Please wait
Discover curated tours, authentic experiences, and expert local insights.
Your order is being processed, please wait
Loading calendar, please wait
Most tours to Saint-Émilion follow the same itinerary: a château visit, a wine tasting, a stroll through the village. This tour goes considerably further. Led by certified in-house cultural guides — one of the very few teams in the Bordeaux region authorised to conduct guided visits inside Saint-Émilion's underground monuments — it combines two Grand Cru winery visits with private access to one of the most extraordinary medieval sites in France. This is wine and history at their deepest, in one of the world's great UNESCO World Heritage landscapes.
The underground monuments of Saint-Émilion — including the monolithic church, the catacombs, and the hermitage cave of Saint Émilion himself — are not accessible on standard wine tours. Guides must hold a specific cultural heritage certification to lead visits inside these spaces. Most tour operators working in the region employ wine guides or sommeliers; Ophorus is among the rare exceptions, with in-house guides trained and certified for both the wine and cultural dimensions of Saint-Émilion. This makes the combination you experience on this tour genuinely exclusive.
Carved entirely from a single limestone rock face between the 9th and 12th centuries, the Église Monolithe de Saint-Émilion is the largest underground church in Europe — 38 metres long, 20 metres wide, and 11 metres high, hollowed out by hand over several centuries by Benedictine monks. Its scale is staggering, its atmosphere unlike anything above ground. The interior retains traces of medieval frescoes, carved capitals, and the remains of a Romanesque bell tower that collapsed in the 18th century. Your certified guide will walk you through the full history of the church — its construction, its role in the medieval monastic community of Saint-Émilion, the symbolism carved into its walls, and the extraordinary engineering feat it represents.
Your tour includes visits to two carefully selected estates in the Saint-Émilion appellation. Each visit combines a guided tour of the vineyard and cellar with a structured tasting of the estate's wines. Saint-Émilion is dominated by Merlot and Cabernet Franc — grape varieties that thrive on the appellation's limestone plateau and clay-rich slopes, producing wines of remarkable depth, elegance, and complexity on Bordeaux's Right Bank. Your guide will provide context throughout both visits, connecting the terroir and the winemaking philosophy to what you taste in the glass.
The tour departs from your hotel or accommodation in Bordeaux and includes free time in the village of Saint-Émilion for lunch at your own expense — your guide can recommend and pre-book a table on request. The village itself, with its cobbled streets, bell towers, and panoramic views over the Dordogne valley, is worth exploring at leisure. The tour returns to Bordeaux at the end of the afternoon.
Payments secured by Stripe
Free cancellation on most tours
Verified traveler reviews only
Book your experience with complete peace of mind. All payments made on Ophorus are securely processed through Stripe, a trusted international payment platform.
Your payment information is encrypted and handled directly by Stripe. Ophorus does not store your credit card details.
You can pay safely using the available payment methods displayed at checkout. Once your payment has been confirmed, you will receive your booking confirmation by email.
We understand that travel plans can change. That is why many Ophorus experiences include flexible cancellation conditions, allowing you to cancel your booking free of charge when the request is made before the applicable cancellation deadline.
The exact conditions depend on the type of experience booked, the departure date and any services included. Your cancellation policy is clearly displayed on the experience page and during the booking process, so you can review it before confirming your reservation.
Some tickets, tastings, meals, accommodation or third-party services may be non-refundable. When a cancellation qualifies for a refund, the amount is returned using the original payment method.
For full details, always refer to the cancellation conditions associated with your booking and to the Ophorus Terms of Sale.
At Ophorus, reviews help future travellers choose their experience with confidence. The feedback displayed on our website comes from customers who have booked or participated in our tours.
Reviews are collected after the experience, allowing travellers to share their honest opinion about the guide, itinerary, organisation, transportation and overall quality of the tour.
We value transparency and do not edit reviews to change their meaning. Positive and critical feedback both help us maintain high standards, improve our services and provide clear, useful information to future guests.
Our reviews may also be collected and displayed through trusted independent platforms such as Tripadvisor or other recognised travel review services.
