Cap Frehel and Fort La Latte – Along Brittany’s Emerald Coast

I didn’t know much about Fort La Latte before our latest Brittany trip, but I certainly do now. I thank goodness Mr. Misadventures is such a detailed researcher and keen photographer, always scouting for interesting places to photograph. Turns out this fort is quite the looker, made of the pink granite stone that part of the region is famous for.

Fort La Latte is located to the west of Ile de Bréhat, southeast of Cap Fréhel; to the east is the Pointe du Grouin (near Cancale); it is 22 miles west of Saint-Malo, and on clear days you can see forever, including the Channel Islands. It is the most popular tourist attraction on the Côte d'Émeraude in Brittany, and I feel lucky to have seen it.

Our plan was to hike some of the GR34 along the coast, which affords an amazing view of the fort. The fort sits on a cliff that you get to from two drawbridges. I can regurgitate its history, but that is a bit boring; however, here are the highlights:

• Also known as Château de la Roche Goyon, Fort La Latte was built in the 14th century between 1340 and 1370.
• The fort was besieged several times during wars between France, Brittany, and England before it was destroyed by fire in the 16th century and left abandoned.
• In the early 18th century, under Louis XIV of France, the castle was rebuilt and regained its military importance (it was nearly impossible to get into, and you could see for miles from the fort).
• The fort became obsolete from a military perspective and was sold to a private owner for the first time in 1892.
• It has been listed as a national monument since 1925.
• In 1931, historian Frédéric Joüon des Longrais started a 20-year restoration, and the property remains under private ownership today.
• And on the fun side, several movies have been filmed there! Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas filmed scenes there for ‘The Vikings', as well as Sophie Marceau and Lambert Wilson for ‘Les Chouans'.

How to Get to Fort La Latte

A quick word on logistics, because this corner of the Emerald Coast really is built for a road trip. The easiest gateway is Saint-Malo, which sits about 50 minutes away by car, and Saint-Malo itself is roughly three hours from Paris on a direct TGV from Gare Montparnasse. Once you are in the region, a car makes all the difference. There is no reliable public bus out to Cap Fréhel or Fort la Latte, so if you would rather not drive, you are looking at a taxi (figure somewhere around 120 to 150 euros round trip from Saint-Malo) or a small group tour. Parking at the Cap Fréhel headland is paid, though it is only a few euros for the day, so bring a little cash or a card just in case.

If you are driving yourself, the road to get there is the D768, and it is quite beautiful to drive. If you want to make a little road trip of it between Cancale and Fort La Latte, here are some recommended stops:

• Saint Jacut de la Mer – surrounded by 11 beaches, this old fishing village is known for its shellfish farms, fishing spots, and gorgeous sunsets.
• Saint Cast le Guildo – known for its sandy beaches and beautiful views.
• Plage de la Fosse – a little leisure town with a great beach, a few restaurants, and hotels.

If you are hiking the GR34, the fort is right on the trail! You can also rent a bike from Cap Evasion Vélo (sorry, this site is only in French!).

Good to know before you go: Fort la Latte is open seasonally, from the 7th of February through the 11th of November, plus French public holidays (it closes only on the 25th of December and the 1st of January). In August, the gates are open daily from 10 am to 6:30 pm. Admission in 2026 is 8.50 euros for adults, 7.50 euros for students and under-26s, and 6 euros for children under 12, with little ones under 5 getting in free. One thing to know is that tickets are sold on site only, so you can't book ahead online.

As for us, we visited early on Easter morning. We drove from our home base in Cancale along the coast to Fort La Latte. It took about an hour, and we arrived at 6 am. When we arrived in the parking lot, there was only one other car there, which turned out to belong to a couple who were fishing. (I swear I never figured out where they were fishing, as the cliffs are pretty high up. Being local, I’m sure they knew some secret route down closer to the water. But I digress.) We parked, pulled out our backpacks and camera equipment, and headed to the trailhead for the GR34. After a few steps, we decided to put on our hiking boots rather than our walking shoes.

We walked back to the car, I sat in the front seat to change my shoes, and Mr. Misadventures changed his from the trunk of the rental car. When he laid down his stuff to change his shoes, he also laid down the keys. (You can see where this is going, can’t you?)

After changing his shoes and grabbing his equipment, he closed the trunk with the keys snugly inside. Tucked in amongst them were picnic supplies, a camera case, and extra layers of clothes. The one amazing thing, despite being stuck in the middle of nowhere on an Easter Sunday in France, was that, by some miracle, we actually had cell service. Mr. Misadventures called Sixt and miracle upon miracle they said they would send someone out. The tow service was in a town we had passed, only about 30 minutes away. We were getting updated information via text, with a map, about where he was. In 90 minutes' time, he drove up to our rescue! (Yes, I can do the math; it took 90 minutes for someone 30 minutes away, but it was Sunday morning, Easter Sunday in France, and it was the day off for the driver, and he had stayed up late the evening before…)

We had an Audi, a very durable car built like a tank. There was no way to use one of those crowbar things to unlock the door. No, our savior had to use this intricate suctioning system to get a super-thin, super-long wire with a hook on it, grab the latch from the back seat that would pull down the seat, and attempt to grab the keys in the trunk with his magic wire. He started with the rear passenger window, failed, and then moved to the rear driver seat. Finally, after an hour of finagling, he grabbed the keys and clicked on them, and et voilà, opened the door!

