Saint-Malo walking tour & city guide

Intra-Muros and the ramparts

The walled old town, called Intra-Muros, was largely destroyed in 1944 and patiently rebuilt in the following decades in its original granite style. A walk around the top of the ramparts, about two kilometers, gives views over the beaches, the islands and the rooftops, and it is free and open all day.

Inside the walls, Saint-Vincent Cathedral, the lanes around it and the castle, which houses the city hall and history museum, are the main sights. The old town is full of crêperies and shops selling Breton butter biscuits.

The tides and the islands

Saint-Malo has some of the biggest tides in Europe, and the difference between low and high water can be more than twelve meters. At low tide you can walk across the sand to the islands of Grand Bé, where the writer Chateaubriand is buried, and Fort National. Check the tide times carefully, because the path disappears quickly.

On the beaches, the Plage du Bon Secours has a seawater swimming pool that fills at each high tide, with a diving board, and on the Sillon beach, rows of wooden breakwaters stand against the waves.

A classic walk through Saint-Malo

Enter the old town by the Porte Saint-Vincent and climb onto the ramparts. Walk the full circuit, with views of Fort National, the Grand Bé and the Bon Secours pool.

Come down into the lanes to the cathedral, then, if the tide is low, walk out to the Grand Bé. The walk is about 4 kilometers.

Visiting tips

Saint-Malo is about two and a half hours from Paris by direct high-speed train. Ferries cross the Rance estuary to Dinard, and Mont-Saint-Michel and the oyster town of Cancale are both nearby.