INSTANT WEEKEND Great Breton
St Malo, France
WHERE
A granite hunk of bracing Gallic magic on the north Brittany coast, St Malo is easily reached by ferry from Portsmouth.
If you take the overnight crossing on Friday you’ll wake up the next morning in time for coffee and croissants, a 10-minute walk from the port in the old city centre.
WHAT TO SEE
St Malo was bombed to bits in the Second World War but rebuilt to recreate the narrow streets of the old city, often with the very granite from the destroyed houses.
There’s a lovely walk around the parapet of the old walls and then down into the busy streets below filled with restaurants and shops.
The city makes a perfect base for touring the surrounding delights. Wealthy English visitors in the last century so fell in love with Dinard on the opposite bank of the River Rance that they built many of the elegant seafront villas.
The coast is made particularly stunning by the powerful tides that can rise and fall by 13 metres in six hours, meaning the rocky outcrop you walked to across dry sand in the morning has become an island come the afternoon.
WHERE TO DRINK
The streets are dotted with small cosy bars spilling out on to the pavements. Neighbouring
Normandy might be more famous for its cider, but Brittany has plenty of local varieties of its own.
For something stronger there’s Calvados, or apple brandy, and sweet Breton honey mead known as Chouchen, drunk over ice or mulled for a winter warmer.
To escape the bustle you can head a few miles south to Saint-suliac, famed as one of the most beautiful villages in France, and enjoy a drink or bite at the Bistro de la Grève by the water’s edge.
It’s also worth going further down the Rance for a coffee in one of the timber-framed cafes in the unmissable hilltop gem of Dinan.
WHERE TO STAY
There’s a selection of bijou hotels such as the elegant Hotel des Marins inside the city walls – intra muros, as it’s known (rooms from £59pn, hotel-desmarins.com, re-opens April 16).
For somewhere larger you’ll need to head outside the old city where there are plenty along the sandy seafront eastwards.
North Brittany also has a good selection of campsites that open from spring onwards. If you need any guidance pop to the tourist office just outside the old walls or visit saint-malo-tourisme.co.uk.
WHAT TO EAT
This is Brittany, so it has to be savoury galettes – rich, thin, dark pancakes made with sarrasin or buckwheat flour. Despite the name it is not wheat and contains no gluten.
Le Corps de Garde, on the seaward side of the city walls, offers a delicious creamy leek and scallop creation.
At the upper end of refinement, there’s Texture, near the imposing turrets of La Grand’ Porte, where you’ll be treated to a tasting menu of French and exotic fusion cuisine.
For dessert, keep it local with more pancakes, this time sweet crepes served with honey and lemon. Or any one of dozens of ice cream flavours.
Seafood also abounds – you’ll have no trouble finding moules frites or oysters from up the coast at Cancale.
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Try Calvados or a sweet Breton honey mead called Chouchen over ice