If you also being asking, Is Brittany Worth Visiting?, you came to the right place.
When I heard Brittany I always thought about one thing: rain. Next to it, cold and windy summer weather and then proud, but closed French locals.
How surprised I was when I found Caribbean- like beaches, hospitable English speaking locals, and delicious (also) vegetarian dishes.
After discovering there wasn’t a bus going to our final destination, we were advised to hitch hike. After 20 minutes, the local man, Philippe, stopped.
What a pleasant ride.
Not only did he drive us to the apartment, but he made several stops to be our personal guide and brought my girlfriend to the supermarket and back. Truly unexpected but loving treatment.
This guide will show you places I would recommend to visit while you want to avoid big crowds.
If you are ready, jump in.
Who is Brittany not For?
First things first. Brittany is not for you if:
- You can’t stand rain. (We were lucky here and had no rain for the entire 6 days, locals told us it’s rare. Normally, it rains every second, also in the summer. So be prepared for light showers)
- Need clubs or parties for making your traveling experience full. The biggest socialising happens in restaurants, considering the tremendous kitchen, it isn’t that bad.
- Cant stand families with toddlers. As the biggest crowds we met were families, you should be prepared to meet them everywhere. If you expect mainly solo travellers, you might be better off elsewhere.
- Need constant noise or vibration of cities. Although there are some bigger hubs like Rennes, Brest, or Quimper the biggest treasure is to be found in the quiet local villages.
How To Get There?
Train
The TGV trains ran from Paris directly to all bigger cities in Brittany. North it is Brest, Sint Mallo, Centre and South it is Rennes, Quimper, Lorient, or Vannes.
This would depend on your starting point preference for your (slow) travel Brittany exploration. We travelled to Quimper, and the train ride was 3 hours 30 minutes.
Plane
Ideally, you would land in Brest. City north of Finistere region. Unfortunately, due to higher fuel costs this city has limited direct options and therefore you would need to most likely land firstly in Paris.
Even though it’s not a direct route, this might be also a good stop over, seeing that the train from Paris is 4 hours.
How to Travel Around?
Car
We didn’t rent a car, and while it’s possible to explore very nice beaches on foot or bike, if you want to discover a bigger portion of Brittany, a car would be recommended.
Bus
There is a local bus and train network, operated by Breizhgo.fr. While it does well on connecting the main hubs, if you want to explore bigger parts of Brittany, you might feel very limited.
In addition to its irregularity, for illustration, the bus between Quimper to Beg Meil runs only 3 times a day. We had an unpleasant experience, of false indication. Their site said that the bus from Quimper to Be Meil operates also on public holidays.
The big surprise waited for us, when we found out it was not true, and we were stuck at Quimper with no option left to take public transportation. Rather than a taxi for 75 €. Luckily we experienced genuine gestures from locals and could hitch hike our destination.
What to do and see in South Brittany?
Places to visit in the south Brittany :
- Beg Meil
- Locronan,medieval and authentic Brittany sleepy village
- Cap Choz, long beach with restaurants and start of an amazing hike trail with some of the Brittany best beaches
- Croix Island, an amazing remote island. 45 minutes ferry ride off Lorient. Lighthouse, dramatic hills, pink sand beach, local craft beer and this island can be biked in 2 hours with ebike. If you enjoy remote places, with great food(There is restaurant specialising in smoked fish just at the port you should visit)
- Concerneau and its old town located on the sea (below on picture is the tower at the gate entering the old city, similar to London no?)
- Beaches between Cap Choz and Beg Meil
- Cities Lorient, Quimper, and Brest
- Cider Route
- Taste local food including Kouig Amann, seafood, choucroute
Where to Stay?
We stayed in two places. The first one is highly recommended if you want to discover the southern part of Brittany. It is called Beg Meil. The second one was located 2 minutes walking from La Estrevet beach. Even though it was beautiful, it was quite isolated and the beach was not suitable for bathing as well. The sunsets were stunning though.
Big Meil is a small seaside village, by locals it is considered the place where the rich people stay. Honestly, we didn’t have the feeling.
Restaurants were affordable, crowds weren’t consisting of champagne sipping couples, rather younger families or kids on school trips, and also retired people (further south in Cap Choz).
What we loved most was the vicinity of our point of interests, such as, some of the best beaches of the region, hike trail, cider route and tasty local food options.
One thing on the accommodation. The apartment we rented didn’t come with bed sheets, towels, or anything for cooking. Plus, the property manager wasn’t happy with our cleaning after and indicated we might be charged 132 € for the cleaning fee.
Other places I can recommend to stay would be Quimper. Bigger city located in good strategical position for exploring southern Brittany.
