Huelgoat Forest

Who this place suits

With family

10/10

As a couple

10/10

With friends

9/10

Solo

9/10

With a dog

8/10

Reduced mobility

4/10

These scores are calculated from what the page records: official rating, facilities, difficulty, duration and location. They are a guide, not a substitute for contacting the venue, especially about accessibility.

About

The Huelgoat forest is one of the most astonishing natural sites in Brittany. In the heart of Finistère, at the foot of the Monts d’Arrée and in the Armorique Regional Nature Park, this state forest of about 1,170 hectares is owned by the State and managed by the ONF (the national forestry office). Its name probably comes from the Breton “huel”, high, and “koat”, wood: the high forest. You walk in from the village centre, and within minutes you go from granite houses to a landscape of giant boulders, moss and ferns. The show is all about granite. The massif formed about 315 million years ago, deep inside the ancient Hercynian mountain range, from slowly cooled magma. As erosion wore away the rocks above, it rose towards the surface and cracked; water attacked the cracks, the corners became rounded and the weathered granite around them turned to sand. What remains are boulders weighing from tens to hundreds of tonnes, piled, wedged or tipped over: a chaos. The Rivière d’Argent slips between them, disappears under the stones, then reappears further on. It all begins at the Moulin du Chaos, at the outlet of the lake, whose lintel bears the date 1339. Just after it, the river plunges some twenty metres under the boulders. Then come the Grotte du Diable (Devil’s Grotto), where you climb down between the rocks; the Ménage de la Vierge; the Roche Tremblante (Trembling Rock), about 137 tonnes that a well-placed push is enough to make rock; the Champignon (Mushroom), more than 200 tonnes on a narrow base; then, along the Allée Violette, the Mare aux Fées (Fairies’ Pond) and the Gouffre (Chasm), where the river rushes between the rocks. Every rock has its legend. The best known says that Gargantua, badly fed with buckwheat porridge by the locals, threw these stones at Huelgoat in revenge. It is also said that the fairies combed their hair by their pond, that Dahut, daughter of King Gradlon, threw her lovers into the Gouffre, and that King Arthur slept in the cave that bears his name. The Camp d’Artus, however, is very real and much older: a Gaulish hillfort of the Osismii of about 30 hectares, the largest on the Armorican peninsula, whose ramparts and ditches can still be made out under the trees. The forest also tells an industrial story. The lake, about 15 hectares, was created in the 18th century to supply water to the silver-bearing lead mines of Huelgoat and Locmaria-Berrien, among the most important in the kingdom; they closed for good in 1934, and the Rivière d’Argent (Silver River) probably owes them its name. The mines consumed the forest’s wood, which was later replanted, hence its conifers, now nearly half the trees. The very damp climate feeds mosses, lichens and a rare fern, Wilson’s filmy fern; otters frequent the river, and rare bats hibernate in the old mine galleries.

What you will see

• A jumble of giant granite boulders, from a massif about 315 million years old, a few minutes’ walk from the village.
• The Roche Tremblante, about 137 tonnes, which rocks when you push in the right place: a test of precision, not strength.
• The Rivière d’Argent, which disappears under the rocks then reappears, from the Chaos du Moulin to the Gouffre.
• The Grotte du Diable, where you climb down between the boulders to the sound of the river.
• The Champignon, more than 200 tonnes of granite balanced on a narrow base, and the shapes of the Ménage de la Vierge.
• The Camp d’Artus, a Gaulish hillfort of about 30 hectares, the largest on the Armorican peninsula.

Practical information

Parking

Huelgoat centre and the lake for the Moulin du Chaos; car parks at the Arquellen (Camp d’Artus), the Gouffre and the Roche Cintrée.

Pets

Under control. Lead compulsory from 15 April to 30 June off the forest tracks, advised all year.

Best time

Spring for the green and the water, September and October for the colours. Early in the morning to avoid the summer crowds.

Frequently asked questions

Stay in Huelgoat

Places to stay that are still available, with current prices, compared across the main booking platforms.

Partner link: a booking made from this map may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you.