Leeds to Quimper, Brittany: an active itinerary for Spring
Why Quimper in spring?
This is an alternative option for exploring Brittany in its off-season, using Quimper as the main base, for easy access to city, country, coast and culture, with all activities within a 1 hour drive or less.
Every image you will ever see for Brittany tourism - every website, every accommodation listing - will show Brittany in the summer time, bathed in gorgeous sunshine. It’s true that early spring is unpredictable in the northwest corner of Europe; we can get everything from blue skies and frigid air, to bouncing rain, to snow, freezing cold and biting winds, to very warm and sunny days hovering around 20°C. You just don’t know what you’re gonna get.
This makes it a brilliant month for a road trip, and a great month for venturing outside (dressed accordingly!) If the weather is just too much, there’s plenty indoor cultural action to amuse too.
Quimper is considered by many to be the ‘cultural heart’ of Brittany, and stretching from the coast to inland, there is the Parc naturel régional d'Armorique, a huge natural park with rugged granite peaks, moors & dense forests. Due to unpredictable weather, indoorsing will be a key fallback, so staying close to a city means cultural and foodie activities are in easy reach for when the weather just isn’t playing ball.
Itinerary At A Glance
7 night independent itinerary for the very northwest tip of France - Finistère in Brittany - using Quimper as the base
Based on travelling at the very end of winter/start of spring, flying in and out of Paris CDG. Car will also be essential.
Highlights include discovering the Pont-Aven school of art, eating crepes in their cultural homeland, coastal biking
Based on a couple travelling, with a focus on leisurely cultural activities and biking, interspersed with time to just relax and soak up the atmosphere
Itinerary Details
WHEN
April
Like the UK, April can be either cold and snowing, or warm and sunny, Take clothing options and plan activities that account for these unknowable circumstances.
TRAVEL MEANS
Drive from Leeds, using the Channel Tunnel crossing + Road Bike
Drive time is 12.5hrs. Alternative, similar travel time is to cross using the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff
ACCOMMODATION
Near Quimper
Quimper’s countryside, being more inland, has much more of a ‘cosy’ comforting feel to it than the brazen and rocky boldness of the coast around Brest.
3 bed home on the banks of the River Odet
Auberge des Glazicks - Michelin-starred restaurant-with-rooms about 30 mins drive from Quimper
Hôtel Ginkgo - Just outside the city centre, boutique hotel with some rooms giving views over the River Odet
SCHEDULE
Day 1
Travel
Check-in
Collect groceries
Day 2
Late-morning - Have brunch or lunch with local cider at Le Sistrot
Afternoon - Bike out to Parc botanique de Cornouaille (about 2hr bike ride round-trip)
Morning - Do a crepe workshop in Benodet (25 min drive from Quimper)
Afternoon - Visit the School of Embroidery Art by Pascal Jaouen in Quimper where they have regular exhibitions of artistic embroidery
Day 3
Day 4
Morning - relax
Early-afternoon - Take a walk in the Bois du Nevet (25 min drive from Quimper)
Evening - Try local brew at La Baleine Déshydraté in Quimper
Day 5
All day, start in the morning - Bike out to Pont-Aven (4 hour bike ride round trip) and stop in at Le Musée de Pont-Aven to see their considerable collection of works from this area, most dating from mid-to-late 19th Century
Day 6
Morning - Take a walk in the Huelgoat Forest (50 min drive from Quimper)
Afternoon - relax
Day 7
All day - Book a spa day of thalasso therapy at Valdys Spa in Dourarnez (30 min drive from Quimper)
Day 8
Travel home
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