Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [48]
The famous seaside footpath, the Sentier des Douaniers (www.perros-guirec.com), starts up at the west end of the Trestraou beach in the resort town of Perros-Guirec, 3 km (2 mi) east of Trébeurden; from there this beautifully manicured, fence-lined, and gorgeously scenic path provides a two-hour walk eastward, through fern forests, past cliffs and pink granite boulders to the pretty beach at Ploumanac’h. If you keep your eye out, you might even spot one of the mythical, 900-year-old Korrigans—native sprites with pointed ears, beards, and hoof feet, who come out at night from seaside grottoes to dance around fires. From Perros-Guirec you can take a boat trip out to the Sept Iles, a group of seven islets that are bird sanctuaries. On a hillside perch above Ploumanac’h is the village of La Clarté, home to the little Chapelle Notre Dame de la Clarté (Pl. de la Chapelle), built of local pink granite and decorated with 14 stations of the cross painted by the master of the Pont-Aven school, Maurice Denis. During the Pardon of la Clarté (August 15), a bishop preaches an outdoor mass for the Virgin Mary, village girls wear Trégor costumes, and the statue of the Virgin Mary wears a gold crown (she wears a fake one for the rest of the year). On Ploumanac’h’s pleasant beach, Plage de la Bastille, you’ll find the Oratoire de St-Guirec, a rose-granite chapel lodged in the sand with other rocks; facing the beach is the neo-medieval, 19th-century Château de Costaeres, where Henryk Sienkiewicz wrote Quo Vadis. Unfortunately, the magical castle-by-the-sea—whose image graces many postcards of the region—was partly destroyed by a fire and remains private property.
Five kilometers (3 mi) east of Trébeurden is Cosmopolis, home to the Radôme: a giant white radar dome, whose 340-ton antenna captured the first live TV satellite transmission from the United States to France in July 1962. Today the sphere houses a museum retracing the history of telecommunications back to the first telegraph in 1792, and spectacular laser shows that employ 200 projectors to bring the history of satellite communication to life. The site also includes one of Europe’s largest planetariums (www.planetarium-bretagne.fr | €7), and a children’s fun park, Le Village Gaulois (€4). | Pleumeur-Bodou | 22560 | 02–96–15–80–30 | www.leradome.com | €7 | Apr. and Sept., Mon. and Wed.–Fri. 10–6, weekends 2–6; May–Aug., daily 10–6.
WHERE TO STAY IN TRÉBEURDEN
Manoir de Lan-Kerellec.
$$$$ | The beauty of the Breton coastline is embraced by this Relais & Châteaux hotel, where guest rooms are far more than just comfortable. Set long and cruise-liner-low, this renovated 19th-century Breton manor house has now been outfitted with dramatic windows—plate-glass, round, panoramic—so as to frame stirring vistas of the endless sea and the cliffs of the Côte de Granit Rose (all rooms have sea views). The restaurant, with a wood-beam ceiling inspired by a ship’s hull, has a delightful model of the St-Yves ship suspended from its ceiling. It mostly serves seafood, but the roast lamb is also good; it does not serve lunch Monday through Thursday. Pros: great views; comfy rooms. Cons: pricey; restaurant only serves lunch three days a week. | 11 allée Centrale | 22560 | 02–96–15–00–00 | www.lankerellec.com | 19 rooms | In-room: no a/c (some), safe, refrigerator, Internet. In-hotel: restaurant, tennis court, some pets allowed | AE, DC, MC, V | Closed mid-Nov.–mid-Mar. | MAP.
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Ste-Anne-la-Palud | Douarnenez | Quimper | Concarneau | Pont-Aven | Belle-Ile-en-Mer | Carnac | Auray | Vannes | La Baule | Nantes
What Brittany offers in the way of the sea handsomely makes up for its shortage of mountain peaks and passes. Its hundreds of miles of saw-tooth coastline reveal the Atlantic Ocean in its every mood and form—from the peaceful