Driving from Bordeaux to Cognac
Landed at Bordeaux and heading to Cognac?
There are two ways to make that drive.
The direct route, the A10 or N10, gets you there in about 1h30. If you want to stop for lunch, Restaurant Cave La Quincaillerie is only 15 minutes from the main road N10, and motorway A10. Easy to access with free parking. Call ahead latest before you leave the A10 or N10, it’s worth not arriving to find it full. In English: +33546704241
Take the scenic route through Montendre
The route through Montendre and Jonzac takes about 1h50. Only twenty minutes longer, on smaller roads that roll gently through vineyards, oak copses and stone villages, the Haute-Saintonge countryside unfolding field by field rather than rushing past the window.
This is Cognac and Pineau country long before you reach the town of Cognac itself. Vines run right up to the edge of the road, and the traditional stone longhouses of the region. These low, long longères charentaises that once sheltered a farming family, its animals and its own small still, all under one roof, still stand in the villages you’ll pass through.
Distilling here was once modest enough that a good many farms did their own, in barns not much bigger than a garage, and something of that quiet, working landscape is still visible from the car: weathered stone, shuttered windows, vines climbing the hillsides in long, patient rows.
Twenty minutes buys you that first look at rural south-west France, at the pace it actually moves at, and a proper lunch stop, instead of two hours of motorway before your holiday has even started
Stop for lunch or dinner in Montendre
Montendre sits roughly halfway between Bordeaux and Cognac, about 1 hour drive from Bordeaux. It’s a natural place to break the drive: park, stretch your legs, eat properly, then carry on. The Castle of Montendre is only few steps away from the restaurant, you can easily combine a delicious meal and little bit of history.
Restaurant Cave La Quincaillerie is a small restaurant in the historic centre of Montendre, in a former hardware store. The name « Quincaillerie » actually is French for « the hardware store »! Around 30 seats, homemade cooking, a wine cellar, and a listing in the MICHELIN Guide 2026.
The dining room is a first floor carried on round, riveted iron pillars, with the stairwell opening braced beneath by crossed diagonal iron struts, the same lattice-and-rivet construction as the Eiffel Tower, and a wooden staircase with an iron balustrade running up from the ground floor, under a beamed timber roof and exposed stone walls.
You don’t need French to eat here. English is spoken, including over the phone when you book.
→ Book a table by mail (not for the same day)
→ Book a table by phone (including the same day): +33546704241
→ Nearest free parking (Place du Champ de Foire) 24/7
If Montendre turns out to be your stop, call ahead latest before you leave the A10 or N10, it’s worth not arriving to find it full.
We visited yesterday and had and absolutely beautiful meal for our anniversary dinner. The food was exquisite, delicate flavours and beautifully presented.
We love that we know the local providers of the ingredients and that the chef makes everything from scratch including his amazing bread.
The wine list is interesting and we had a beautiful bio wine. Such a treat.
It was a blisteringly hot day but with the air conditioned restaurant it was so comfortable. You can park very close by so perhaps only 100 m from the restaurant. We are so lucky to have this on our doorstep.
If you’re within 50 km you should try it!!! It’s worth the travel.
Which route should you take ?
If you need to be in Cognac as fast as possible, take the A10 or N10 straight through. If you’ve got a rental car and 20 minutes to spare, the route through Montendre and Jonzac turns the drive from something to get through into part of the trip: vineyards and small roads instead of motorway, and perhaps a real lunch or dinner instead of a service station.
For a lovely lunch or dinner in French style, count additional 1h30-2h00.
📍 The route from Bordeaux or Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport:
Via the A10 Bordeaux-Saintes
- Leave the motorway at Saint-Aubin-de-Blaye, head towards Montendre.
Via the N10 Bordeaux-Angoulême
- Leave the national road at Bussac-Forêt, head towards Montendre.
In both cases, count approximately 15-20 minutes from the exit to Montendre (Parking Place de Champ de Foire). Depending when you arrive, you might want to stop for lunch or dinner in Montendre.
From Montendre, continue to Jonzac and then Cognac on smaller roads, through vineyard country and small villages. The vines start well before Jonzac, you’re inside the Cognac wine-growing region for the whole of this stretch, not just once you reach the town of Cognac itself.
Total driving time via Montendre and Jonzac: around 1h50, before stops. The direct route is around 1h30.
Staying in or near Montendre
If you’re not driving straight through, there are places to stay in and around the town.
→ Where to stay near La Quincaillerie
If you want to know more about Montendre and what to do, check our ideas and recommendations (in French).
FAQ – Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to stop in a small French village we’ve never heard of?
Yes. Montendre is a quiet, ordinary market town, not a remote backroad detour. It has a police station, a pharmacy, shops and a regular Thursday morning market. The kind of place where nothing much happens, which, after a busy airport and motorway drive, is rather the appeal.
Will anyone at the restaurant speak English?
Yes. English is spoken at the table and on the phone when you book, so you can ask about the menu, the wine list or the local area without reaching for a translation app.
Is this « authentic » France, or a place set up for tourists?
La Quincaillerie is a working restaurant that locals eat at, in a former hardware shop in the middle of town, not on a bypass built for coach parties. The MICHELIN Guide 2026 lists it, and the kitchen cooks from what’s genuinely in season in this part of Charente-Maritime, not a laminated menu translated for visitors. You’re eating where the region eats.
Do we need to book ahead?
Yes, try to book in advance and latest before you leave the A10 or N10. It’s a small restaurant, around 30 seats, so a table isn’t guaranteed if you simply turn up.
Isn’t this a big detour from the direct route?
Twenty minutes, door to door, compared with the fastest motorway option. What happens at the table once you arrive is a separate question, see below 
.
How much time should we allow for lunch?
Plan for an hour and a half to two hours at the table. Meals matter in France. This is a proper sit-down meal, cooked to order, and the point of stopping here is to actually take your time, enjoy the setting and the company, not eat quickly and get back on the road. If you’re on a tight schedule and just need to refuel fast, the motorway services on the direct route will serve you faster. This stop is for travellers who want to actually sit down and eat well on the way to Cognac.
Is Montendre touristy?
No. It sees far fewer visitors than Bordeaux, Saint-Émilion or Cognac itself, which is exactly why it feels like a genuine slice of rural France rather than a stop built for passing traffic. You won’t find crowds, queues or souvenir shops, just a small town going about its day.
I don’t know French wines well, but I’d like to bring a bottle home. Is that possible?
Yes, and you don’t need to know anything about French wine to do it. Restaurant Cave La Quincaillerie has its own shop, alongside the restaurant, stocked with wines from independent winemakers, mostly organic, some natural, plus artisanal spirits and craft beers. Every bottle on the shelf has been chosen by us, one at a time, not ordered from a catalogue. Tell us what you like and we’ll talk you through it. Or simpler still: if you enjoy the wine with your meal, just buy a bottle of that to take home. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
What makes this better than a motorway service station?
The building, for a start. The dining room at La Quincaillerie is a first floor carried on round, riveted iron pillars, with the stairwell opening braced beneath by crossed diagonal struts, genuine Eiffel-era lattice ironwork, reached by a wooden staircase from the wine cellar below. It’s a former hardware store, and it still looks like one was built to last a century.
Add a proper meal cooked to order, and twenty extra minutes on the road buys you the first real taste of the French countryside on this trip, before you’ve even reached your destination — not a forecourt sandwich eaten standing up.