Brest & North Finistère Guide: Océanopolis, Abers & Islands

DepartmentFinistère
AirportBrest Bretagne (BES)
Best forWild coast, islands
Stay2–4 nights

Brest is a major naval and maritime city on a vast natural harbour, the Rade de Brest. Heavily bombed during the Second World War, it was rebuilt in a modern style, so it lacks the half-timbered charm of other Breton towns, but it has a strong seafaring identity and makes a practical base for the far west.

In Brest

Océanopolis is one of France's leading ocean discovery centres, with polar, temperate and tropical pavilions.
The Ateliers des Capucins, a vast former naval workshop turned cultural space, is reached by France's first urban cable car across the River Penfeld.
The Château de Brest houses the National Maritime Museum, and the Pont de Recouvrance is one of Europe's largest vertical-lift bridges.

The coast west of Brest

Pointe Saint-Mathieu, with its lighthouse rising from the ruins of an abbey, is one of the great sights of Brittany. Beyond it, Le Conquet is the port for ferries to Ouessant and Molène. North of Brest, the Abers coast is cut by long estuaries and guarded by the Île Vierge lighthouse, the tallest stone lighthouse in Europe.

Roscoff and the Léon

On the north coast, Roscoff is a handsome granite port with Brittany Ferries sailings to Plymouth and Ireland, a thalassotherapy tradition and a short boat crossing to the Île de Batz. The surrounding Léon countryside grows much of France's artichokes and cauliflowers.