Information on Sailing in Southern Brittany

[Janice]

We are hoping to take our yacht to Southern Brittany next year and to find a marina to leave her in and travel back and forth for holidays. I would love to hear from anyone who has done this and has any useful information / advice for us.

 

[PeterGibbs]

Janice,

There are loads of suitable drop offs where the boat will be safe, the bigger question is how to get to and from civilisation, given that French public transport is almost non-existent.

Typical is Roche Bernard on the Villaine river. Many Brits use this place - very pretty - prior research! But the bus service to travel connections - rail and airports - is very sparse. However, with patience and planning all is possible.

I've used Lorrient too - slightly more expensive mooring but better connections.

More info? PM me

PWG

 

[snooks]

Thinking logistics. When I've had jobs in that area, it's either a case of driving down there, from Cean, Cherbourg or St Malo. Driving in France is much easier than the UK the road are clearer and a lot smoother. St Malo was the best but the ferry times are a bit restrictive, overnight there, through the day on the way back.

The ferry has the advantage that you can take all your gear across with you.

Other alternatives are to fly into Brest or Nantes, but this means flying Ryan Air! You can get cheap flights in advance, but even with a 1p flight it will still work out about £20/person with just handbagage and from £40/person with a bag in the hold.

 

[Ocean Hound]

Brittany

Almost all the marinas on that coast line will alow you to do that. The only problem is the logistics, but we spent 4 very happy years doing just what you propose. Good marina's from Camerat (Brest airport) to La Rocehelle (own airport) with excellent sailing between. Particularly enjoyed L'Orient, Vannes, the Morbihan and the Quiberon Bay areas. Overwintered in L'Aberwrach, Roche Bernard and Rochefort. La Rochelle, Ile de Re aalso good. Eventually though we found ourselves being drawn to Spain and the North West coastline and Galacian Rias are superb. Go much further South and you might find yourself not coming back. We are now in the Baltic, again one of the best cruising secrets in the world, the Stockholm and Aland quite spectacular. Tragically the season is very short, overwintering, particularly around tockholm ios diffucult and the logistics even worse. Next yeat I think we'll be back to Brittany!! PM me if you want to have a chat.

 

[beneteau_305_553]

La Rochelle.

Great sailing area , Bus from airport to marina approx 1 euro, Ryanair (OK).

 

[dk]

Did it a few years back and left our boat on the hard standing (24-hour securtity) at Arzal on the Villaine river. Cheap (around 1,300euro for 7 mths I think) and very secure, but you have to drive there. They have a proper 40T Travelhoist and a few marine businesses on site, as well as a half-decent bar/restaurant open all year.

Alternatively you can try Foleux further up the river, but it gets booked up very early in the season.

Redon and Vannes aren't so secure as they're open to the public and marinas closer to Quiberon or La Rochelle are considerably more expensive.

 

[Johndf1]

I would recommend Vannes as a lovely place to stay. There is a good train service to St Malo (involving one change at Rennes) from where you can get a ferry back to UK. As DK says the marina is open to the public, but I don't think that is such a problem in France as it might be in England.

Vannes is a beautiful old town and the Morbihan is lovely - not to be missed. At the other end of the Morbihan is another very pretty town called Auray.