Pont-Aven

Long beloved by artists, this lovely village sits astride the Aven River as it descends from the Montagnes Noires to the sea, turning the town's mills along the way (there were once 14; now just a handful remain). Surrounded by one of Brittany's most beautiful stretches of countryside, Pont-Aven (www.pontaven.com) is a former artists' colony where, most famously, Paul Gauguin lived before he headed off to the South Seas. Wanting to break with traditional Western culture and values, in 1888 the lawyer-turned-painter headed to Brittany, a destination almost as foreign to Parisians as Tahiti. Economy was another lure: the Paris stock market had just crashed and, with it, Gauguin's livelihood, so cheap lodgings were also at the top of his list. Before long, Gauguin took to wearing Breton sweaters, berets, and wooden clogs; in his art he began to leave dewy, sunlighted Impressionism behind for a stronger, more linear style. The town museum captures some of the history of the Pont-Aven School, whose adherents painted Breton landscapes in a bold yet dreamy style called syntheticism.

One glance at the Bois d'Amour forest, set just to the north of town (from the tourist office, go left and walk along the river for five minutes), will make you realize why artists continue to come here. Past some meadows, you can find Gauguin's inspiration for his famous painting The Yellow Christ—a wooden crucifix inside the secluded Chapelle de Trémalo (usually open, per private owners, from 9 to 7) just outside the Bois d'Amour woods. While in Brittany, Gauguin painted many of his earliest masterpieces, now given pride of place in great museums around the world.

After exploring the village, cool off (in summer) with a boat trip down the estuary.