N Brittany with kids

[woodstock]

We are hoping to head across the Channel this summer, likely to St Malo. We have two kids (8 and 4) on a 30' fin keeler who love being on the boat.
Current plan is to deliver the boat from the Solent in one or two hops and the family will join by ferry so we can maximise the time in France.
In a past, pre-kids life we spent some time in St Malo and Ile de Brehat, both or which were magical.

Any recommendations for good places to add to the itinerary, ideally with good beaches or fun places for kids?

 

[Poignard]

Quiberon Bay. [not North Brittany, though]

 

[DJE]

Iles Chaussey in settled weather for beaches and rock pools. Tidal range makes mooring or anchoring interesting.

St Cast la Guildo has a very fine beach, good marina, and lots of places to eat.

 

[John_Silver]

Ploumanac’h is ‘Granit Rose’ heaven. Dumbell moorings in a lagoon surrounded by fairy-tale rock formations, complete with Hans Christian Andersen castle. Dinghy exploration galore, in sheltered water.

EDIT: round the corner is Trebeurden. More picturesque rock formations, long sandy beach, full marina facilities and pretty village, up the hill.

EDIT 2: Both Ferry and Schengen stamp out facilities at Roscoff, if you wanted to make a triangle of the cruise. Tides hook up well Roscoff to St Peter Port.

 

[Dellquay13]

Iles Chaussey in settled weather for beaches and rock pools. Tidal range makes mooring or anchoring interesting.

St Cast la Guildo has a very fine beach, good marina, and lots of places to eat.

And another handy marina/resort/beach at St Quay Portreux. The marina is all tide access unlike a lot of the others in the area.

 

[johnalison]

It is a good while since I've been there but we enjoyed Trebeurden and St Quay which are probably the best for 'seaside' pleasures. St Malo is an interesting place to explore and no doubt good for the sort of unhealthy food they will probably be demanding.

 

[Ed Sned]

Port Blanc - we spent far longer there than we had intended to two years ago with our kids of a similar age. Remains one of my favourite places in Brittany.

Trebeurden's good too. We liked Treguier as well.

ps doing a hop to Alderney is great with small children - breaks up the trip, there's a beach, a couple of nice pubs, a chippy, and easy to get into in almost all states of tide and conditions

Also look at Carteret - one of our other favourites

 

[ashtead]

St cast has a good number of restaurants and a few small shops at the marina however some of the restaurants have slow service though -food is fine but not special but in town a number of decent eateries. The marina shower facilities are good with family rooms in a reasonably clean block. You could when we were last there order croissants etc for collection in office. It’s a fairly long walk for children along the EU paid for walkway into town and they don’t like you riding bikes along it. You can hire bikes at marina. The beach is lovely sandy arc but very tidal but you can dinghy or paddleboard there from marina . We much prefer st cast to st malo or sablon marina. At st malo hire a car for day trip to st michel island Plus use to stock up at carrafour etc . The marina car park at st malo is small but it is fairly close to marina if you have hire car but the shower facilities are very poor unless they have massively improved. St quay as said is fine even if marina staff problematic. We haven’t been to st quay for a few years though due to our preference for st cast. There is also a large street market at st cast worth visiting. For children it’s really just a beach resort . Given all the kit you might take to beach I would take the dinghy from marina to the beach if with small ones. At certain times spectacular fireworks displays can be seen .they marina staff tend to come out in small tender to show you to berth so ideally fender up both sides -visitor berths not a problem at least in June . You will see many visitors from uk -in fact we have seen the same Hallberg 43 from Solent on 2 separate visits (we recalled them as their mainsail had jammed on our first sighting)

 

[doug748]

We are hoping to head across the Channel this summer, likely to St Malo. We have two kids (8 and 4) on a 30' fin keeler who love being on the boat.
Current plan is to deliver the boat from the Solent in one or two hops and the family will join by ferry so we can maximise the time in France.
In a past, pre-kids life we spent some time in St Malo and Ile de Brehat, both or which were magical.

Any recommendations for good places to add to the itinerary, ideally with good beaches or fun places for kids?

Big beach and pleasant town at St Cast-le-Guildo, marina gets full at weekends as it is an afternoons jolly from St Malo. You can also anchor off the beach in suitable weather or pick up a mooring. Anchorage nearby at Ile-des-Ebihens a very lovely quiet spot with excellent smaller beach.




Bit of a wonky image but a grand bay, you are not likely to see many other British boats in there.

