Saint-Malo

Saint-Malo squares its granite shoulders against the Channel - the old corsair city whose licensed privateers once made it one of the richest ports in France, still ringed by a complete circuit of ramparts you can walk end to end above the surf. The walk is the essential act: tall grey shipowners' houses inside, wild sea outside, and some of Europe's greatest tidal ranges performing below, swinging many metres between high and low water. At ebb tide the sands open causeway walks to the Fort National and to the islet of Grand Be, where the writer Chateaubriand - born in the city - lies buried facing the sea; at flood tide the same paths vanish with genuine speed. Add broad beaches, the cathedral's quiet nave, and Cancale's oyster beds around the bay, and the walled city earns a full unhurried day.

History

A Gaulish town stood here in the 1st century BC, known to the Romans as Reginca or Aletum, and by the late 4th century a fort of the Saxon Shore at Saint-Servan guarded the Rance estuary; as Roman rule faded, many Britons crossed to Armorica, and Saint-Malo traces its origins to a monastic settlement founded early in the sixth century by Saint Aaron and Saint Brendan, its name coming from Saint Malo, or Maclou, a follower of Brendan from what is now Wales. From 1590 to 1594 the town declared itself an independent republic, the source of its motto "Not French, not Breton, but Malouin", and it became famous for its corsairs, who forced English ships in the Channel to pay tribute and brought wealth from afar; Jacques Cartier sailed from here to the Saint Lawrence. Bougainville's colonists left from Saint-Malo in 1764, which is why the Falklands were named Îles Malouines, and in 1758 a British force that landed to take the town instead occupied Saint-Servan and burned 30 privateers (Wikipedia, Saint-Malo).

What's there

• The ramparts circuit - the full granite loop above beaches and surf.
• Grand Be at low tide - the causeway walk to Chateaubriand's grave.
• Fort National - the tidal-island fortress guarding the sands.
• The intra-muros lanes - shipowners' mansions, creperies and the cathedral.

When to go

May to September for beach weather and long evenings on the walls; the biggest spring tides - equinox seasons especially - stage the sea's best theatre. Winter storms send spray clean over the ramparts, which locals treat as a spectator sport.

Good to know

The tide is not decoration: Grand Be's causeway floods fast and strands walkers regularly, so check the boards and leave margin. July and August pack the intra-muros lanes to shuffle pace, and the town's restaurant terraces price for the season. The walled city is compact - pair it with Cancale or Dinard across the water.

Nearby

Dinard across the estuary, Cancale's oyster coast and Mont Saint-Michel under an hour away.

Key facts