The Pink Granite Coast is a Breton territory located in the Côtes-d’Armor in northern Brittany. Its name comes from its landscapes dotted with pink granite rock (derived from a combination of 3 minerals: mica, feldspar, and quartz) with shapes sculpted by the wind and waves over millennia. This rocky and wild coastline offers magnificent beaches and over 200 km of coastline containing natural treasures, as well as extremely rich fauna and flora, with about 50 protected natural sites across 200 hectares. For hiking enthusiasts, the destination offers over 1,000 km of marked trails, and you can also enjoy the customs officer’s path, the famous GR 34, which runs along the coast. The territory is found in the Trégor, an ancient administrative and religious division from the Middle Ages, constituting one of the nine traditional provinces of Brittany whose incarnation, despite its official disappearance, remains very present in the names and identity of the region.
We went to discover the destination in September 2024 with my favorite photographer, and below, as usual, I offer you a small selection of things to do and see if you come for a stay on the Pink Granite Coast. It is also a very rich territory regarding arts and crafts, and we were lucky enough to meet two passionate artisans during our stay (see below). If you are interested, there is a Route of Arts and Crafts in the Côtes d’Armor, which brings together more than 80 artists and art artisans.
You will also find below my selection of great addresses on the Pink Granite Coast (accommodation, shops for gourmet shopping, and several restaurants) that we had the opportunity to test during our stay. These addresses often offer the chance to discover local products and some regional specialties to taste if you visit Brittany.
Practical Info
- Getting there by train from Paris: About 3 hours by train from Paris Montparnasse station (first by TGV then by TER to Lannion station).
Pink Granite Coast Tourist Office
Table of Contents
Lannion
The town of Lannion is the gateway to the destination, as this is where you arrive by train from Paris. It is today the largest town in the Trégor and its economic capital, although it was long in the shadow of Tréguier (see below), until the arrival of the Telecom industry in the 1960s. The city is also a peaceful little port, nestled at the end of the Léguer estuary, a river with migratory fish that is labeled a “wild river”. Do not hesitate to wander through its narrow paved streets and alleys, which house timber-framed houses from the 15th and 16th centuries. Many art studios and boutiques for artists and craftsmen also enliven the city center.
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What to see, what to do in Lannion?
Discover the Jewelry Studio of Jutta Behr-Schaeidt
Jutta Behr-Schaeidt, of German origin, has been a master jeweler since 1984. She did her classical apprenticeship at the Goldschmiede-Meister in Munich and settled in Lannion in 2002 because there is a lot of craftsmanship in the region. Her studio is located in a former printing house in Lannion, and she creates contemporary jewelry in precious metals (fair trade gold and silver) and also with precious stones. These are always unique pieces, and she truly works by inspiration. All her jewelry has a meaning and marks a stage or a moment in the life of those who acquire it. She also works on commissions and sometimes on family jewelry that people want to transform or evolve. Jutta is also an internationally recognized artist, and since 2018 she has been regularly invited to show her work in several major international exhibitions (Vienna, Paris, Milan…).
We loved this meeting with Jutta, who shared her know-how and passion for her craft with us. This is part of the beautiful encounters that the blog offers us, and we are always grateful to life for offering us beautiful moments of exchange like this one (do not hesitate to check out the video we made on this occasion on Instagram).
Jutta Behr-Schaeidt Jewelry
5 rue Edgar de Kergariou, 22 300 Lannion
Open Tuesday to Saturday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
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My great addresses in Lannion and the surrounding area
Where to go for gourmet shopping in Lannion? Biscuiterie Brieuc
This biscuit factory, located in the heart of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, traditionally makes biscuits but also Breton cakes, salted butter caramel, and spreads with quality local ingredients. It has 8 shops in Brittany, 4 of which are open all year round. One of them is in Lannion, where we went to do some gourmet shopping.
