Cancale

Cancale has farmed oysters in the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel for centuries, and the tides here are among the largest in Europe, so at low water the beds emerge as a grid of tables and bags stretching out from the shore below the town. At the Pointe des Crolles end of the quay, growers sell oysters by the dozen from small stalls, opened on the spot with a lemon, and the custom is to eat them on the sea wall and throw the shells onto the beach below, where a permanent bank of shells has built up. Flat oysters and hollow oysters are both grown; the flat native oyster is scarcer and dearer.

What you actually see

• The exposed beds - the oyster tables revealed at low tide.
• The quayside stalls - growers selling opened oysters by the dozen.
• The shell bank - the accumulated pile below the sea wall.
• The bay view - Mont-Saint-Michel visible across the water on clear days.

When to go

April to October; oysters are sold year-round and the old rule about months with an R relates to spawning texture rather than safety here. Check the tide table, since the beds only show at low water.

Honest expectations

The stalls are simple and there is no seating beyond the wall. Restaurant prices on the quay are high. Parking in summer is difficult. The beds are invisible at high tide.

Nearby

Saint-Malo lies west; Mont-Saint-Michel is east across the bay.