Brittany with children

Travelling as a family often involves keeping children and young people‘s attention, finding fun locations and attractions and breaking up the many kilometres in the car with happy, stimulating breaks.

Brittany is a perfectly suitable destination for families travelling with children in tow and there are a plethora of places to explore while having fun.

You can frolic on the beaches, discover the world of animals, get close to history among archaeological sites and medieval villages or perhaps have fun in an amusement park.

In contact with nature and animals

Brittany boasts lush nature: on the coast a crystal-clear sea with beautiful beaches and inland parks, countryside and forests to explore. You will be able to give your children truly unforgettable experiences, such as moments of fun in contact with nature and the outdoors.

Moreover, being a predominantly rural environment, Brittany offers the chance to discover the world of animals in the countryside and the sea.

Fishing on the rocks

Just wait for the low tide and turn a boring afternoon into a fun activity in search of crabs and sea snails, tellins, clams and cannolicchi.

Armed with boots and a bucket, you will entertain your children by learning about the varied marine habitat of the Brittany coast.

Sandcastles by the sea

Brittany will enchant you with its white beaches framed by a beautiful turquoise sea.

If you have the time and desire to let your children run free in total peace, park your car and if the sun is shining hot, arm yourself with a dustpan and bucket to make sandcastles on the beach.

Barefoot in the park

Fifteen minutes from the town of Renne there is a park that is great fun for children, Les Jardins de Broceliande: a 1-kilometre-long path to cross barefoot to “feel” the different textures of natural materials and elements such as buckwheat chaff, rubber, quartz, sand, shells, pebbles of various colours and sizes next to the dahlia maze, marble, sandstone, pozzolan, shale, slate.

Getting to know the farm animals

A trip, even a short one, to a farm is a truly unique, as well as educational, experience for your children. For a generation living in the city, seeing farm animals up close will be absolutely fun.

In addition to petting bunnies and rolling in straw, many facilities offer direct participation in typical activities such as milking a cow, feeding the chickens and collecting eggs. A fun way to learn while playing!

Check out bretagnealaferme.com for more information.

Zoo

There are more than 10 zoological parks in Brittany where your children will be able to see live strange and exotic animals hitherto only seen in TV documentaries. An unusual stop in the Breton environment that is sure to intrigue the children.

• Alligator Bay: over 10,000 dedicated to alligators, turtles, lizards and other reptiles all at the foot of Mont-Saint-Michel.
• Parc Ornithologique de Bretagne: a stone’s throw from Renne is an immense wooded and flower-filled park where birds from all 5 continents flutter freely or in aviaries, making you forget you’re in Brittany
• La Ferme du Monde Parc Animalier: on foot, in a little train or on a pedal-powered go-kart, your children can admire exotic animals from all over the world and beyond! The facility is equipped with open-air games, mini-golf, pétanque (French pétanque) and ponies for beautiful rides in the green.
• Zoo de la Boissière-du-Doré: again on the theme of animals from other continents, there is this park set in the vineyards surrounding Nantes, home to the oldest orangutan in Europe.
• L’Abeille Vivante et la Cité des Fourmis: this unusual structure will arouse the curiosity of young and old alike. In fact, it is entirely dedicated to the world of bees and you can see the beehives up close and even observe the swarms in glass cylinders.
• The Zoo de Pont Scorff is just a stone’s throw from Lorient and before you let yourself be enchanted by the notes of the Interceltico Festival, you can admire more than 600 animals of 120 different species in semi-freedom in this little tropical paradise.
• Vannes, on the other hand, is home to Le Jardin aux papillons, a tropical microcosm where exotic butterflies hatch and fly freely around you.

Aquariums

Kids are curious and really love sea creatures. Taking them to some aquariums can be a useful and fun experience perhaps on a bad rainy day when the kids get boring.

• Océanopolis Brest is one of the most rigorous and scientifically prepared aquariums in France. It consists of three thematic pavilions dedicated to polar, tropical and temperate ecosystems and with more than 50 tanks, it will give your children an unforgettable day out.
• If you are around Trégastel, you can stop at the Aquarium Marin: its unique feature is that it is housed inside pink rock caves, once a munitions depot during the war. Here you can experience in real time the rhythm of the tide as it rises and falls.
• Another really interesting place is the Aquarium de Vannes: among clown fish, turtles, seahorses, piranhas and electric eels, you will discover three underwater worlds full of life and curiosities.

A plunge into history

Brittany is not only unspoilt nature but also history that can be felt in the medieval towns, in the themed festivals that enliven the summer season and in the Celtic vestiges of the past.

