family holidays in brittany & normandy, france
rich history, modern attitude
If you tour through Brittany and along the coast you’ll unearth the Côte de Granite Rose, with its quirkily shaped rocks; the sandy beaches of Côte d’Emeraude; the Paimpont Forest which is dipped in Arthurian history, and the picturesque abbey at Mont Saint Michel. You can spend hours exploring pretty villages and fishing towns such as Quimper and Carnac. Place names sound so much more romantic in French!
places to visit in brittany in more detail
carnac
Set your children an ancient mystery to solve by taking them to Carnac, France's version of Stonehenge. It is one of the world's greatest prehistoric sites with thousands of ancient stones arranged in mysterious lines and patterns. It's an impressive sight, though you might all end up with cricks in your necks from gawping at some of the giant 20m (60ft) stones.
dinan
Rather than just building castles out of sand, take your children to see some excellent examples of the real thing. At Dinan the castle is handily positioned in the centre of the town, surrounded by a maze of narrow cobbled streets and medieval timbered buildings. To get the best view of this walled town climb the 15th century Tour D'Horloge. For a real fairy tale castle, where you can all indulge your fantasies of being fabulously rich with servants to tend to your every wish, visit the château at Josselin. It's beautiful. There is also a dolls museum in the old stables, in case your princes and princesses start to get restless and need entertaining.
vannes
Vannes is a lively medieval town with the usual sprinkling of museums and restaurants. The "place des lices" is not the site of a mass headlice outbreak but where medieval tournaments used to take place.
If you close your eyes and concentrate hard you can almost hear the thunder of hooves, the clash of jousts and gasps of admiration from the crowds. Don't stand like that for too long though, or the locals will think you've got sunstroke! More modern-day entertainment for your children can be found south of Vannes at the Parc du Golfe; a leisure park with a butterfly conservatory, a robot museum and an aquarium with over 400 species of fish.
douarnanez
Douarnanez is the tongue-twisting name of the place that used to be France's leading sardine port. The Port du Rosmer loves to have its photo taken and is full of cafés and restaurants, perfect for people (or boat) watching. The Port-rhu, in contrast, has been turned into a floating museum with over 100 boats.
