Pointe du Raz

Pointe du Raz is the headland Brittany puts on its posters: a spine of granite running out into the Atlantic and breaking off in cliffs, with the Raz de Sein beyond it, a strait where the tide pours through so hard that the sea stands up in ridges even on calm days. La Vieille lighthouse holds its own rock offshore, and the flat line of the Ile de Sein sits on the horizon, barely above the water. The point was nearly ruined by car parks and stalls built right up to the edge; those were pulled back in the 1990s and the heath was replanted, so the walk out now crosses gorse and grass rather than tarmac.

What you actually see

• The Raz de Sein - the tidal race breaking over rock between the point and the island.
• La Vieille lighthouse - a square stone tower standing on its own rock offshore.
• The Ile de Sein - the low island on the horizon, hardly rising above sea level.
• The restored heath - gorse and grass growing where the old car parks stood.

When to go

May to September gives the settled weather, though autumn gales are what the place is really about, seen from a safe distance back. Come early or late in the day to miss the coach groups. Sunset from the point is the classic, but the walk back afterwards is exposed and unlit.

Honest expectations

Parking is charged and there is a commercial building at the entrance selling the usual things. The headland is eight hundred metres each way on foot, or a charged shuttle. Wind here can pass from bracing to unpleasant within an hour, the cliff paths have unfenced drops, and in the sea fog that rolls in you will see nothing at all.

Nearby

The Baie des Trepasses beach and the Cap Sizun cliffs run east along the same peninsula.