Landmark · Bordeaux

Saint-Émilion Underground Tour

Descend beneath a UNESCO World Heritage village to explore centuries-old monolithic churches and vast tuffeau limestone galleries carved by medieval monks and quarrymen.

What to do there

TourSaint-Émilion: The Church Cut Down Into Its HillSaint-Émilion is hollow. In the early 1100s a church was cut down into its limestone from the top: close to 15,000 m³ of rock came out, leaving a church 38 m long and 12 m high whose pillars are still the hill itself. Only a guided tour opens its doors. The story goes that a Breton hermit, Émilion, prayed in a cave beside it in the 700s; you can sit in his seat. Then climb the 196 steps of the bell tower above it, and end 20 m underground in the Cordeliers quarries, where the house says sparkling wine has been made since 1892.

Places to see and wineries nearby

Landmark · Saint-Émilion Saint-Émilion UNESCO Village & Roman Catacombs UNESCO World Heritage first vineyard (1999) as cultural landscape—5,000 hectares spanning 8 villages, Romans introduced viticulture, Benedictine monks built monastic estates on Santiago pilgrimage routes, creating a "cité parfaite" of cobblestones, ancient ramparts, underground monolithic church.
Winery · Saint-Émilion Château Angélus Château Angélus is a Premier Grand Cru Classé A in Saint-Émilion, the work of eight generations by the de Boüard de Laforest family with distinctive Right Bank terroir.
Winery · Saint-Emilion Château Cheval Blanc Premier Grand Cru Classé since 1954 — 39.5 hectares of pure Cabernet Franc and Merlot overlooking Saint-Émilion's limestone plateau.