.

 

[John_Silver]

+1 for the Ile Ebihens anchorage:

 

[Frogmogman]

St quay as said is fine even if marina staff problematic

Really ??

I keep my boat in St Quay and have always found the staff to be delightful and helpful.

I’d also recommend Dahouet. Very picturesque port, and if your kids are still at the bucket and spade stage, the beach at nearby Pleneuf Val Andre is excellent.

Binic is a lovely place, but not near neaps as you could get stuck there. The town is very “happening”; always has lots of activities and events organized over the summer months.

I am a big fan of Paimpol. Very pretty harbour, with a town that has a pleasant vibe. There is also often lots going on there in the season.

 

[ashtead]

Maybe it was just one particular Marino we recall from st quay who seemed somewhat off but a few years ago. Paimpol is certainly worth a visit even if by land the first time to suss out the moorings -it’s a bit cheek by jowl I recall
Returning to st cast some old pictures below to give a flavour

 

[woodstock]

Thanks for all the replies, really appreciate the advice! Time to get the pilot book out...

 

[Ed Sned]

Two more thoughts - if you haven't done Sark with children yet (or even without..), I can't recommend that enough. If the weather's settled and not in the south, then Derrible Bay is magical.

Second, Channel Havens by Ken Endean is probably our most over-used book for anchorages on amazing sandy beaches away from the crowds. We had to buy a 2nd copy as our first one fell apart from over-use.

 

[MontyMariner]

A point to note, last year when I checked out from St Cast I told them that my next port was St Malo.
Shock, Horror! No they said, you can't do that. It's because the customs procedures are different, Cast matina send your form to Customs who stamp it and send it back, in St Malo you have to take your passport to the Customs house to be stamped.
The long and short of it was that I ammended my form as St Cast to say Next Port: St Helier, they were happy with that, the when I left, I 'diverted' to St Malo and got my passport stamped in.
Note: St Malo customs house is a long hike from the marina for small kids and old codgers like me, and I found it hard to find.

 

[doug748]

I agree with Ed, above, Endean is good esp for places like Jersey where you struggle to get much info elsewhere.

Another outstanding trip is to go up the river beyond Lazardrieux and lock into freshwater at Pontrieux. Lovely little town and quayside bars etc. Inexpensive but it has been silting up and 5ft draught is about the sensible maximum. You can take a train from there down to Paimpol or up to Guingamp - sometimes they have steam trains, very scenic.

Got to add that Secret Anchorages of Brittany is one of the finest marine books, it has loads of stuff about the region and is the sort of thing you can read from cover to cover whilst also having lots of chartlets and suggestions. Don't go without, you won't regret it.

.

 

[ashtead]

Sark is indeed a worthwhile trip -with slightly older children they can hire bicycles while a horse and cart for 2 can be had to take you to the lovely hotel for suitable yachtsman’s refreshment. A weeks holiday on Sark certainly worth it for those looking to travel back in time.

 

[ashtead]

Last time we were in st Malo a few years earlier one of our crew who had arrived by ferry and been stamped in found it interesting exercise to get an exit stamp as not returning by ferry . Things might have become more organised since of course but the stamping system seemed set up for ferry passengers.
At st cast it all seems much more relaxed as a “tourist port” although of course many might have entered via cherbourg particularly if you are doing coastal hops as the OP mentioned .

 

[Bandit]

Been cruising this area for 35 years with kids from 3yo to with their kids.
Beach, nice town good marina:
Carteret
St Cast
Dahouet
St Quay-Portrieux
Trebeurden
Roscoff
The above are the best for beach/ marinas.
A large bucket, a crab net, Chicken carcass for bait, fishing rods and shrimping net a great way of spending summer.

 

[Frogmogman]

A point to note, last year when I checked out from St Cast I told them that my next port was St Malo.
Shock, Horror! No they said, you can't do that. It's because the customs procedures are different, Cast matina send your form to Customs who stamp it and send it back, in St Malo you have to take your passport to the Customs house to be stamped.
The long and short of it was that I ammended my form as St Cast to say Next Port: St Helier, they were happy with that, the when I left, I 'diverted' to St Malo and got my passport stamped in.
Note: St Malo customs house is a long hike from the marina for small kids and old codgers like me, and I found it hard to find.

AIUI, as Saint Quay and Saint Cast operate using the same customs and immigration derogation, you can check into one and out of t’other.

I know that’s no help as regards Saint Malo but might be useful for other cruisers