Bordeaux.

ESN Bordeaux is the main hub for exchange students, running social events, cultural outings, day trips and sports activities built around inclusion and mutual aid. The University of Bordeaux also pairs incoming students with a current student through its own mentorship programme, useful for the first confusing weeks before you find your feet. Much of the everyday social life then plays out around Place de la Victoire, where Thursday nights fill the bars and restaurants around the square with a mixed, affordable crowd of students, young workers and long time residents.

• Join ESN Bordeaux's events and trips to meet other exchange students fast.
• Request a mentor through the university's mentorship programme for your first weeks.
• Head to Place de la Victoire on a Thursday for the classic student night out.

Rents vary sharply by neighbourhood: expect around 14 euros a square metre in Talence and Pessac near the main campuses, closer to 15 to 18 euros around Victoire and Saint Michel, and about 17 euros in Chartrons. Public transport is a fixed, predictable cost: the TBM Pass Jeune for 11 to 27 year olds runs 20.80 euros a month, or 249.60 euros for the full year, covering the whole tram, bus and river shuttle network plus a free standard bike. Factor in CROUS canteen meals and market shopping at the Capucins, and daily costs stay reasonable outside the centre.

• Compare rent per square metre by neighbourhood, from 14 euros in Talence-Pessac up.
• Get the TBM Pass Jeune for 20.80 euros a month if you are under 27.
• Shop at the Capucins market and eat at CROUS canteens to control food costs.

CROUS reserves student rooms for exchange programmes through your host institution and prioritises scholarship holders and international master's or doctoral students, so apply through the Dossier Social Étudiant by May and stay in touch with your international office about the reserved quota. Outside CROUS, students look for shared flats or studios through agencies, and it pays to move fast once the search opens. Whatever route you take, never pay a deposit before viewing the room in person or on video, pay by bank transfer rather than cash, and sign the lease before any money changes hands.

• Apply for CROUS housing via the Dossier Social Étudiant by May at the latest.
• Ask your international office about the exchange quota your university holds with CROUS.
• Never pay a deposit before viewing a room, and always pay by bank transfer.

Tram line F connects the airport to the Hôtel de Ville in about 35 minutes, running every 10 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, for a single ticket priced at 1.90 euros. Around the city, the wider TBM tram and bus network makes a car genuinely unnecessary, and students under 27 travel on it for 20.80 euros a month with the Pass Jeune. Central Bordeaux is flat and compact enough to cross largely on foot or by bike, and the same TBM pass throws in a free classic bicycle for the year.

• Take tram line F from the airport to Hôtel de Ville in about 35 minutes.
• Get the Pass Jeune for unlimited tram, bus and river shuttle access under 27.
• Walk or cycle the flat centre; a free bike comes with the annual pass.

Exchange places open across several institutions: the University of Bordeaux, spread over the Montesquieu, Peixotto and Carreire-Victoire campuses by discipline, Bordeaux Montaigne for humanities, and Sciences Po Bordeaux for political and social sciences with both French and English tracks. At the University of Bordeaux, your home institution must nominate you by 15 April for the September intake or 15 October for January, before you complete your own application by 1 May or 1 November. Bordeaux Montaigne runs September to December and January to April, with tutors assigned each semester, and free French as a foreign language classes are open to all exchange students.

• Get nominated by your home university before 15 April or 15 October.
• Choose the French or English track if you apply to Sciences Po Bordeaux.
• Sign up for free French as a foreign language classes once you arrive.

Lo que necesitas depende enteramente de tu nacionalidad. Los estudiantes UE/EEE/suizos no necesitan visado y simplemente pueden matricularse. Los estudiantes no UE en un intercambio de más de 90 días solicitan un visado de larga estancia VLS-TS para estudiantes antes de llegar, luego lo validan online dentro de los tres primeros meses y pagan una pequeña tasa OFII; con menos de 90 días puede que solo necesites un visado Schengen de corta estancia o ninguno.

Reserva tiempo para el maratón de trámites: querrás una cuenta bancaria francesa, justificante de alojamiento, cobertura sanitaria (tarjeta sanitaria europea para europeos, o inscripción en la seguridad social francesa), y un seguro de responsabilidad civil. Reserva las citas de prefectura y OFII en cuanto puedas, porque las plazas desaparecen.

• UE/EEE/suizos: sin visado, solo matricúlate
• No UE, más de 90 días: visado de larga estancia VLS-TS para estudiantes, validado online tras llegar
• Normalmente se exige justificante de unos 615 €/mes en fondos
• Consigue un seguro de responsabilidad civil (assurance responsabilité civile) antes del curso

Start at the Marché des Capucins, trading since 1749 and still Bordeaux's gastronomic heart, with more than 80 stalls selling local produce, cheese and seafood, plus quick counters where you can eat oysters or a canelé standing up. That canelé, a small caramelised pastry with a soft custard centre, was invented by nuns at the Annonciades convent in the 18th century and is still baked fresh across the city, with one bakery alone selling around 35,000 a day. Wine runs through everything here too, an export business worth billions of euros a year, so a proper tasting is less a tourist activity than local culture.

• Visit the Marché des Capucins, trading since 1749, for produce and quick eats.
• Try a canelé, the caramelised local pastry invented by 18th century nuns.
• Book a proper wine tasting; it is everyday culture here, not just tourism.

Victoire and Saint Michel, around the Capucins market and Place de la Victoire, sit at the centre of student life, cosmopolitan, busy and still relatively affordable to rent in. Chartrons, the old wine merchants' quarter by the Garonne, has turned trendy with rooftop bars and cafes, and suits students at the private schools nearby. Talence and Pessac, south of the centre, hold the lowest rents and put you right next to the main university campuses, while Bègles, Gradignan and Cenon offer quieter, cheaper options a short tram or train ride out.

• Victoire and Saint Michel keep you in the middle of student nightlife.
• Talence and Pessac offer the cheapest rents, right by the main campuses.
• Chartrons suits a quieter, trendier routine by the river, at a higher price.

Arcachon and the Dune du Pilat, Europe's tallest sand dune, are a direct train ride away, with departures roughly every 30 minutes through the day, easy for a single day out. Saint Émilion, the medieval wine town with monuments dating to the 11th and 12th centuries, runs on an hourly weekday train and makes an obvious half day trip among the vineyards. Further out, Angoulême, the self-styled capital of French comics, is about 35 minutes away by TGV, and smaller towns like Libourne and La Réole make easy, low key add-ons if you have more time to fill.

• Take the direct train to Arcachon and the Dune du Pilat for a beach day.
• Visit Saint Émilion's medieval wine town on an easy half day trip.
• Angoulême, the comics capital, is about 35 minutes away by TGV.

Sort your CROUS or private housing application as early as the portals open, since the best value rooms near Victoire and the campuses go fast. Get your TBM Pass Jeune in your first week rather than paying for single tickets, it pays for itself quickly once term starts. Join ESN Bordeaux's welcome events early too, they are the fastest way to meet other exchange students before everyone settles into their own group. The classic rookie mistake is underestimating the wine culture: a tasting is a normal Friday plan here, not a special occasion, so say yes when a local student invites you along.

• Apply for housing as soon as portals open; the best rooms go fast.
• Buy the TBM Pass Jeune in week one instead of paying per ticket.
• Say yes to a wine tasting; it is normal here, not a special occasion.