Beg-Meil travel guide

Visit Beg-Meil (Brittany, France)

Beg-Meil is a seaside resort in the commune of Fouesnant in the Finistere department of Brittany. It is a peninsula with the Atlantic to the south and the Baie de la Fôret opposite Concarneau on the other side of the bay.

Explore Beg-Meil

France This Way review: The Beg-Meil peninsula is a particularly attractive part of the Finistere coastline with craggy coves and sandy beaches variously covered with scatterings of rocks and boulders making them very pretty.

As you walk around the peninsula the scenery is forever changing as the rocky coastline seperates the peninsula into a number of different coves. These are named and you will find "les oiseaux", "les pyramides" and "la plage Kermyl" amongst others.

The sea colour changes from turqoise to deep blue depending on the depth and whether it is rocky or sandy underneath and the rocks are often perches for various seabirds that live along the coast.

If you head up the coast slightly from Beg-Meil towards Cap Coz about half way between the two is a rock arch called the "Roche percée" which is a popular sight.

In the other direction the Kerler beach and the Maner coat beach have good views over the tiny islands of the Glenan archipelago.

Maner coat beach is also a good family beach with various beach activities such as beach volleyball and beach tennis.

There are some lovely coastal paths and the path from the semaphore of Beg Meil to Cap Coz is a particularly popular walk.

The actual resort of Beg Meil includes some hotels and some beautiful villas built at the begining of the 20th century when tourist interest was first developing.

The architect Paul Lagrave built the castle on the Bot-Conan estate which can be seen from the coastal path, and Charles Chaussepied designed Villa Ker Maria, Villa Ker Alar and Villa Paludes.

Beg Meil was also popular with artists and writers of the time. Sarah Bernhardt, Felix Huguenet, and Marcel Proust were amongst visitors who enjoyed Beg-Meil.

Many of the large hotels built for the influx of visitors at the begining of the 20th century have now been converted into appartments. There are also a number of campsites to welcome visitors to the area.

Around "la cale", a long concrete boat dock there are a number of restaurants and streets of charming houses including some with thatched roofs. It is also possible to organise a boat to the Glenan islands or round the coast to Benodet or across the bay to Concarneau.

There is also a diving centre where you can hire diving equipment in order to enjoy the wide variety of fish and sea life that like to live in the surrounding waters.