It will be a very entertaining way to introduce your children, especially the older ones, to this world.

The mysterious Celts of Carnac

Brittany boasts 3,000 menhirs spread over an area of 40 hectares and 4 km long: Carnac is the largest megalithic site in the world, erected 6,000 years ago, and the meaning of its mysterious alignments still remains unexplained.

Discover this fascinating and mysterious place like a little Indiana Jones.

Between castles and manors

The villages of Brittany evoke the tormented and fascinating medieval period: discover these places that have remained intact to tickle your children’s imaginations amidst castles, towers, walls with walkways and ancient moats to defend against invasions.

Medieval festivals

To get into the medieval spirit of the festivals that enliven the summer in Brittany, you’ll be spoilt for choice: knighthood tournaments, costume parades, juggling shows, trained bears, artisan markets and ancient flavours for a journey through time on the border between reality and fantasy. More info on:

• fete-remparts-dinan.com
• mairie-vannes.fr
• hennebont.net

Aquaparks and amusement parks

Although they are not a typical attraction in Brittany, theme parks can be a great alternative for a day out for kids and their need for fun and escape: they will arrive in the evening exhausted and recharged with energy for a new stage of your trip.

• Armoripark is an amusement park near Lannion that boasts an incredible number of attractions for children from 7 to 12 years of age: Jumping House, mini and maxi karting, pedal boats, bumper boats, human table football, inflatable structures, water rides, aqua play pool, not to mention the animal farm.
• To discover the sounds of nature, you can visit the Centre de Découverte du Son: here you can follow different paths dedicated to the world of sounds, from the music path to the sleep garden, from the bell path to the sounds of nature.
• If you want to combine a day immersed in 70 hectares of parkland around an artificial lake with 50 games including trampolines, plant maze, tree huts, water bridges and ball pools, you can go to the Parc Odet Loisirs, a few kilometres from Quimper.
• If, on the other hand, you are looking for an afternoon of fun on slides and water games, you can choose the Coblac Parc in Saint-Malo, with toboggans and swimming pools but also a 12-hectare forest with a little train, miniature golf and pony rides.
• La Récré des 3 Curés, on the other hand, a stone’s throw from Brest, is ideal for a relaxing family day out, with walks on the lake, a mini-farm, a pirate galleon, crazy mugs, a toboggan and a 25-metre high Ferris wheel with a splendid view.
• The Breton sea is very cold and to take your kids into the water you can go to l’Espace Aqualudique du Poher, an aqualudic centre suitable for young and old.
• A really interesting park is La Jaupitre, dedicated to ancient Breton games dating back to the Middle Ages: boules, skittles, discs, board games, open-air games, games of strength, card games, in short, everything kids could want on a nice sunny day.
• In the nearby Loire Valley, the older children will be enchanted by Les Machines de l’île, a park dedicated to the ‘invented worlds’ of Jules Verne, the mechanical universe of Leonardo da Vinci and the industrial history of Nantes: immense machines in the shape of animals all to be discovered and tried out.

Fun experiences

In addition to seeing and visiting, children need to vent their exuberance and focus their energy on dynamic pastimes.

Involving them in activities that entertain and engage them is one way to make a trip to Brittany interesting for them too.

Hanging from a tree

Brittany is rich in lush forests and in recent years several parks have sprung up in which they can try their hand at tree-climbing between adventure (in total safety) for all ages and the discovery of nature.

• In Carhaix-Plouguer, there is the Labyrinthe végétal, an adventure trail with 6 levels for children from 5 years old to walk in the trees in the magnificent valley of the Hyères River. Guaranteed fun for parents and children in the midst of nature!
• At the Air Game Park (30 minutes from Rennes), you can walk suspended in the trees with different levels of difficulty and then hook up to the zip-line.
• Near the Gayeulles park is Forêt Adrénaline, in the heart of Rennes, where you can climb trees from the age of 2: you will have eight routes in complete safety from easy to the most challenging at 20 metres high.

Cycling in the Vois Vertes

The cool Breton temperatures are ideal for a bike ride in the middle of nature, through beautiful landscapes.

Hire a bike and follow even short sections of the Vois Vertes, safe and comfortable routes, often in the shade or sheltered from the wind, to explore along rivers and canals, stretches of coastline and beautiful rural landscapes.

On board a steam locomotive

In Brittany, there is the possibility of travelling short distances on enchanting steam trains, which will take you back to ancient times in a truly unique atmosphere: the locomotives will be an original way to explore Brittany and entertain your kids with their whimsical names, Vapeur du Trieux, Tire Bouchon, Léon à fer et à flots.

More info at www.vapeurdutrieux.com.