Saint-Malo

Two days in Saint-Malo, planned around the tides

Plan Saint-Malo around the tide table, because the sea rises and falls by well over ten metres and Grand Bé and Fort National are reachable only near low water. Day one covers the ramparts, the cathedral and the islands. Day two takes in the Tour Solidor in Saint-Servan and oysters at Cancale.

Every plan here starts with the tide table, since the sea here rises and falls by well over ten metres and the islands are only reachable for a few hours either side of low water.

Day one, morning. Enter by the Porte Saint-Vincent and climb straight onto the ramparts, heading clockwise so the harbour gives way to the open sea and the offshore forts. Come down near the Bastion de la Hollande to see the Cathédrale Saint-Vincent, then wander Rue Jacques Cartier and the lanes behind it.

Day one, afternoon. If the tide is out, cross the sand from Plage de Bon-Secours to Grand Bé and Chateaubriand's grave, or in summer to Fort National, and keep an eye on your watch. Swim in the Bon-Secours tidal pool, then watch the sun set over Dinard from the western walls.

Day two, morning. Walk or bus to Saint-Servan for the Tour Solidor and the headland of the Cité d'Aleth, site of the first settlement, where wartime bunkers look out over the Rance.

Day two, afternoon and evening. Take the bus east to Cancale for oysters on the harbour front, stopping at the carved granite cliffs of Rothéneuf on the way. Finish with dinner inside the walls. With a third day, add Mont-Saint-Michel or the river town of Dinan up the Rance.

Galettes, Bordier butter and Cancale oysters near Saint-Malo

Eat galettes in Saint-Malo: a buckwheat complète of ham, egg and Emmental, then a sweet crêpe with salted-butter caramel; the side streets off Rue Jacques Cartier cook to order. Bordier's shop inside the walls sells hand-churned butter, Cancale sells oysters by the dozen at the harbour, and the drink is dry Breton cider.

Brittany eats in two courses at the crêperie. The galette comes first: buckwheat batter, crisp at the edges, folded around ham, egg and Emmental for a complète, or around scallops and leeks in the better places. A sweet wheat crêpe follows, with salted-butter caramel if you want to eat as the locals do. Intra-muros has dozens of crêperies; the ones in the side streets off Rue Jacques Cartier cook to order.

Butter matters in this part of France. Jean-Yves Bordier's shop and restaurant inside the walls sells hand-churned butters flavoured with seaweed or smoked salt, and a slab makes a fine present to carry home. Salted butter is also the base of kouign-amann, a caramelised layered cake best eaten warm from a bakery.

Seafood is the other draw. Moules marinières come from bouchot farms along the bay towards Mont-Saint-Michel, and Cancale oysters, flat or cupped, are sold by the dozen at the harbour stalls of that town, where people eat them on the sea wall and toss the shells onto the beach below. Wash it all down with dry Breton cider, served in a bowl, or a small glass of chouchen, the local honey mead.

Grandes marées, festivals and the Route du Rhum

Saint-Malo is at its most pleasant in June, with long evenings and fewer people than the school holidays; summer highs reach about 22C. The biggest tides, the grandes marées, come around the spring and autumn equinoxes. Étonnants Voyageurs runs around Pentecost, and the Route du Rhum starts every four years in November.

The climate is gentle and changeable. Summer highs reach about 22C in July and August, rarely more, and the sea stays cool. October to December are the wettest months, with 80 to 90 mm of rain each, and winter days hover around 9 or 10C with frost a rarity thanks to the Channel. June is the brightest compromise, with long evenings and fewer people than the school holidays.

The tides are the real spectacle. Around the spring and autumn equinoxes the grandes marées bring the biggest ranges of the year, and on a windy high tide waves burst over the sea wall of the Sillon and spray the cars on the promenade. Crowds gather to watch, and the low water that follows uncovers rocks and fishing grounds normally hidden.

Festivals cluster in the warmer months. Étonnants Voyageurs, a travel writing and book festival, fills the town around Pentecost. Early July brings the Festival des Folklores du Monde, with dancers from many countries, and in mid-August La Route du Rock pulls indie music fans to a fort outside town. Every four years in November, hundreds of thousands of spectators come to see the Route du Rhum fleet in the basins before the solo race to Guadeloupe; book rooms early for that fortnight.