After all was said and done, it was 10:00, and as our rescuer was struggling for success, the parking lot was filling up with cars of French families and tourists out to visit the fort for the holiday. Thank goodness we are early birds and despite our hours of drama, the fort was just opening!

We hit the trailhead so that we could still get a view of the fort from a distance and approach from the side.

We stopped and took some photos along the way, and then we stood in line, paid our way, and entered the fort. It is spectacular; the weather was sunny and clear, and you could see for miles in every direction. If you read about our visit to Saint-Malo, you will recall that it was a city of pirates, trade, and a military very well protected by a bay, forts, and walls. Fort La Latte also protected Saint-Malo by guarding Fresnaye Bay. Only some ships could enter Saint-Malo at high tide; the others sometimes had to wait for the tide in Fresnaye Bay. The fort offered shelter and safe anchorage, protected by its guns.

My favorite part is the 360 view from the furthest point looking back inward.

As we were returning to the car after our visit, Me. Misadventures said to me, “I guess I am now a member of the Misadventures club now! He couldn’t get his missed shot out of his head, so a few mornings later we went for sunrise, and he got it (the hero image above that starts this story). We also brought our new drone, and that footage would have been gorgeous except that Mr. misadventures left the controller in our Airbnb in Cancale. That is when he became a full-fledged member of the club.

Despite all our troubles, this spot remained one of my favorite outings.

Visiting Cap Fréhel

From Fort La Latte, you can hike the GR34 trail all the way to Cap Fréhel (3 miles/5 kilometers, count 2+ hours), but we chose to drive. It’s an easy 10 minutes to the famous lighthouse. The lighthouse (lit for the first time in 1702) may not look like much, such a little guy that sticks out into the sea, but at its position as the westernmost point on the in the line of fortifications protecting Saint-Malo, this little guy on sandstone cliffs served its role to warn the city of approaching enemies as well as guiding friendly ships into the Bay of Fresnaye for protection.

There are actually 2 lighthouses here. The taller one, 98ft (30m) high, with 145 steps, was built in 1950 (after the Nazis blew up the previous one in 1944) and its beam can reach up to 68 miles (110km), it is one of the top five most powerful in France. If it is open (it was closed during our visit), once you climb those 145 steps to the deck, you get a panoramic view of the coast/heather land/moorland, Fort La Latte, and the St. Malo harbor. The smaller one, no longer in use, was constructed in 1685.

These days you can actually climb it. The lighthouse is open to visitors from April through October, and in the heart of summer (the 1st of July to the 31st of August) you can go up daily from 10 am to 6 pm. It costs just 3 euros for adults and 1.50 euros for children aged 7 to 14, and the view from the gallery out over the cliffs and the moorland is worth every one of those 145 steps.

While the lighthouses themselves may not be spectacular, the land around them is a protected moorland full of gorgeous flowers and heather. There are 700 pairs of native and migratory seabirds (herring gulls, Northern fulmars, common murres, common cormorants and even razorbills), so bring a pair of binoculars. Personally, I can't get enough of the pink sandstone.

The Best Time to Visit Cap Fréhel and Fort la Latte

If you have any flexibility, aim for late spring or early autumn. May, June, and September give you the mildest weather and the thinnest crowds, and they line up beautifully with the wildflowers. The yellow gorse and pink sea thrift put on their show from April into June, while the famous purple heather that carpets the headland peaks in the second half of summer, usually around the middle of August. High summer is gorgeous too, just busier, so an early start is your friend if you are visiting in July or August.

Where to Eat

I'd be lying if I said there were a ton of options in this area, but there are definitely options. The towns in the area of Brittany are small, so they may only have a single restaurant or a bistro/bar and a bakery. For outings like this, we typically pack a picnic lunch, but we did stop for fresh shellfish one day and made many stops at bakeries for the famously delicious Brittany pastries! Here are some recommendations:

• Audineau Alain at Port à la Duc in Fréhel – direct-from-the-source seafood, and he also serves it fresh at a few tables in front of his shop. We enjoyed oysters and langoustine (plus really good Breton cider) here.
• Le Petit Galet at 22 La Latte, Plévenon, on the little road to Fort La Latte, serves crepes, galettes, and mussels.

Really good pastries like Kouign-amann, Far Breton, Gâteaux Breton fourrés, Galette bretonne can be found nearby at:

• Aux Délices du Pain: Place de Chambly, Fréhel
• Aux Délices du Cap: Rue du Vieux Bourg, Plévenon

Places to Visit Around Fort La Latte and Cap Frehel

• Visit Cancale, the oyster capital of France, an hour from Fort La Latte.
• Pointe du Grouin, a beautiful headland on the westernmost tip of the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel right outside of Cancale.
• Visit the medieval village of Dinan, just 45 minutes away.
• Check out the pirate town of Saint-Malo, an hour away from Fort La Latte.

And if you are stitching together a longer Brittany itinerary, two more of our favorites are an easy drive away: the mighty medieval ramparts of Château de Fougères and the unforgettable island abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Camera Equipment We Used

All photos in this post were taken by Mr. Misadventures. He used his Sony A7RIII and carried his camera equipment in a MindShift Gear BackLight 18L backpack.

How about you? Have you been to Fort La Latte or Cap Frehel? Or other parts of Brittany in France? Do share! If not, have I inspired you to visit? Do tell!

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