A charming 19th century maison de maître

The address of Château Mitaud is:

Château Mitaud

162 Mitaud (or Lieu-dit Mitaud)

33650 St Morillon

France

Mitaud is not the easiest place in the world to find. See the exact map coordinates below.

[44.636504-0.530695]

You can find us on Google maps

162 Mitaud,

33650 Saint-Morillon

France

We are on the D220 road between La Brède (the nearest town on the road to Cabanac and Villagrains). Don't be misled by the postal address, as although administratively we are in the commune of the village of St Morillon, it is actually about 3 kilometers away.

If your GPS does not recognize the address you can use "Lieu-dit Mitaud" or "Chemin de la Veyrière" which is the road that borders the side of the domaine, which most GPS seem able to be pick up.

Those holding an EU or EEA passport do not need a visa to visit France. As for UK passport holders, well we will have to see how Brexit negotiations pan out in two years time…

US citizens are not required to obtain a visa prior to visiting France as tourists for up to 90 days in each 6 month period.

Chinese citizens need to obtain a Schengen Area Visa from the embassy or consulate of the country of entry into the Schengen Area.

Château Mitaud is not served by any public transport, so you will need to hire a car at the airport (most people come in through Bordeaux airport at Mérignac) or at the Gare St Jean in Bordeaux. You will find the full range of hire car services available at either location Avis, Hertz, EuropCar and more, but you should book ahead of time in high season such as Christmas or arriving the summer school holidays. Manuals are cheaper than automatics.

www.hertz.com/p/car-rental/france/bordeaux

www.bordeaux.aeroport.fr

www.rentalcars.com/France/Bordeaux

www.avis.fr/services-avis/location-voiture/europe/france/bordeaux

www.europcar.fr/ageaces/france/merignac/bordeaux-merignac-aeroport

See www.rentalcars for example for hire car choices at Bordeaux train station.

During the day at Mérignac, they man the booths out in the car park directly in front of the terminal building, but at night these close and they only man the desks between Terminal A and B on the ground floor (at the arrivals level). You should always go to the arrivals level desks for getting the car keys, but for returns they will come out to meet you or you can go to the external booths and drop off the keys. If you have a car booked, hire car companies will normally wait up for you if you are arriving late in the day, if you have given them your flight number (but check if you are going through an intermediary like "出租车" in China, as Andrew has found that it does not always get passed on). You will need to produce an original, valid driver's licence. If you are planning to use a Chinese driving licence you should check first that this is recognised/acceptable to the car hire company. Increasingly Avis and others are not requiring certified translations of Chinese driving licences, but you may want to keep one ready in advance just in case. The French Consulate in Shanghai can arrange this for a fee.

When you collect your hire car, you will need to confirm whether you want to waive (or pay for) the collision etc. waivers (franchises).  Check with the desk whether the car is “diesel” (gasoil) or “unleaded” (“Sans plomb 95 or 97 octane”) in order to avoid it blowing up on you when you fill up (this is expensive to fix, believe me).  You must fill the tank completely before returning the hire car otherwise you will get charged heavily for this. Andrew always uses the AGIP station (look for the yellow and black lion logo) on the motorway as you approach Mérignac on the A630 to do that last fill up as it is the last station before Mérignac that is directly on the route.

Note that whilst you have a hire car with them, the hire companies seem to implicitly have no issue with you leaving the car parked in their dedicated airport car parking spaces if you need to come to the airport for any reason such as to pick up people, so no need to pay for parking (but be discreet and don't go and tell them you are there, as they may then feel they have to charge you). Make sure you do not miss the hire return car park entrance, which is past all the paid for car parks with the barriers that go up in the arrivals lane (keep left as right lane is the departures drop off point), and is the last turn on your left before you go past the terminal building itself – there is a big signpost with all the car hire names in English on your left “return of hire cars” “retour de voitures de location” and a speed hump. There are no tyre shredders to stop you exiting as in the US and elsewhere, but you should go to the sections which do not have an automatic barrier (on your right as you turn into the road) when parking to drop off.

If you go into the paid-for car parks, you will need to pay inside the terminal to get out. There are no payment terminals inside the car parks.

The water at Château Mitaud is potable and meets relevant standards, but bottled water is available in all supermarkets.

There is a pharmacy on the road to St Morillon and in La Brède which sells all OTC treatments for common ailments, although these tend to be quite expensive and the pharmacists may not speak English.

There is free wifi available throughout the property, but due to the location mobile phone signals can be quite weak and patchy.