Bordeaux’s CityPass clock starts on first use - Ouest-France
A tram ride can start your Bordeaux sightseeing pass before your first museum visit. How the rolling hours work, and when to activate the card.
One tram ride can start the clock on your Bordeaux CityPass. If that ride is at 8pm and your museums are planned for the following day, much of a 24-hour pass will run while you are having dinner and sleeping. Buying or collecting the card does not start its validity: using it does.
The pass combines sightseeing with urban transport. The useful question is when you will begin using that combination, rather than how many nights you have booked in Bordeaux.
The Bordeaux CityPass comes in four adult versions: €37 for 24 hours, €48 for 48, €56 for 72 and €62 for 96. They run continuously from first use, including overnight. They do not reset at midnight.
For example, a 24-hour card first used at 2pm on Monday lasts until just before 2pm on Tuesday. A 48-hour card activated at 10am on Saturday runs until just before 10am on Monday. These are rolling windows, so a late-afternoon start can suit someone sightseeing that afternoon and again the next morning.
If your arrival evening is only dinner and a journey to your accommodation, paying separately for that journey can preserve the pass for the first full sightseeing day. That is a timing choice, not an automatic saving: a pass still needs enough paid visits to earn its price.
An online purchase produces a voucher, not a usable transport ticket. Exchange it for the physical CityPass at Bordeaux Tourist Office, 12 cours du 30 Juillet. There is no digital CityPass. The tourist office lists collection hours of 9am–6pm Monday to Saturday and 10am–5pm on Sundays and public holidays; it closes on 25 December and 1 January. You can collect the card ahead of your first visit without activating it.
On trams, buses and river shuttles, scan the card for every journey, including connections. At a participating attraction, staff scan it at entry. The first of those uses begins the validity period; leaving the card unused for lunch or overnight does not pause it.
The bundle includes the Cité du Vin’s permanent exhibition and belvedere tasting, the Bassins des Lumières, participating museums and monuments, unlimited urban transport and one city tour. The tour may be on foot, by boat or by tourist train, depending on the season and availability. Each included attraction admits one visit, rather than unlimited returns.
Some activities still require a reservation. The included city tour is booked through the tourist office. Reservations can be made before activation, but entry must fall inside the card’s valid hours. The tourist office’s CityPass FAQ lists those exceptions.
Put the visits you actually want inside the window first. A longer pass buys more time; it does not oblige you to fill it with museums you would otherwise skip.
Sébastien founded QuandPartir in 2004 and has been its publishing director ever since. His love of travel led him to build a personal database of destinations, which later became the website.