Biscuiterie Brieuc
2 place du Miroir, 22 300 Lannion
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Where to buy farm products in the area around Lannion? Ferme du Wern
This family dairy farm has been organic since 2009. And since 2011, the farm has been doing everything from processing the product to selling its production directly. It exclusively manufactures fresh, living products made from raw milk, because it gives more taste and is also better for health: milk, butter, cream, cottage cheese, and gwell. The Gwell is a traditional product that used to be made on farms in the past, mainly in Lower Brittany. It is a creamy, tangy fermented milk similar to yogurt, which can be eaten like yogurt, or used to make savory sauces. A trademark has been registered since 1993, which requires that this product be made with a local Breton breed and also dictates the farming method, all with the goal that Gwell may one day obtain an AOP status. For now, 16 farms produce Gwell in Brittany, including Ferme du Wern.
The farm has therefore banked on a local breed that almost disappeared: the Froment du Léon. This breed was very present on the coastal strip and produces very yellow milk with a lot of taste. At the heart of the farm, the herd (about 40/45 cows) feeds on a pasture system where the cows eat only grass and hay. The farm’s products are sold directly on-site (on Saturday mornings and also during a farm market with other producers, Tuesday evenings all year round), but also in local Biocoop stores or in the Paniers du Bocage (a collective of local producers). Some of their products can also be found in Paris at Terroir d’Avenir and at the Epicerie des Résistants.
Ferme du Wern
56 Rue Jean-Marie le Foll, 22300 Ploubezre
Farm sale all year round on Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and at the producers’ market on Tuesdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
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Where to eat near Lannion station? The Breizh Shelter
This pub with an Irish atmosphere is located right in front of Lannion station and is a good option for a meal upon arrival or right before catching your train, as was our case. Especially since it is open every day and until late! I recommend you take the opportunity to taste the Philomenn beer, a local beer from Tréguier that I talk about a little further down in the article. The place also has a small terrace for sunny days, but I found it more comfortable inside, especially in the club armchairs. The service is pleasant and friendly. You can eat simple brasserie dishes and also burgers there.
We tasted: as a starter, we shared pollock rillettes with seaweed (€10.90); roasted country sausage with mashed potatoes (€17.90); the Breton burger with tomme cheese (€17.90).
The Breizh Shelter
32 avenue du Général de Gaulle, Lannion
Open 7 days a week from 10 a.m. to midnight
Prices: menus between €10.50 and €29 (child’s menu €9.90) / draught beers between €5 and €7 for 33cl / burgers between €16.90 and €19.90Pro tip: lunch menu (except weekends and holidays) with starter + main or main + dessert €18 and starter + main + dessert €22.50
Pleumeur-Bodou
The small town of Pleumeur-Bodou is located at the northwestern end of the Trégor region. The town is made up of a main village and numerous hamlets, but it also includes a densely populated island, Île-Grande (Enez Veur in Breton), connected to the mainland by a bridge.
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What to see, what to do in Pleumeur-Bodou and the surrounding area?
Hiking on Île Grande
This very beautiful walk allows you to go around Île Grande on foot (count about 2.5 hours without breaks to go around / there are about 8 km). It is also an opportunity to observe the fauna, flora, and biodiversity of the Pink Granite Coast. Regarding practical information, there are several parking lots on the island to park before starting the short hike around the island, and there are also toilets and drinking water sources near the parking lots (important because there are few places to shelter from the sun during the walk).
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My great addresses in Pleumeur-Bodou and the surrounding area
Where to eat near Pleumeur-Bodou? L’Auberge de Crec’h Bec
This charming address, located 400 meters from the Parc du Radôme (which houses a 50-meter high white sphere containing the 1st antenna that received television images from the United States in 1962), is nestled in the heart of a beautiful green space that contains works of art and sculptures. On the plates, the address offers homemade cuisine with fresh, organic, and local products. You can feast on galettes and crêpes but also on vegetarian or even vegan dishes.
