Outdoor swimming pool at Le Saint-James hotel in Bordeaux featuring a wooden deck, red brick building, sun loungers and umbrellas, surrounded by lush greenery under clear blue sky. — © Le Saint-James Bordeaux - Pool and Terrace

Outdoor swimming pool at Le Saint-James hotel in Bordeaux featuring wooden deck, lounge chairs, white umbrellas and panoramic countryside view — © Le Saint-James Hotel Pool and Terrace, Bordeaux

Sunset view from Le Saint-James hotel in Bordeaux, with the hotel's lit windows in the foreground and the glowing city lights spread across the landscape at dusk. — © Bordeaux sunset from Le Saint-James hotel

Introduction Services & facilities Practical information Location

Hôtel Le Saint-James

In the village of Bouliac, near Bordeaux, the Hotel Saint-James, a member of Relais & Châteaux is known as much for its architecture than for its cuisine. Nicknamed the “balcony of Bordeaux” for its panoramic views, Bouliac has long drawn gourmets and gourmands, those who love art and art de vivre.

Formerly a restaurant, the 18th-century farmhouse now housing Le Saint-James was transformed and enlarged in 1989 by Jean Nouvel. The architect designed four pavilions, each connected to the original building, to create the hotel’s guest rooms. Pavilions that the Lot-et-Garonne native envisioned as an inspired echo of the tobacco barns of yesteryear. The architect even sought to preserve their rusty, chipped, patinated appearance, leaving everything as authentic as possible. His other artistic choices included having the longère and pavilions open out onto the natural surroundings, generating the sensation of lunching, dining, sleeping, reposing and relaxing in the very heart of the vineyards. An architectural feat as atypical as it is eye-catching, now listed as part of France’s 20th-century architectural heritage by the Ministry of Culture.

Sustainable approach

The Saint-James Hotel is in the process of being certified Green Key. The hotel is also in partnership with an association that helps homeless women and uses local products for the restaurant.