Saint-Emilion

The village grew around a hermit called Emilion who lived in a cave here in the eighth century, and monks afterwards cut an entire church out of the limestone below the town rather than building one: the monolithic church is hollowed from solid rock, about thirty-eight metres long and eleven high, entered from a plain door with its bell tower standing on the square directly above the nave. The rock around holds catacombs and the hermit's cell. Above ground, Saint-Emilion is a village of steep cobbled lanes among vineyards that were the first wine landscape inscribed by UNESCO, in 1999. Macarons have been baked here since the seventeenth century.

What you actually see

• The monolithic church - a church cut whole from solid limestone.
• The bell tower - a tower standing on the square above the buried nave.
• The catacombs and hermitage - rock-cut galleries and Emilion's cell.
• The vineyards - the first wine landscape given UNESCO listing.

When to go

April to June and September to October; harvest is late September. The underground church is visited only on guided tours booked through the tourist office, and they sell out.

Honest expectations

The monolithic church can only be entered on a guided tour, and independent access is impossible. The lanes are steep and cobbled. Summer crowds and coach traffic are heavy.

Nearby

Bordeaux lies west; the Dordogne valley is east.