own pace
Denmark –
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Det var en god oplevelse – desv?rre var nogle af sp?rgsm?lene ret sv?re, hvilket bet?d, at vi m?tte skippe, og det var lidt ?rgerligt.
Malta –
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Super recommended! is a funny way to walk around the centre. Clues are not too difficult. Waiting for next travel and try it on next city
Spain –
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En general muy bien, pero uno de los acertijos no ten?a ni pies ni cabeza. El resto geniales. Algunas ubicaciomes de las que da como curiosidades no hay forma de encontrarlas.
Germany –
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Es war mal eine andere Art, eine fremde Stadt zu erkunden. Die Stationen waren allesamt sehenswert.
United Kingdom –
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The tour was very easy to follow and gave lots of information about each site. I found some of the riddles were hard to solve without a clue because I didn’t understand what it was asking me to do – I feel like this would be easier though on a subsequent self-guided tour. It was very convenient to do in your own time and I actually split it across the sessions as by the time I arrived, it was getting too late to do it all that evening. I would have liked to know where all the locations were before starting so that I oils have started part way around as I ended up walk past a few places to get from my accommodation to the start.
France –
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Super id?e pour visiter la ville et d?couvrir de jolis lieux a son rythme tout en rigolant.
Germany –
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Die Informationen sind interessant, jedoch ausschlie?lich geschichtlich. Zugeschnittene F?hrungen auf bestimmte Altersgruppen w?ren gut. Unsere Kinder (15 /17)hat es nicht motiviert, wobei dieses Alter eine besondere Herausforderung ist.
France –
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Tr?s bon moyen pour faire visiter Bordeaux et voir les monuments principaux. Les ?nigmes sont sympas. Adapt?s aux adolescents. Il faudrait adapter ce jeu de piste aux enfants pour les inciter ? marcher dans la ville.
France –
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Un excellent moyen de decouvrir le vieux Bordeaux de maniere ludique. Nous l avons fait avec nos 2 enfants de 13 ans sans souci. Chaque coin de rue etait un regal pour les yeux, les rues sont propres , pittoresques et charges d histoire. A faire sans mod?ration, je conseillerais d y dejeuner le midi pour prendre son temps le reste de l apres midi. Bonne decouverte a tous
Netherlands –
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Leuke manier om de stad te verkennen op eigen tempo. Zou het niet doen als het te warm is.
South Africa –
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This was such an awesome way to discover and experience a city and will definitely do something similar again.. The information shared in each attraction was really great and I loved that we were able to so this at our own pace.. Just one thing we had a problem with was at some stops we the image did not want to download so we were not able to complete the riddles and had to skip it. Other than this we had no issues.. Thanks for an awesome tour!!
Germany –
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Die Bildfehlersuche war zu schwierig, sonst sehr gut uns informativ
Germany –
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So lernt man eine Stadt mal auf andere Art und Weise kennen. Eine Info am jeweiligen Stop als Sprachinfo w?re super. Empfehlenswert!
Cabron Geme –
Super way to explore the city!