We tasted: as a starter, stuffed tomato with feta, basil, and fig, mesclun, and walnuts; as a main, vegetable curry, pepper cream, and carrots in coconut milk with a millet and red bean galette with herbs; the galettes are also very good, we had the vegan one with hummus, onion, and roasted mushrooms (€10); for dessert, we had the kouign Amann by Eric Elien served with a salted butter caramel coulis and a scoop of vanilla ice cream (€8.50); for drinks, we tested a local beer from the KanArFoll brewery (based in Perros-Guirec).
Auberge de Crec’h Bec
25 route du Radôme 22 560 Pleumeur-Bodou
Address open from March/April to November / closed on Sundays and MondaysPrices: daily menu starting at €20 with starter + main or main + dessert and €25 for starter + main + dessert / child’s menu €8.50 / galettes between €3.50 and €12.50
Trébeurden
Trébeurden is a seaside resort located at the entrance to the Bay of Lannion and has been classified as a tourist resort since 1921. You will find the small marina of Port Trébeurden, with its pink granite jetty dating back to the 1990s, and also the Trozoul, the anchorage located next to it. The city also possesses a rich seaside heritage.
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My great addresses in Trébeurden
Chez Martine
This seasonal food truck is set up facing the port of Trébeurden from early June to late September. You’ll find the little truck and a few tables and chairs facing the marina. It is truly a magical setting and perfect for admiring the sunset, for example. The opportunity to taste some No. 3 oysters, originating from the Pink Granite Coast (€3.50 for 2 / €8.50 for 6 / €15.50 for 12) if you are a fan of this delicacy, as we are with the favorite photographer.
We tasted: the local oysters obviously and also a small glass of wine to go with it all (between €3.50 and €5.50 per glass of wine).
Guinguette Chez Martine
Port de Trébeurden
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A crêperie in Trébeurden? Sous le Vent
This family crêperie/brasserie is a very good address if you are passing through Trébeurden. We found the galettes (made 100% with organic buckwheat flour) and the crêpes absolutely delicious, and some are truly very original. And to go with it all, I recommend you order a local cider, obviously. The address favors fresh, organic, and local products (you can find the list of suppliers and producers on the menu) which are cooked “in-house”.
To taste: the Kraz galette with a grilled sausage, vegetable mash, caramelized shallots, pine nuts, and a kraz galette (€13.20); the Bezhin galette with mackerel rillettes, sea beans, and Emmental cheese (€15.10); for dessert, the Tan Nana, with roasted apple, salted butter caramel, roasted and puffed buckwheat with a kouign-amann scoop (€9.70).
Sous le Vent
45 rue de Trozoul 22 560 Trébeurden
Prices: formulas from €16.50 to €19.90 / signature galettes between €12.20 and €19.20 / classic galettes between €4.40 and €10.60
Trégastel
This pretty little seaside resort offers some of the most beautiful beaches on the Pink Granite Coast and also houses some unmissable natural curiosities of the destination with its rocks in curious shapes.
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What to see, what to do in Trégastel
Tour the Renote Peninsula
This is THE must-do walk in the area! The Renote Peninsula is a protected natural area that houses many pink granite chaos formations with astonishing shapes. It also houses fauna and flora characteristic of the seaside. Going around the Renote Peninsula by taking the customs officer’s path takes about 1 hour, but you can spend much more time there if you want to venture into the rocky islets and take some funny photos as was our case. I strongly recommend that you go there early in the morning to benefit from beautiful light and also to have a little less crowd on the path. Throughout the walk, you will be able to have a breathtaking view, notably on the Sept-Îles Archipelago, on the Ploumanac’h lighthouse, and on the Costaérès castle.