Lorient is another bigger city that is located directly at the sea. We took the ferry to Groix island.Also, sites like Vannes, or Quiberon peninsula are a short distance away.
If you want medieval experience out of crowds, I would suggest Locronan.
Where to Eat as a Vegetarian or a Pescatarian in South Brittany?
Brasserie Le 2
Located in the heart of Beg Meil, you have to try this place. It had amazing service from the owners. They are a French elderly couple, speaking in English and super proactive, talkative and welcoming. You could sense they love what they do.
We had grilled camember, fish burger with the biggest slice of salmon ever seen in black bun with sesame seeds with homemade fries.
Casa Pepe
Another place in Beg Meil, just a couple of metres from Brasserie Le 2. Again fascinating owner, who explained to us a bit about the local chains and recommended the best beaches. We had their specialty: fish and chips with a local homemade ice cream.
While you may wonder, how’s that for recommendation? You have to try it with their super delicious homemade sauce( mix of mustard, capers, mayonnaise)
La Porte Au vin Concarneau
So happy we found this place when strolling the old city of Concerneau. No reservation required, big terrace and again amazingly attentive owner.
Here we were able to try typical Brittany’s galettes, crepes and wine. Combine those qualities together and I know why people love it. If you want traditional Brittany’s food, here you’re at the right address.
Restaurant & Bar Le Prieuré
This restaurant is also a hotel. It’s located in the centre of the lovely, hidden medieval village Locronan. We passed by while on the way to our second accommodation and waited to be picked up. Another coincidence that led to discovery of location I rank as must see while in Brittany. When you step inside of the village you feel what the region is really about.
Talking about the restaurant, talkative, attentive and English speaking owner and waiters (got to change to speak to all of them, and what nice encounter)
We ate choucroute, mussels. Both specialties of the place and both delicious!
Side note, while the dish was called choctoute de la mer,it had pork in it, so I didn’t eat it. Luckily as my girlfriend is French she spotted it. But according to her, the taste was delicious.
Restaurant Oassis
Located directly at the Plage le Earrevet beach, this was our only place we ate at the second location.
This is the first place we weren’t 100% happy with the service. It was my first crab experience and I was delighted. Super tasty! Next to it I ate a combination of other seafood and it was super tasty. The view of the place is stunning, and we all were happy with our food which combined fresh seafood and fresh fish (recommended 100%)
Some improvement points: While ordering we felt a bit rushed to make a decision on the food and their approach was further from those personal and attentive we experienced at the other places. Don’t get me wrong, it was still ok, maybe we just got spoiled from the previous experiences. But once it came, the waiters were polite and even recommended me how to eat that big crab 😊
Le Canot
Located directly at the beach in beautiful Cap Choz, here I’d recommend having a reservation. While not explicitly forbidden, if you come a bit late, you might risk not having all choices available (fish of the day was only available for two people when we came at 1 o’clock )
While food was generally affordable, provided a stunning view and the waiter was very funny, the fish and chips I had was disappointing. As others liked their food(local fish with vegetables ), I can still recommend this place. Just opt for fresh fish, or salad, instead of fish and chips. If you search for vegetarian options. I would go elsewhere, not so many choices here.
What to eat in Brittany?
If you are coming to Brittany, you have to try their kitchen.
Regardless of the season, your diet preference or location.
What stands out is galettes (salty pancakes), crepes (sweet pancakes), mussels, crab, oysters, (in fact any seafood), local fishes in any form, choucroute (white cabbage based dish perfect with wine) and sweets.
Sweets you must try:
- Profiteroles
- Kouign-amann
- Far Breton
- Fondant Baulois
- Gâteau breton
Apart from food, Brittany region is known for the production of Cider. In fact, the region is famous for Cider tours. As the Alsace region has wine tours, the same has Brittany for cider.
Additionally, there are quite a lot of craft beers to choose from (Sint Erwann, Dimezell, GX from Groix Island, Poem), whiskey and obviously wine.
So, if you travel to Brittany, you definitely will be here for a culinary treat.
Where Are The Best Beaches?
Good news? There are hundreds of beautiful beaches.
Bad news?
Well, too many to choose from.
This is the nicer dilemma.
I was pretty surprised and astonished when I found out how the beaches look in Brittany.
The majority of them are just these mesmerising mixes of green and blue, that look Mediterranean like.
Subsequently, those with soft sand look like Caribbean.
With that said, below are the ones I would recommend to visit. Bear with me, as the choices are huge.
Beaches on Trail Beg Meil to Cap Choz
The entire hike is between 30-45 minutes and consists of multiple beautiful beaches.
The bigger ones with names include
Plage de Bot-Conan, Plage de Kerveltrec, La Cale de Beg Meil, Plage de Dunes (end of trial at Beg Meil).
