Region guide
What to do in the Bay of Morlaix and Roscoff
The Morlaix viaduct, the Château du Taureau, the Barnenez cairn, Carantec and the Île Callot, Roscoff and the Île de Batz: the guide to the Bay of Morlaix and its islands.
7 min read
The Bay of Morlaix opens between Roscoff and the Pointe de Primel, dotted with islets and lighthouses. At the far end, the town of Morlaix; on its shores, a fort on a rock, one of the oldest monuments in Europe and islands you can reach at low tide.
Morlaix and its viaduct
The railway viaduct, nearly sixty metres high, spans the town. Below, the streets keep their maisons à pondalez, linen merchants’ houses with carved interior staircases.
The great sites
Heritage siteMorlaix and its viaductMorlaix · Half a dayA merchant town at the bottom of a valley, overlooked by a 284-metre railway viaduct whose lower level you can cross on foot.
Heritage siteGreat Cairn of BarnenezPlouezoc’h · 1 hourThe largest megalithic monument in Europe: eleven passage graves under a dry-stone cairn, older than the pyramids.
CastleChâteau du TaureauBaie de Morlaix · 2 to 3 hours including the crossingIn the middle of the bay of Morlaix, the Château du Taureau is an island fort reached only by boat, built to defend the town and later turned into a royal fortress.
ViewpointPointe de PrimelPlougasnou · 1 to 1 h 30.An imposing Natura 2000 rocky headland in Primel-Trégastel, with the Maison des Douaniers, the Gouffre, prehistoric remains and a marked 2 to 3 km loop with many viewpoints.
The Barnenez cairn
On the Kernéléhen peninsula, this great dry stone monument contains eleven burial chambers. It was built more than six thousand years ago, making it one of the oldest monuments in Europe.
The Château du Taureau
Built on a rock in the middle of the bay to protect Morlaix from privateers, the fort can be visited in summer, by boat, from Carantec or Plougasnou, booking required.
Carantec and the Île Callot
In Carantec, a tidal road leads at low tide to the Île Callot and its chapel. Check the tide times: the road is covered at high tide.
Roscoff and the Île de Batz
Roscoff, a corsair town and the ferry port for England and Ireland, has its church with an openwork bell tower and its exotic garden. The Île de Batz is a quarter of an hour away by boat: its Jardin Delaselle and lighthouse can be reached on foot or by bike.
Roscoff and Batz
VillageRoscoffFinistère · Half a day minimum, a full day with the exotic garden or the Île de BatzRoscoff combines an old harbour, granite shipowners’ houses, a Flamboyant church, an exotic garden and boats to the Île de Batz, in the unique maritime light of north Finistère.
Natural siteJardin Exotique de RoscoffRoscoff · 1 h 15 on average, 2 hours for enthusiastsMore than 3,500 plants from the southern hemisphere on 1.6 hectares facing the bay of Morlaix: proteas, aloes, agaves, tree ferns and an 18 m rock to climb for the view.- MuseumGeorges Delaselle Garden and MuseumÎle de Batz · 1 hour to 1 hour 30, about 2 hours if you take your time in the Villa Nast and stop along the wayOn the Île de Batz, a former dune turned since 1897 into an exotic oasis: more than 1,500 species, a palm grove, a cactus garden, an Oceanian garden, a new New Zealand garden and the Villa Nast, devoted to the story of Georges Delaselle.
LighthouseÎle de Batz LighthouseÎle de Batz · At least 2 h including the crossing; half a day recommended.A 44 m lighthouse built in 1836, with 198 steps, an exhibition and an exceptional view over the island, Roscoff and the north coast of Finistère.
Unusual stays around the bay
- Unusual stayMaison du gardien du phare de l’Île LouëtCarantec · 1 or 2 nights, according to the official scheduleFacing Carantec, the keeper’s house on the Île Louët sleeps up to ten people in deliberately simple comfort, with only a few slots a year and access by boat.
- Unusual stayEco gîte in the former school of the Île CallotCarantec · 4 nights or more depending on the offer; especially worthwhile over several daysIn Carantec, the former school of the Île Callot sleeps up to ten people in a real family eco gîte, reached by a tidal road and completely cut off by the sea at high tide.
Where to stay in the Bay of Morlaix
Stay in baie de Morlaix
Places to stay that are still available, with current prices, compared across the main booking platforms.
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Going further
Our other region guides
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- What to do on the Crozon peninsula
- What to do on the Pink Granite Coast
- What to do on the Emerald Coast
- What to do on the Quiberon peninsula
- What to do on the Guérande peninsula
- What to do in the forest of Brocéliande
- What to do in Cap Sizun and at the Pointe du Raz
- What to do in the Pays Bigouden
- What to do in the Pays des Abers and on the Côte des Légendes