Ports of call, France Atlantic side

[chrisrog]

Hi
Can anyone suggest interesting/nice french ports for stopping in on our way down the French/ Spanish/ Portugese Coast?

 

[BobnLesley]

A short list of our favourites in order N -> S rather than preference would have to be:
Teguier, Morlaix, Ile D'Ouessant (if the weather's fair) Vannes, Ile De Re, La Rochelle and Rochefort.

 

[BoyBlue49]

Went down and back last year, so many places to stop off and most are a pleasant experience the rest are just great.
Try - Camaret, well sheltered great little town plenty of walks.
Lorient is very interesting. Le Sable lots to see boaty.
La Rochelle try to get into Old Port if depth allows.
La Coruna for the Yacht Club and big town.Do not miss the YC
Mugia and Muros good anchorages.
Bayona for the night life, excellent marina or you can anchor.
Leixoes, good YC and showers, can anchor in harbour.
Figuera de Foz can be bumpy at entrance in strong westerly but great town, I found marina pricey.
Peniche is a nice little marina in a huge fishing harbour, best bar on left 50 mt. up road from marina.
Cascais near Lisbon lots of bars, big marina and anchorage.
Sesimbra is quiet but small simple marina.
Sines will charge for anchoring if they catch you but nice small town. Then on round Cape St. Vincent.
Lagos (Lagosh) I found expensive for one night but long term I was told quite reasonable, big UK contingent.
Portimao has a large anchorage and a couple of marinas.
Then we come to Calatra Island, you must NOT miss this place
go in through the entrance to Faro on Cabo de Santa Maria, best at slack water, after half mile turn to starboard and after about a mile you will find the anchorage, go ashore to the large cafe/bar.
Mazagon, Rota, Barbate all have their charms, you are then less than a days sail from Gibraltar - some like it some don't.
I hope you enjoy your trip, don't rush it.
Fair winds.
Barry.

 

[Ocean Hound]

All of those mentioned by by previous two forumites, plus Benodet, Belle Isle/Sauzon, Houat, Isle de Re/St Martin. Plus do not miss the Spanish Rias and Islas Cies, all the way down to Bayona. We spent three seasons and total of probably 15 weeks (back and forth) getting our boat gradually down to Portugal and did not miss a port or anchorage - all time very well spent

 

[CaptainCava]

On the French Atlantic coast our favourites were Vannes (try to get to the top of the river on the right hand side right outside the capitinerie), St Martin, Ile De Re (anywhere in the harbour, it's all lovely), La Rochelle (it doesn't matter if you can't get into the Old Port, which is very unlikely anyway).

 

[JamesFrance]

St Martin brings back memories for me, we had to dry out our old wooden motorsailer for the first time 40 years ago, having bought her in Malta and passed through the Midi and out at Bordeaux.

I expect it is quite different there now and it is a popular holiday place for the French.

 

[Moonchild]

La Rochelle is beautiful, we also stopped at Santander, which is a decent marina but the nearest shop is a long walk away.
Recommend Gijon and La Coruna. Ribadeo is another good stop, you can use the washing machine for free but showers were shut at 8pm!
The North of Spain is beautiful lots to see and do, allow plenty of time, we would have liked to visit lots more but ran out of time.
We also stopped at Viverio, worth a visit, marina has limited berths for boats 15m upwards.
Visit Camarinas and see what you think, that is all I will say about this marina.
We ended our trip at Baiona, we liked it here plenty to do and good for provisioning. Easy access to the marinas.

 

[snorkmaiden]

Tempting to say 'all of them'. Port La Foret is good for work and chandlery - also nice village short walk away.
La Rochelle - great town, cheap wi-fi, but for a quirky, cheap stop try Marans. Also like Ile d'Oleron - cheaper than Ile de Re.
Farther north we like the tiny island of Houat, and Dourarnenez for the maritime museum and a quiet night between the two hairy Raz's.
(I have an up-to-date Atalnatic pilot for sale on Amazon & e-bay - can send you links, or make me an offer!)
Can give much more detail on destinations above if you want to message me.

 

[snorkmaiden]

PS - la Rochelle Old Port has atmosphere, but no wi-fi, noisy and miles to showers. Suggest go to huge modern MINIMES first, take the taxi over to old town and recce it first. MINIMES has everything - laundrette, supermarket walk / bus ride away, old town has access to market, museums etc. St Martin (Ile de Re) charming in a touristy kind of way, scary for big boats... a bit expensive - hence recommendation for Ile d'Oleron. Ars-en-re very pretty if you have the taste for a truly narrow, shallow channel in. (The harbourmaster expects to haul yachts that have gone aground at least once a day.)

 

[sailinglegend420]

How about interesting anchorages not to miss!!

Odet River
Isle D'Arz - Morbihan
Huoat is a must
Villaine river
Isle deYeu
Isle D'Aix - near Fort Boyard
Santander by the beach
St Marta De La Ortega - first of the Rias
Sada
Camarinas
Aviera
Cascais
Sesimbra

We found most of the time there was too much swell south of the Villaine, untill you get round to the Algarve.

 

[chrisrog]

Thank you all and yes we had a wonderful time. We are now wintering in Tunisia and are heading towards Greece in the spring. Any ideas for Greece?

 

[guernseyman]

For something different, there is Ploumanac'h, between Treguier and Morlaix.
It's been fairly quiet since Trebeurden marina opened.
There are two walks that will blow your mind: one up the Traouiero valley behind the two tidal mills, the other along the coast. Not many people walk the first one, but it is truly extraordinary.
No pontoons though, moor to trots in complete shelter. Good choice of restaurants for a village - the scenery pulls in masses of tourists.

 

[Bobobolinsky]

How about interesting anchorages not to miss!!

Isle D'Aix - near Fort Boyard

I had to wait until post No.10 for Isle D'Aix, well worth the visit especially if you want to know more about Napoleon

 

[jimbaerselman]

Chrisrog,

Apologies for not responding to your first post! But my web site should be able to answer your Greece questions. Don't forget to drill down to the detail pages - by following the "more" links at the end of each paragraph.

A point here; a large amount of my site Mediterranean material has now been transferred to the Cruising Association (CA) web site, but remains publicly visible. See http://www.cruising.org.uk/cruising_information/cruising_guides/med/greece for the overall Greek page. I've done this because their site software has much better menus and aids to navigation than my site, and it is much easier to keep up to date. The CA detail pages also have much more content than my site's detail pages, but they are only accessible to CA members. So, for detail, either join the CA, or use my site's rather trashy software and more limited data!

Meanwhile, you could do me (and other readers of YBW) a good favour! Do, please read through the areas on my site you've sailed through en route to the Med, and let me know of any errors or changes you'd suggest.

 

[PlanB]

Like others, we thought La Rochelle and a Coruna were great. We also really liked Cap Breton, tucked in the bottom right hand corner of Biscay, but take the warnings re approach seriously. In our opinion, Arcachon was the pits.

 

[LadyInBed]

Apart from lots previously mensioned, I enjoyed Ile d'Yeu and Royan

 

[Sea Devil]

Hi
Can anyone suggest interesting/nice french ports for stopping in on our way down the French/ Spanish/ Portugese Coast?

I think it depends on how long you want to spend doing the trip - 3 weeks to 3 years seems to be the options.

There's info about La Rochelle in my site plus a list of some nicer Atlantic French ports on the way down

Michael