And in between are smaller ones, with no names, but just walk along the coast and pick one that speaks to you the most.
And you will discover something like this:
We stayed in Big Meil, and stayed every day at different beaches. However, the closest one was Plage de Dunes, and it is also the biggest one. So, if you like playing games, this is the place.
Also, the sunsets were just amazing here.
What we loved especially about the area, was how easily the beaches were accessible. Compared to Crozon for instance.
Beaches in Crozon Area
Those beaches look more remote and are reminiscent of those Caribbean lush forests next to the beaches. What is true, is that they are harder to reach. Many are available after hiking through narrow, rocky paths.
So, if you are coming with a toddler or older person next to you, double check the accessibility of each beach.
However, this doesn’t take away the beauty of them. Quite the contrary. Some of the most difficult to be reached are also the most beautiful ones.
To name a few worth of visit:
Plage de Morgat, Plage de Trez Bellec, Plage de l’aber, Virgin Islands Beach
Our second accommodation was in Plomodiern directly at the beach called Plage de Lestrevet.
It is a long, open sand area where the sea is quite far from the shore (we stayed there when the tide was low).
Also, the temperature here was lower compared to Beg Meil. What is strange, because the places are only 1 hour from each other.
So,we didn’t go to the sea, we only hiked around.
As we were going on trips, I didn’t discover this area to the details, but it seemed to be slightly less travellers oriented than the other places.
Groix Island
This remote island is reachable with a ferry ride from Lorient. The ride takes approximately 45 minutes a single way. Costs are 40 euros for a return ticket for an adult.
Taking that into consideration, you might want to give it at least a full day, especially if you are not staying in Lorient.
We drove 1.5 hrs with the car to the port and then 1.5 hrs for the ferry, that means almost a 5 hrs on the way.
If you decide to spend a day or more(there are hotels on the island) you will be witnessing a pure beauty called Les Grands Sables. A stretch of pink sand, surrounded by blue green sea, is maybe closest to the Caribbean paradise among all the beaches here.
Apart from this beach, there are smaller ones
Plage du Rolaz, Plage de Locmania, Plage de la Baie Cures
All much smaller, but with its own charm.
Definitely won’t disappoint you.
As the island is quite small, we biked its entire length from east to west with an e bike in 25 minutes time. You can easily visit all beaches during your trip.
In case, you would like to see the island and its beaches in a different way, check this catamaran beach hoping tour.
When is The Best Time to Visit?
Brittany, as every destination on the Atlantic coast has unpredictable weather. So,you have to count with weather changes regardless of the time of the year you visit.
With that taken into consideration, I would recommend visiting Brittany from the second half of May until the end of June. We stayed from 28 May till 2 June of 2026 and had
26 °C plus every day. In addition, sunshine till 10 pm made for a unique experience.
I know it is a very narrow selection, but :
- July and August are still sunny, mainly warm, and with long days, it can create a great experience, but the crowds can be huge and that always creates extra obstacle
- September and October are generally still warm(average temperature above 20 degrees) but it tends to rain more often, and the sea isn’t very welcoming for swimming.
- According to the locals the other months still have their own charm, but for me it is just too cold for visiting the beaches. If you don’t mind this, then March and April can offer blooming nature, low crowds, which can attract those who like hikes and food tastings.
Is Brittany worth visiting? What would I do differently?
- I wouldn’t rely on public transport. As written earlier, we relied on a bus from Quimper to Beg Meil that goes by default irregularly, only to find out it doesn’t run on the 28th of May(public holiday) .After a long train journey from Paris, and car rentals being closed, it wasn’t pleasant surprise at all. While the website and official planning platform said, it should run. This was a surprise as France is considered more trustworthy than Lanzarote for instance.
- People here are very proud, with a strong identity, and very hospitable. After spending several periods of weeks in Paris at the house of my girlfriend’s parents , I experienced French as cold, this isn’t true in Brittany. Example of this: when we discovered the bus (Quimper to Beg Meil) wasn’t going and we didn’t want to pay 75 € for a taxi, we decided to take a bus to the village 15 km away from our destination hoping there would be an affordable taxi. After discovering there wasn’t, we were advised to hitch hike. After 20 minutes, the local man, Philippe, stopped. What a pleasant ride. Not only did he drive us to the apartment, but he made several stops to be our personal guide and brought my girlfriend to the supermarket and back.
- Would check the accommodation we booked thoroughly. As written earlier, there were some catches waiting for us that I never experienced earlier.
- When planning a restaurant visit, make sure to call them for reservations. Some places will not require one, but some do. Better be prepared than face an unpleasant surprise. What you don’t want is to drive an hour to a place, only to find out, they won’t serve you, because there isn’t a place.