It's raining in Lyon, you left Bordeaux three years ago, and you suddenly need to know whether the Garonne is still the colour of milky coffee. Or you're wondering whether to get the bike out and want to see the sky over the quays before you decide. Good news: Bordeaux can be watched live. A handful of public webcams film the city around the clock, and almost all of them share the same subject: the river. We sorted through them, looked at what each one really shows, and we'll tell you what to look out for.
Three of them can be watched right here, in the article, with a replay of the last 24 hours. The other five, run by the company Viewsurf, can't be displayed outside their partner sites: a link takes you there in one click. List checked on 17 October 2026: all of them had sent an image within the previous two hours. If a camera shows a time from the day before, it's taking a nap.
Pont Chaban-Delmas: waiting for the lift
Webcam provided by Windy.com
This is the webcam for the patient. Filmed from the left bank, the Pont Jacques-Chaban-Delmas, opened to traffic on 18 March 2013, is still the largest lift bridge in Europe: 433 metres long, with a central span of 117 metres and 2,500 tonnes that rises between its four pylons to let large ships through.
It doesn't happen every day. According to Bordeaux MĂ©tropole, the bridge was raised 837 times between 2013 and 2023, with a record of 116 in 2017, and a closure to traffic now lasts around 1 hour 10 minutes. The smart move: use the player's 24-hour replay and scroll through the day to see whether the deck went up. A century earlier, the city had dreamt of a very different bridge a few hundred metres away: we told you the story of the transporter bridge Bordeaux never had.
Cité du Vin pontoon: the Garonne at water level
Webcam provided by Windy.com
This one sits on the Cité du Vin pontoon, in Bacalan, almost at river level. In the foreground: water, and nothing but water. It's the best camera for understanding the Garonne. Bordeaux is about a hundred kilometres from the ocean, but the tide reaches it: the water rises and falls by 5 to 6 metres depending on the day, and the current changes direction twice a day. Run the replay at speed: you'll see the level climb up the pontoon, then the river head off the other way.
HD river panorama: the wide angle
Webcam provided by Windy.com
A very wide panorama, taken from a pontoon, that takes in a whole stretch of the Garonne and the opposite bank. It's not the most spectacular at midday, but it's the best for reading the weather: the colour of the sky, the mist lingering over the water on autumn mornings, the rain rolling in. And the colour of the river, which turns deep brown after heavy rain, when the Garonne carries down everything the storms have torn away upstream.
Place de la Bourse: the façade from the opposite bank
We couldn't leave this one out. The camera looks at place de la Bourse from the right bank, across the Garonne: the whole run of 18th-century façades fits in the frame, with the river in the foreground. At its feet, on the quayside, lies the water mirror, 3,450 mÂČ of granite covered with 2 centimetres of water, too low to be seen from here. What to look out for: the light. On grey days, the square is a sober beige. At sunset, the stone turns golden. And in the evening, when the façades light up, they are reflected in the river.
See the Place de la Bourse webcam live (on Windfinder)
Ponton Yves Parlier: the Pont de pierre and its boats
The Ponton Yves Parlier is moored on quai de Queyries, in La Bastide, and is named after the sailor nicknamed "the extraterrestrial", a leading figure of offshore racing. Its camera looks towards the Pont de pierre, with the boats moored at the pontoon in the foreground. The arches of Bordeaux's first bridge, for a long time its only one, stand out against the horizon, with construction cranes in the background. It's also the best place to watch the tide on the bridge piers: at low tide, much more of the stone is exposed.
See the Ponton Yves Parlier webcam live (on Windfinder)
Escale Ă Bordeaux: cruise boats at the quay
The name says it all. This camera films the left-bank quays from the right bank, where river cruise boats dock, those long white vessels that take their passengers along the Garonne and the Dordogne. Behind them, the façade of the quays and, in the distance, the Pont de pierre. From one day to the next, the picture changes with the boats in port.
See the Escale Ă Bordeaux webcam live (on Windfinder)
Les Quais des Chartrons: the panorama from the right bank
Despite its name, this camera isn't on the Chartrons quays: it looks at them from the right bank, with tall grass and an old metal structure in the foreground. Opposite, the whole Chartrons waterfront stretches along the other bank, with a few church spires rising above the rooftops. A wide view, ideal for watching the mist lift off the river.
See the Quais des Chartrons webcam live (on Windfinder)
Place des Quinconces: the funfair above the trees
Here too, the camera films from the other bank. The esplanade des Quinconces, one of the largest squares in Europe at some 12 hectares, hides behind the line of trees along the quay. Except twice a year: in spring and autumn, when the Foire aux Plaisirs funfair moves in, the tallest rides poke out above the trees. Right now, and until 1 November, that's the case. Watch it after dark, when everything lights up.
See the Quinconces webcam live (on Windfinder)
The ones that disappeared, and the ones you won't see
The webcam landscape changes fast. A while ago you could also find views called "Pont Simone Veil", "Les Hangars et la Cité du Vin" or "Quinconces et Fleuve". They no longer appear. As for the ring road, it's full of traffic monitoring cameras, but their images aren't broadcast to the public. To find out whether there's a jam, Bordeaux Métropole does publish real-time traffic status as open data, refreshed every minute. Less poetic, more useful at 8am on a Monday.
So what's the point?
To check the weather better than an app can, before a bike ride or a picnic on the quays. To avoid missing a lift of the Pont Chaban. To show Bordeaux to someone who has never been. And, let's admit it, to soothe a little homesickness when you live far away. Open a webcam at sunset, watch the Garonne turn golden, and tell yourself the city is still there, exactly as you left it.
Bordeaux webcams live
Pont Chaban-Delmas, Cité du Vin pontoon, HD river panorama: live in this article, via Windy.com
Place de la Bourse, Ponton Yves Parlier, Escale Ă Bordeaux, Quais des Chartrons, Quinconces: windfinder.com/webcams/bordeaux (Viewsurf cameras)
Real-time traffic (data, not images): data.gouv.fr
List checked on 17 October 2026.