Lavie Maison: balneo Sauna

The sauna door is barely two metres from the bed. That's the first thing you notice — and the last thing you'll want to leave behind.

Two bedrooms on a single level, a jacuzzi tub deep enough to disappear into, and a small dry sauna for the kind of evening that asks for nothing else. The kitchen is fully kitted; the wifi is fast enough to forget.

Step outside and you're in Chartrons, where the Sunday marché along the quai sets up under the plane trees and the wine merchants have been here longer than anyone remembers. Rue Notre-Dame handles the rest — coffee, antiques, a long lunch.

It suits four adults, or a small family with a cot. What stays with you is the ritual: marché in the morning, Garonne in the afternoon, sauna before dinner.

Step outside and the limestone facades catch the light differently depending on the hour — soft gold by 8h, almost white by midday. The pavement is wide here, the trams glide past on rue Sainte-Catherine without a sound, and the smell from the boulangerie down the block (cannelés, butter, something burnt-sugar) tends to follow you for half a street.

For a proper coffee, walk to Place du Parlement and find a table at one of the cafés ringing the fountain. Order a noisette and a canelé from a nearby comptoir — the small fluted cake with its dark, almost-burnt crust and rum-soft centre is Bordeaux's edible signature, and locals are particular about whose version they trust.