St Malo

Saint-Malo is best approached from the sea. This is not only because the old town looks so impressive from offshore, the tall buildings within the walls peering watchfully out over the grey granite ramparts, but because the broad sweep of its seafront provides a kind of shorthand introduction to St-Malo's history and character. While the grim old walled town on its central promontory catches the eye and hints at a turbulent past, to the east the hotels and cafés behind the beach of Paramé serve as a reminder that St-Malo is also a holiday resort. Similarly, as the visitor is steered through the fortified outer islands to enter the harbour from the west, it is ...  Read the complete review

Stop here! Too often, St Malo is a town through which people pass on their way to a destination further south but, as one who has been visiting France since 1958, I can promise that it has more than enough for a week's seaside holiday. Destroyed during WWII, SM has been seamlessly rebuilt, with a true feeling for history, displaying restaurant-lined squares, and narrow, cobbled streets. It numbers Chateaubriand, Broussais and the Lamennais brothers amongst its sons. A tour of the ramparts lasts a couple of hours (allowing for the odd coffee on a café terrace) and gives you spectacular views over the beaches that surround the isthmus and the wooded Rance ...  Read the complete review