Bretagne -top spots for food and inns?
 

Hello francophiles!

Would be very thankful for suggestions: a week in Bretagne (with car) looking for atmospheric (but not completely over the top - pricewise) inns, hotels, etc. with great views and fantastic food close by. Travelling with an elderly European gourmet. Arriving in Dinard, to Finestere, then on to the Loire Valley and another question

Thanks in advance!

Le Prevenchere in St-Caradec is a lovely place to stay. Their website is www.beautifulbrittany.com

Try Le Moulin de Rosmadec in Pont Aven.

We were very happy with the small hotel/restaurantL'Ecrin/Jean-Pierre Crouzil, in the pretty town of Plancoët. The restaurant has 2 Michelin rosettes, and the hotel's rooms are lovely We spent 2 nights at the hotel after visiting Dinan and Dinard to give you an idea of the location.

We also liked Les Moulins des in Moëlan-sur- set around a former mill pond in a small forest. Very good food and large, comfortable rooms.

Bookmarking

Make that Moulins des DucS.

Boy, I really blew it by not editing. The hotel is actually

Les Moulins des Ducs in
Moëlan-sur-Mer.

As you might guess, it's not all that fear from the sea.

Seconding Moulin de Rosmadec in Pont Aven - wonderful food and ambiance.

We stayed in 2 chateaux in Brittany: Chateau de Guilguiffin (www.chateau-guilguiffin.com) near Quimper, which was lovely (rooms about 150E including breakfast), and my favorite, Talhouet (www.chateaudetalhouet.com) near Rochefort-en-Terre. (I know it's in Morbihan but it's on the way to the Loire, so perhaps you would be interested?). They have wonderful dinners there for guests only. I wrote about both in a trip report on Paris and Brittany in 2006, in case you're interested in more info - just click on my name and scroll down.

While staying at Guilgiffin, we ate at a charming place in Plogastel Saint-Germain: Ty Pin, phone 02-98-94-00-56.

You might want to check out Karen Brown's website for places to stay. We've always had wonderful luck with them.

Have fun! Brittany is absolutely beautiful.

Oh dear, Iwan2go. Now I'm dithering. Guilguffin looks beautiful. I had planned 2 nights at Manoir de la Rance (who so far hasn't answered e-mail or fax), then a night a 2 different places out near Pont du Raz in Brittany.

Now I'm wondering about only 1 night in Dinard area, and 3 out near the Pont with 2 of them being at Duarnenez (sp) and 1 at Guilguffin.

How long did it take you to get to Quimper from there? Was it closer to Quimper than Audierne is?

Douarnenez, Audierne, Quimper, and Guilguffin are practically in the same area. It is not worth changing hotels, when you are in this area.

Roughly, Brittany consists of these areas:

- The Cote Emeraude (St. Malo, Dinard, Cap Frehel). The coast with sandy beaches and emerald water. Cap Frehel is the highlight of this area.

- The Cote Granite Rose (Tregastel, Roscoff). The coast with surreal granite rocks.

- The Finistere (around Brest). The heart of Brittany. With the "abers" and the enclosed church districts. St. Thegonnec and Guimiliau are most famous (there is a good restaurant in St. Thegonnec, Auberge St. Thegonnec, with a Bib Gourmand in the Guide Michelin).

- Morbihan (the southern coast of Brittany, around Vannes), the wide sandy beaches.

You will find excellent hotels and restaurants everywhere. I strongly recommend the Guide Michelin. It is available online: www.viamichelin.com

The restaurants with a red star are top-notch. The restaurants with a red michelin character (bib gourmand) are very good at reasonable rates.

Hmmm, so picking one of those 4 towns over another isn't really going to shave any off my long driving day to Saumur?

What about saving time retracing miles to see the local areas? Or can I make loops and not retrace? Oops, need to look at my map.

traveler1959 is right - all of those places are pretty close to each other. We drove from Guilgiffin to Point du Van (through Audierne) in about, maybe 30-45 minutes, as I recall.

I can't speak to the Douarnenez location as far as it's centrality to what you want to see, but if you were only choosing between Guilgiffin and Audierne, I'd go with Guilgiffin. It's not quite as far out on the tip there, so you don't have to backtrack every day (as you can see from looking at the map).

To give you an idea of the areas you can reach: We stayed 3 nights at Guilgiffin. We drove in from Rochefort-en-Terre, which is east of Vannes about 45 minutes, and spent the afternoon at the chateau (mappy says 2 hours R-E-T to Quimper - that sounds about right). The next day after a leisurely breakfast we drove to Point du Raz, Locronan, and Pleyben, then back to Guilgiffin by early evening. The following day we went to Quimper for most of the morning/lunch, then to Pont Aven by 3:30 in the afternoon, with an hour of shopping time in an outlet on the coast. All of this was a very relaxed pace - no rushing around at all. So you can and experience quite a bit. We had a very relaxing time at Guilgiffin - I wish we'd stayed and explored the grounds a little more, in fact, since they look so beautiful on the website.

BTW, I wanted to clarify: only Talhouet serves a meal. And it was EXCELLENT. We really enjoyed talking with some of the other guests and relaxing with an aperitif on the lawn before dinner. There was a salon, billiards room, and beautiful grounds. I'm thinking that your European gourmet might absolutely love staying there - the host/owner is the most gracious and interesting man, you are seated at separate tables, and he has an excellent chef.

I guess your location depends on what else you want to see, and how important the place you stay is to you. Do you want to concentrate on the calvaries, hike, see the ocean, see the cities (Quimper, Vannes, etc), or what? You have a week in Brittany, right? or does that include the Loire?

Hope this doesn't make you even more mixed up! And a disclaimer: I've only been to those two areas in Brittany, not up to Dinan, and I know that it's just gorgeous up there too.

Iwant2go, you've certainly put food for thought up here. Discovered the two chateux you mentioned are in my "French Country Hideaways" book. I'll pull up your 2006 post. Then, if I have more questions I'll start a new thread and quit hijacking OP's post.

In Paimpol we stayed and dind at the wonderful Le Repaire de Kerroc'h.
In La Roche Bernard at the Hotel Bretonne.
Our favoite stay was in Pont Aven at the Moulin de Rosmadec and a few miles away we had the best seafood at Chez Jacky in Riec-sur-Belon, and the best Crepes at Chez Angele.
Another great day was at a hotel over-looking the beach in Pornic and watching the circus pass by below our window. by