Saint-Malo



Saint-Malo is a small walled coastal city in Brittany, France.

Understand
Once the feared base of pirates (corsairs), heavily fortified against Norman (or English) attack, today's Saint-Malo is one of the top tourist draws in Brittany. The star of the show is the atmospheric walled city (intramuros), largely destroyed in the second world war but painstakingly reconstructed. The newer towns of Parame and Saint-Servan lie outside the walls but are now part of the greater city.

By train
Saint-Malo's train station is located over a kilometre south of the intramuros area, but it's an easy 20-min walk straight down Avenue Louis Martin; there are also buses. There are a few direct TGV services daily from Paris (Gare de Montparnasse), which take about three hours. Most travellers, however, will end up connecting in Rennes, from where there are hourly TER Breizh Go services (50 min, €12) to Saint-Malo.

By ferry
From the UK you can arrive from Poole on Condor Ferries, or from Portsmouth with Brittany Ferries. From Jersey & Guernsey you can take Condor Ferries which offers direct routes from both islands.

By bus
There are two buses daily to Pontorson (line 17, 1 hour, &euro;2,5), which depart from the train station and stop at the city walls. The buses are timed to connect to onward buses to Mont Saint Michel (20 min, &euro;2,8), allowing a fairly comfortable day-trip.

By car
Saint-Malo is 70 km north-west of Rennes, and the D137 expressway takes you all the way. From Caen (170 km), the A84 motorway leads south-west to Avranches, from where you can take the N175/N176 expressway to a junction with the D137. From Paris (400 km), you can take either the A13 to Caen or the A11/A81 to Rennes via Le Mans, then follow the instructions above. From Saint-Brieuc (92 km), Brest (234 km) and other points west, the N12 leads onto the N176.

City centre parking is expensive and in short supply, but there is a 24-hr on Rue Paul Féval, off the main road into town near the racecourse (hippodrome). The site accommodates cars, motorhomes and small coaches, and has charging points for electric cars. €3.30 (car) or €7.50 (camper) buys you parking for 24 hours and a return ticket for a driver and three passengers on the number 2 bus to Intramuros. You pay when you leave, so if your plans change you can stay longer than 24 hours. (Sep 2023)

By plane



 * Rennes-Bretagne Airport (75 km to the south) receives a range of domestic and short-haul European flights.

Get around
Saint-Malo has a good bus system, with the main terminals located at the train station and just outside the walls (St Vincent). Get a booklet with maps and times from any bus driver. A one and a half hour ticket costs &euro;1.15. Unfortunately there are no bus services late in the evening.

The walled city is easily covered on foot, but you can also opt for a dinky "Tourist Train" that takes you and your wallet for a ride (&euro;5.50).

See

 * Ramparts (Remparts).
 * The walled city (La Ville Intra-Muros)
 * The Chateau
 * The walled city view from the "Memorial 39-45"

Do

 * Watch the impressive tide.
 * Walk (or jog) along the beach.
 * Walk around the walls of the walled city (free).
 * Visit the Festival des Folklores du Monde (World Folklores), which takes place at the beginning of July. There are dance and music performances from around the world. You can also dance when Celtic Breton bands play music in the main square of Parame district.
 * Look at the many hundreds of sailing boats of all sizes and ages in the harbour/s.
 * La Route du Rock is a music festival in August. The next is 16-19 Aug 2023.

Buy
Shops in the city center usually close by 19 hrs, but most of them now (as of 2010) stay open every Sunday. -Including high street cloth stores, which before 2010 were not allowed to open on Sunday and now are allowed-

Eat


Saint-Malo is a great place to sample Breton specialties.


 * Breton Pancakes: not just the world-famous sweet cr&ecirc;pes, but also savoury galettes.
 * Kouing Aman: this is a delicious Breton cake made with butter and sugar. Try to sample them piping hot, especially the ones with apple added in.
 * Mussels (moules): fished in the place and available in any restaurants.
 * Oysters (huitres): the best are from Cancale, a village near to Saint-Malo. In France, they are eaten raw.

The Intramuros area has what is quite possibly France's highest concentration of creperies and seafood restaurants. Most cater solely to tourists and are effectively identical.


 * Cafe de Saint-Malo, just inside Grande Porte. The restaurant here is unspectacular, but what makes this the best deal in Intramuros is the window selling fresh seafood to go.  For &euro;5, you can get a dozen large oysters, preshelled, on ice and with a quartered lemon.
 * Captain-Ice, Rue Jacques Cartier, Intra-Muros. This may well be the best ice cream place in town. Try Amour de Glace (Love of Ice cream) for something really yummy. Prices are slightly high, but you get big quantities and very high quality!
 * Captain-Ice, Rue Jacques Cartier, Intra-Muros. This may well be the best ice cream place in town. Try Amour de Glace (Love of Ice cream) for something really yummy. Prices are slightly high, but you get big quantities and very high quality!
 * Captain-Ice, Rue Jacques Cartier, Intra-Muros. This may well be the best ice cream place in town. Try Amour de Glace (Love of Ice cream) for something really yummy. Prices are slightly high, but you get big quantities and very high quality!

In St Malo you can eat at any time of day. In smaller towns nearby, you can look for the lunchtime "menu ouvrier" (workers' menu). Often there is little to no choice of dishes, but what you get is genuine French home cooking for half the price, if that, of what you would pay in a tourist centre like St Malo or Mont St Michel (French lunchtime is sacred. Every French person observes it religiously.).

Drink
Brittany is not a region that's renowned for its wine, but it has other specialties:
 * Breton beer
 * Cider
 * Calvados: apple brandy (though originally from neighbouring Normandy)
 * Chouchen: mead (it's a blend with alcohol and honey; it is very sweet)
 * Muscadet: dry white wine, perfect with local seafood; true, it doesn't come from Brittany, but is from the nearest vineyard area, Pays de la Loire

Sleep
There are many accommodation options in Saint-Malo, including over 20 hotels within the walls, but they can fill up very fast in season &mdash; book ahead.

Connect
As of June 2023, Saint-Malo and its approach roads have 5G from all French carriers.

Go next

 * Visit nearby Mont Saint Michel - a monastery and town built on a tiny outcrop of rock in the sand, which is cut off from the mainland at high tide. It is one of France's major tourist destinations, and as such gets very busy in high season. Check the times of the tides before you visit!
 * Cross the Rance Tidal Dam (Barrage de la Rance) and see Dinard; especially in October when the town hosts its annual English Film Festival (lots of US films, too). Casino, sandy beaches, high cliffs studded with quaint, Victorian-era houses, many with conical tower tops; covered market.
 * Venture west beyond Dinard to the Côte d'Emeraude (Emerald Coast) to find even more luscious sandy beaches and little-known towns such as St-Lunaire and St-Cast (first French town to liberate itself from Nazis by own efforts, 1944) and the lonely, craggy, atmospheric Cap Fréhel, where in spring you can see gannets, the superb large seabird that never otherwise comes within sight of shore.