Decided to stay away from downtown Bordeaux for the fear of parking (so no Regent Bordeaux for me, although I must say the lunch at the Regent was worth the money). So, having found this location through Relais & Chateaux, I decided to give this place a try.

It was definitely a good experience. Location is only about 15 minutes away from downtown Bordeaux; Three sides of your room are windows, and as the hotel is perched on a hill, your view is of downtown Bordeaux across the river in a distance.
Very spacious room, very modern design, and the staff cannot be more helpful.

The food is another highlight. Great Bordeaux wine selection and excellent menu choices.

Would come back in a heartbeat.

It is my first note on Trip Advisor , and the reason why I'm writting it is because I owe so much to this site, that I have to contribute . Here is a hotel from the Relais et Chateaux famous hotel network, red in the Michelin guide, so we expected the best. We spent 2 nights in a delux room and we could not beleive this hotel, except for the wonderfull architecture and view from the room, belongs to this prestigious chains or is so much recommende in the MIchelin.
SOme examples:
1. The matress is so tough we had back pain for 2 days
2. No room service menu in the room, when I phone reception to see if there was a room service, they said, yes if you wish. Then I asked for the menu that was not in the room. The lady from reception said that it is normal because rooms service menu is in the reception! O yes, this is very normal. Finally someone brought the menu to us and said" please order quickly because I finish at 9 and it is already 8.30, at 9 I finish my service"! There was not drinks list and we asked for a bottle of wine, the waiter said :" what price? and we said, OK a Pauillac for 70 euros". The wine was delicious I must say. But we order from the short list of 5 dishes an "entrecôte, in English I think it is Sirloin steack, and it was think like a cigarette paper as we say in France. This hotel has a restaurant that is 1 Michelin star....so how they can serve such a bad meat!
3. When we went for breakfeast in the morning, there was only one person for 12 of us. This would not be a problem expect that this lady had to walk 70 meters to go to the kitchen and bring coffree, muffins and croissants, the (by the way horrible and pretentious) little pots of cream, marmelade, etc..., so 3 trips each time. There is a little table with ham and bred . THE BRED WAS NOT FROM THE DAY!! The croissants are industrial!! But no water or juices. We asked for water and after asking twice we decided to drink latter. SO my recommendation is that you dont have breakfeast there.

A very good point: the fantastic view from our room, even if we had to jump 1 meter to get to our bed. It is so high! because this is the way you get the view on Bordeaux, the river and the vine trees just in front of your beuatifull window.

It is a pitty such a beautifull place has such a horrible service and breakfeast!!!!

The Saint-James Hotel came to our rescue when our confirmed reservation in Bordeaux was overbooked. We had considered this hotel in planning our trip, but had not selected it based on its website, which is professional, but has an edgy design that did not convey to us how nice the property is. The hotel is in the style of the contemporary urban boutique hotel. However, unlike some where we have stayed that are so tweaked that the guests are made to feel uncomfortable, the atmosphere at the Saint-James were relaxed and gracious. The food reflected a consistent, lean style of gourmet preparation and presentation from the chef. Service was outstanding. What we liked best was the spacious room with the view from the bed out over the hotel's small vineyard, down across the river with the city lights in the background. We'd recommend the hotel revise the website to better portray the graciousness of their property.

the hauterive saint james is a beautiful hotel, with very interesting architecture. if you're not into mixes of materials or modern takes on hotel architecture, then you may find the rooms a little cold, but I loved it.
we had a beautiful room looking over the vineyard and further down over bordeaux. there was a glass wall separating the bath and bed and the whole room was filled with light.
the hotel is very nicely designed inside and the service is discreet and competent. the pool is really relaxing, and the breakfast is beyond belief!
bouliac is a tiny village with just the hotel, a church and another little restaurant/café that is also owned by the hotel further down the street. this place (café de l'espérance) was lovely. very casual looking with an excellent meat menu (the fish side of things is covered by the cote de couer bistro attached to the hotel, which unfortunately is no longer open in the evenings) and a great wine list. the service in the café is extremely warm and friendly. on the whole, a great place to kick back ten minutes outside bordeaux.