Bretagne

The Region

In northwest France Brittany is a region with an identity, landscape and even a language, all of its own. It is one of the six Celtic Nations and has a maritime climate that can sometimes make it feel more like Ireland than mainland France.

Explore

On the coast the scenery is at turns awe-inspiring and quaint, but always beautiful. At its most epic there are gigantic headlands lashed by the Atlantic and cliffs like you’ve never seen on the Pink Granite Coast. We could be here all day if we had to list the historic towns and villages around the region, some so diligently-cared for that they have barely changed at all in centuries.

Do & See

The region pushes out boldly into the Atlantic and has a physical geography so raw and beautiful that you could spend years visiting the oceanfront around Côtes-d’Armor, Finistère, Ille-et-Vilaine and Morbihan, and feel like you’ve never come close to seeing every heart-rending sight.

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Discover Bretagne

Coastal Scenery

Rightfully celebrated is the Pink Granite coast in Côtes-d’Armor, where the rocks have a mysterious tint that makes them seem not quite natural. The Sentier des Douaniers trail, and the granite lighthouse at Ploumanac’h will take your breath away. Honourable mentions also have to go to Pointe du Grouin near Saint-Malo, Pointe de Pen-Hir in the Parc Naturel Régional d’Armorique and Cap Fréhel together with the redoubtable Fort la Latte.

Prehistoric Monuments

Anyone who read Asterix books as a child will know that the forests of Brittany’s interior are littered with prehistoric menhirs, dolmens and cairns. These were erected 7,000 years ago, and sit either alone on a hillside or in woodland, or as part of highly-significant complexes that have left generations of inheritors and visitors scratching their heads in amazement.

Saint-Malo

It isn’t sacrilegious to draw comparisons between the old part of this port city with nearby Mont-Saint-Michel.
Saint-Malo’s medieval walls are majestic, and you can walk along every inch of the ramparts and either look down at the labyrinthine streets or out over the cinematic beaches to the north and west.
On clear evenings you’ll be overwhelmed by the sight of the sun-setting behind the solemn grey stone buildings of the old-town.

Huelgoat Forest, Finistère

In the hilly inland part of the Parc d’Amorique is the lakeside village of Huelgoat swathed in woodland that conceals a wondrous natural rock formations and caves.
If you pop into the village’s Office de Tourisme you can get hold of route maps, for hikes ranging from anything between hour-long circular tours to intrepid quests through the mossy deciduous forest.