What does Brittany have to offer?
Stunning scenery, beautiful beaches and great cafes. For the sportty people, there is scuba diving off the coast of Brittany and cycling around the areas. Walkers will enjoy the wonderful scenery and the hills. Brittany also offers a cannal trip between Dinan to Nantes. With 20 golf courses or more, some of these offer pools and other pampering for the non-golfing followers.
Sailboarding, scuba diving and swimming are good (if chilly) along the Brittany coast. Walkers enjoy the majestic windswept scenery, and even the hilly parts of Brittany have become popular as a cycling destination.
There are also around 20 golf courses, some of which have hotels with pools and pampering for the non-golfers in the family. If that's too active cross the region by canal boat from lovely Dinan to Nantes.
On Finistere, you should visit Quimper which, with its well preserved Breton architecture, is the artistic and cultural capital of the region. In the summer month of July it stages a Celtic culture festival. Also you should visit Concarneau and the Iles de Glenan.
On the Morbihan coast of Brittany visit Vannes - a lovely medieval town where a jazz festival is hosted in July. Find Quiberon whch has excellent beaches, and you can catch a ferry here to Belle Ile.
The main port on the North is St Malo, it is well worth visiting. With places jam-packed with interest and good beaches. If you visit Dinan, you will find a superb medieval town surrounded by good beaches.
The loveliest Channel port is possibly Roscoff, with its pretty 16th-century houses which are clustered round a small bay.
If you visit the Ile de Ouessant it will be a memorable trip it is situated 20km off the coast of Brittany and only reached by boat from Brest or Le Conquet. Houses are painted traditionally in blue and white for the Virgin Mary, or for hope in green and white. Youn will find small black sheep roaming around desined to become ragout de mouton (this is lamb baked under a layer of roots and herbs). Ouessant with the world's most powerful lighthouse also has good local museums and stunning walks and with the best scenery.
Perros Guirec situated on the pink granite coast was once a chic destination in the 1920s and is now become most popular with walkers who can wander radomly along the stunning, wild, coastal paths.
Near Carnac Ville you will see Carnac's menhirs (these are neolithic stones), each one only a metre high but nonetheless very impressive. The Geant de Manio and the Table des Marchands are also two of the areas famous groups of stones.
In the east, you will find Rennes which is the main town, but Paimpont Forest and local village is strongly steeped in Arthurian legends. You will find visitors going to the forest hoping to find the spring of eternal youth.
In the Foret d'Huelgoat you will find this is where King Arthur's treasure is legended to be buried, along with weird rock formations, caves, menhirs and abandoned ancient mines it is well worth a visit
The only way to truely enjoy Brittany is to visit for one or two weeks and really enjoy everything it has to offer.
Brittany has so much to offer, the historical province of Brittany was split between two modern-day régions of France. 80% of Brittany has become the région of Bretagne, while the remaining 20% of Brittany (Loire-Atlantique département with its préfecture Nantes, one of the former capitals of the duchy of Brittany) has been grouped with other historical provinces (Anjou, Maine, and so on) to create the région of Pays-de-la-Loire (that is "lands of the Loire").
Modern Brittany occupies a large peninsula in the northwest of France, lying between the English Channel to the north and the Bay of Biscay to the south. Its land area is 34,034 km² (13,137 sq. mi).
In 2004 the population of Brittany is estimated at 4,198,500 inhabitants. 72% of these live in the Bretagne région, while 28% of these live in the Pays-de-la-Loire région. At the 1999 census, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes (711,120 inhabitants), Rennes (521,188 inhabitants), and Brest (303,484 inhabitants).
For more infromation use the French Government Tourist Office, 178 Piccadilly, London W1V 0AL. Tel: 09068 244123 (60p per minute).