Hiking Tour of the Renote Peninsula
Practical info: you can park in the Île Renote parking lot, near the Marine Aquarium / GR34 access
Duration of the walk: about 1 hour / 2 km / easy level
Free and open access
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The Coz-Pors beach
This pretty bay in the heart of the seaside resort offers a very unique landscape with its pink granite rocks sculpted by the elements into extravagant shapes. One sometimes wonders how they positioned themselves like that, as if they had fallen from the sky in strange positions and in a balance that seems precarious. Moreover, at low tide, these islets are accessible and offer a fun playground and an ideal spot to take some pretty photos.
Coz-Pors Beach
Trégastel
Free and open access
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My great addresses in Trégastel
Where to eat in Trégastel? Restaurant le Transat
This address offers a breathtaking view of the Coz-Pors Beach that I just told you about, with a terrace perfect for drinks and sunny days. On the plates, you will find a nice menu of seafood from local fishing, and that is what I recommend you order.
We tasted: the plate of 6 No. 3 hollow oysters (€12); the seafood platter with spider crab, oysters, shrimp, langoustine, and whelks (€26); mussels and fries (price between €16 and €18); for drinks, we took a Breton beer for a change, the Armoria (€4 for 25cl).
Restaurant Le Transat
Place du Coz-Pors 22730 Trégastel
Prices: set menu between €33 and €40 / p’tit mousse menu €12 / main courses between €15 and €26
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Where to stay in Trégastel? At the Park Hôtel Bellevue
During this stay, we stayed in this 3-star hotel in Trégastel. The hotel was recently renovated, and it offers a beautiful, very nice Art Deco style decoration. Our room (No. 105 on the 1st floor) was small but had a magnificent sea view. The bathroom is also very pretty. I just regretted that the bedding was a bit too rigid for my taste and the pillows were not to my liking either. Otherwise, the welcome is very friendly, the place does not lack charm, and it is very well located. Breakfast is classic, and it also lacks local products (aside from the salted butter caramel cream that we really appreciated).
Park Hôtel Bellevue
20 rue des Calculots, 22 730 Trégastel
Room rates starting from €100 in low season
Tréguier
This small city of character is the historical capital of the Trégor. There are also very pretty paved streets, a beautiful cathedral, and numerous timber-framed houses. The town is also rich in artists’ studios and art galleries. During your visit, don’t miss a tour of the Saint-Tugdual Cathedral (one of the seven founding saints of Brittany, whose emblem is the red dragon) as it blends Romanesque and Gothic styles and also contains the remarkable tomb of Saint-Yves, patron saint of Brittany.
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What to see, what to do in Tréguier?
Visit the Philomenn brewery
This Breton brewery, founded in 2007 in Tréguier, is today located in a building typical of industrial architecture, built in red brick and reinforced concrete by Louis Harel de la Noë at the beginning of the 20th century, near the Jaudy river. Originally, it was an old hangar where they repaired the locomotives of the small steam train of the Côtes du Nord. In 2013, the brewers bought the building and moved in. The brewery’s motto, very Breton, is “the stronger the rain, the faster it stops“. The brand’s logo is also deeply infused with Breton identity markers, as it is in black and white and in the center we find a woman with a traditional headdress from the Trégor: the Toukenn. Philomenn is the first name of the founders’ grandmother, which bears her name today, but initially, the brewery was simply called “Toukenn”.
The brewery mainly uses local and organic raw materials and its water is captured right next door, as it is low in nitrate and therefore perfectly suited for brewing beer. The brewery works in part with a Breton hop farm, but also with hops from all over the world, depending on the desired flavor profile. The barley used to make the beer is also organic and grown in the surrounding fields, and the brewery collaborates with a local malt house and another in Nogent-sur-Seine (which is the most important malt house in France). A specificity of the brewery: the boiling is done in a Charentais still. The brand produces 6 different beers (blonde, white, amber, stout, triple, peaty), as well as ephemeral seasonal beers. 70% of Philomenn beers are consumed in the Côtes-d’Armor and even 50% in the Trégor, which makes it a very local product, and you will easily find them in restaurants and bars in the region.
