The Morbihan Gulf ("Mor-Bihan" means "little sea" in the Breton language) is a wide sunken valley cut into the Breton coastline, starred with tiny islands and linked to the ocean by a narrow bottleneck (0.9 kilometer wide); at every tide, 400 million cubic meters of sea water rush out from the flat seabed in powerful currents, creating a wonderfully diverse saltwater ecosystem.
The Morbihan Gulf is a magical site in which sea, land and sky mingle to create a changing and ever-surprising landscape. This miniature landlocked sea, sheltered from the Atlantic waves, covers over 24.000 acres and numbers, according to the legend, 365 islands.

Two of these islands are ready to welcome you:

L'île aux Moines (Monks' Island), the Pearl of the Morbihan Gulf,is famous for its quietude and pleasant lifestyle. It is the largest of the Gulf islands and its mild climate, well protected from the Atlantic winds, has developed a luxuriant vegetation. Don't miss the small town with its narrow streets, or the Kergonan cromlech to the North and the Pen Hap dolmen to the South. At the northern tip of the Island, Trech Headland and its multi-level stone calvary looks across the water to Arradon cape.

Arz Island has been nick-named "Captain's Island", because so many merchant navy captains were born there. This lovely rural island, with its many beaches, is a paradise for walkers. On this second largest of the Gulf islands, the local inhabitants have preserved the rural landscape and the traditional architecture. The coastal path will take you into sheltered coves and lead you to the restored tide mill at Berno, and the local cromlech...

Quiberon Bay open to the ocean, is protected by a long headland linked to the continent by a tombolo (a natural strip of compacted sand). Today, this mosaic of marine and land environments faces a dual challenge: mastering its urban development, and managing an impressive flow of tourists and pleasure-seekers.


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Born over 2000 years ago at the inner end of the Morbihan Gulf, Vannes is a city of contrasts, shaped by its early development as a propsperous trade port.

Along the squares and narrow streets, the city's long history has left many moods and atmospheres.

Founded by the Romans at the end of the 1st Century B.C. on the territory of the Venete tribe, at the meeting of land and sea trade routes, the city (initially called Darioritum) was a prosperous center, spread around a vast forum built on Boismoreau Hill (today the Saint-Patern quarter).

By the end of the 3rd Century A.D., the saxon menace led to the building of a castrum (fortified walled area) on Méné Hill.

During the 6th century, the Boismoreau site was abandoned and the city withdrew behind the walls of the castrum. The fortified gallo-roman site became the foundation of the medieval fortified town which grew, by the end of the Middle-Ages, to cover about 20 acres.

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