IT'S afternoon in the comforting gloom of the Roman-inspired spa at the Grand Hotel de Bordeaux & Spa. Lined with dark tiles, the bijou pool shimmers with the light streaming in through the towering floor-to-ceiling windows. Two French matrons, cocooned in thick fluffy bathrobes, murmur appreciatively to each other about what an incredible retreat they've stumbled upon.

Not exactly the image one normally associates with Bordeaux, epicentre of the oldest and most famous vineyard in France, but you heard it here first: Bordeaux - the world capital of wine, as well as the splendid spiritual home of first growths Chateaux Margaux, Latour, Haut-Brion and Lafite-Rothschild - is more than "just" a wine destination.

In addition to 300,000 acres (121,406 ha) of vines, 5,000 chateaux, haute gastronomy and 57 categories of fine wines, for the time pressed tourist, especially one who is a teetotaller, on a whirlwind tour of France, Bordeaux offers a wealth of non-alcoholic diversions.