13-07-2025
How to have the perfect holiday on France's greatest coast
Boasting a third of the entire French coastline, Brittany unfurls in a succession of sinuous estuaries and endless inlets. Between its family-fun beaches and fortified towns, you can always find a secluded stretch of shore, to hike across dramatic headlands or feast on oysters in tucked-away bays.
Brittany has always stood apart from the rest of France. History here goes back a long way; megalith builders were erecting pyramid-like monuments 7,000 years ago, and eerie menhirs still march across the moorlands. Later came the Celts, whose music and culture is celebrated in festivals like Lorient's Interceltic bonanza.
Highlights range from medieval cities like Saint-Malo and Dinan to pocket-sized resorts like Morgat and Erquy, arrayed around sumptuous beaches. And leave time for an island jaunt – head for Batz or Bréhat, minutes off-shore, or the Île de Sein, adrift in the mists of the Atlantic – or to venture into the time-forgotten forests inland.
For more Brittany inspiration, see our guides to the city's best hotels, restaurants, bars, things to do and beaches.
In this guide:
How to spend a day
How to spend a week
When to go
Where to stay
How to spend the perfect day in Brittany
Morning
Sailing into Saint-Malo from the UK as the day begins, with the ferry picking its way past myriad islets to nestle near the city walls, is a glorious experience. A short walk brings you into the old town.
Assuming you're staying overnight, leave bags at your hotel, then breakfast at whichever café the sun is currently striking. Now enjoy a leisurely half-hour circuit along the top of the ramparts, drinking in the views over the Channel, across the water, and back down into town, before stepping out onto the broad surrounding beach.
Next browse the old-town shops; on Tuesday or Friday you'll find a bustling street market too. For a quintessentially Breton lunch, try a crêpe at the Corps de Garde, then head to the quai de Dinan, at the southernmost point of the walls, to catch the river taxi to Dinard.