We had the opportunity to discover the brewery and its beer manufacturing method through a guided tour. These tours are organized regularly by the Pink Granite Coast Tourist Office. In any case, it is an exciting discovery that I recommend if you are a beer lover (but not only) and the visit obviously ends with a tasting. It is also an opportunity to then go to the shop to bring back a souvenir, in liquid form or otherwise.
Brasserie Philomenn
Parc Sainte-Catherine 22 220 Tréguier
Public shop open Tuesday to Saturday / guided tours from April to late September and during the All Saints’ holidays
Tour prices: €5 / €3 reduced (student, job seeker…)
Duration of the tour: about 1 hour / tour recommended for 12+ years
Dates of tours: from April to late September and during the All Saints’ holidays
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Visit the Ernest Renan House
This former 17th-century timber-framed shipowner’s house is where the writer Ernest Renan was born in 1823. Bequeathed to the State in 1947, it is now managed by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux; you can visit it and discover the souvenirs of this famous thinker of secularism, who claimed the right of free expression for religious and historical criticism. In this house, you can discover Ernest Renan‘s schoolboy bedroom or the reconstruction of his study at the Collège de France. Also, do not miss a tour of the small intimate garden, which is located at the back of the house.
Ernest Renan’s Birthplace
20 rue Ernest Renan 22220 Tréguier
Open from April to September Wednesday to Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Prices: €5 / reduced €4 / free for under-26s and job seekers
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What to see, what to do in the surroundings of Tréguier?
Discover the Côte d’Ajoncs by bike
We did a 3-hour electric bike ride in the small villages of the coast with Yann from Les Vélos de la Baie, a local child and lover of two-wheelers who offers accompanied rides. He has developed several themed routes that allow you to discover the territory in his company and get lots of exciting explanations about the region. These custom-made accompanied outings have about 10/12 people each time. And Les Vélos de la Baie also rents hybrid bikes, mountain bikes, and e-bikes by the day or more all year round.
For our part, we did the ports circuit loop, starting from the Trestel parking lot in Trevou-Treguignec. We also made a stop at the Chapelle Notre-Dame de Port-Blanc, which is well worth a little stop to discover the interior. The bike ride ends with a small tasting of local products (it was cider and Breton cake for us during this ride).
Les Vélos de la Baie
Commented bike rides between April and September
Prices: starting from €42
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My great addresses in Tréguier
An art artisan in Tréguier? Nell creation
Nell is a fashion designer by trade and offers custom-made and personalized clothing. She also makes clothing patterns. We asked her how much working time it took her to make a dress, and the answer is about 15 hours or more of work. I also tried with great pleasure her very fitted version of the Breton oilskin raincoat with quality fabric, because it comes from haute couture. This raincoat exists in a limited version because she only has enough material left to make 18 more models, and then it will be finished (coat at €750).
Nell Création
5 rue Saint André 22 220 Tréguier
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Where to eat in Tréguier? La Table du Marché
This cool little address offers a daily menu with a great price-quality ratio, and we really ate very well there! I highly recommend you test this address if you are passing through Tréguier.
We tasted: marinated mackerel with Ricard, tapenade, and tomato; pork filet mignon with sweet potato mash; crispy whiting and celery mousseline; plum financier.
La Table du Marché
30 rue Saint André 22220 Tréguier
Prices: market menu with starter + main or main + dessert at €25 / starter + main + dessert €29 / wines by the glass between €4.90 and €9
Pro tip: lunch formula with starter + main or main + dessert at €16 / starter + main + dessert €19
Thanks to the Pink Granite Coast Tourist Office and Christine from the Agence Sylvie Blin for organizing this great stay to discover this lovely corner of Brittany.
I hope that with all this, I will have made you want to visit the Pink Granite Coast, and if you also have your own great addresses and tips for this destination, don’t hesitate to share them in the comments below!
Photo credits: Nicolas Diolez Photos not royalty-free, photographer's authorization required before any use
