5 must-see Breton megalithic sites

There’s Carnac of course. Queen of the megalithic site, star of the Alignment. But in Brittany, menhirs, dolmens, carvings and tumuli also like to play it discreet! Hidden away in the woods or perched on the moorlands, they’ve kept silent watch for millennia. Less visited but just as magical, here are 5 spots for anyone who loves mysteries, monuments and stories… under the radar.

In the blink of an eye

©Monteneuf - Megalithes de Monteneuf|Noémie Lefèvre

©Monteneuf - Balades dans les Megalithes de Monteneuf|Noémie Lefèvre

1. The Monteneuf Standing Stones

On the edge of Brocéliande

Megaliths on the edge of an enchanted forest. All you need to kill two birds with one stone. Not just one stone either… On the moorlands of Monteneuf, to the south of Brocéliande, you can wander to your heart’s content (and all year round) in the midst of 42 standing stones, among some 500 others scattered among gorse and heather. At the turn of one of the signposted trails, you might even be lucky enough to come across a half-extracted menhir, abandoned in situ by the locals back in the Neolithic. During the holidays, you can also put yourself in their shoes and learn how to make jewellery and pottery or how to light a fire… without a lighter of course, otherwise you’d be cheating!

Monteneuf Menhirs

Where to sleep: L’auberge des Voyajoueurs

2. The Saint-Just Megaliths

Megaliths in all their forms

Let’s meet up just north of Redon, on Brittany’s 2nd largest megalithic site after Carnac. Great idea! What makes these Landes de Cojoux moorlands in Saint-Just so remarkable? The extraordinary diversity of the monuments scattered across them. Here, to the scent of gorse and heather, you can feast your eyes on menhirs, corridor dolmens, barrows, enclosures, cairns and burial mounds… and treat yourself to a real lesson on megalithic architecture. As it’s an extensive site (6 km long), you can soak up the mysteries of these stones in peace and quiet. Before you do, though, pay a visit to the Maison Mégalithes et Landes to mug up on the Neolithic’s major dates so as to get a better idea of the Saint-Just site’s history.

Saint-Just Megaliths

Where to sleep: Le Manoir de la Perdrilais

©France, Ille-et-Vilaine (35), Saint-Just, le site mégalithique des landes de Cojoux, Les alignement du moulin // France, Ille-et-Vilaine, Saint-Just, the megalithic site of the Cojoux moors, The alignment of the mill|BERTHIER Emmanuel

©Couple enjoying beautiful views on the ocean, standing together near the car on the rocky coast, showing with hands heart shape. Carefree lifestyle, love and travel concept

Ideas

The inratables of the summer, the place to be to treat yourself to a seafood platter, the best views on the GR®34, the best spots to start surfing… in short, all the good...

3. La Roche-aux-Fées

The legendary dolmen

They say that the fairy Viviane and her friends built this dolmen in a single night. They also say that if lovers count the same number of stones there, their love will last forever. Psst! We’ll whisper the right answer: 41 slabs of red schist. In Essé, in Pays Rennais, the Roche-aux-Fées dolmen is the biggest of its kind in France. 19.50 metres long and 6 wide, with 4 metres of headroom. Some of the blocks weigh more than 40 tonnes: strapping fellows, those Neolithics! Hidden away beneath the trees, this barrow, typical of tombs dating back to the 2000s BCE, is remarkably well preserved. At the winter solstice, when the sun rises smack-dab on the straight alignment of stones, the experience becomes downright magical!

La Roche aux fées

Where to sleep: La Maison de Rosalie

4. The Great Cairn of Barnenez

The “Bretons’ Parthenon”

6,000 years of history facing Morlaix Bay. The Great Cairn of Barnenez is certainly one of humanity’s oldest stone monuments. Older that Egypt’s pyramids! André Malraux even nicknamed this Neolithic masterpiece the “Bretons’ Parthenon”, and it has to be said that this “pile of stones”, 75 metres long and 28 wide, deserves the moniker. It contains eleven burial chambers, some of their walls decorated with carvings whose mysteries are yet to be solved. Bow, shield, buckler and axe blade among them. We’ll leave you here until sundown, dear friend, to meditate on Carantec and Callot Island directly offshore.

Cairn of Barnenez

Where to sleep:

©Centre D'interpretation du Patrimoine Archeologique de Menez Dregan|Donatienne Guillaudeau - CRT Bretagne

5. Menez Dregan

Return to the Stone Age with sea view

Head for the very tip of Brittany, to the Menez Dregan site in Plouhinec near Audierne. It’s hard to imagine, but there was a time when our ancestors tamed fire here and hunted elephants on the plains. That was… 465,000 years ago (and we’re not getting any younger). Facing the ocean, Menez Dregan combines 3 archaeological sites: a cave where an ancient fireplace was discovered (possibly the oldest trace of human occupation in Brittany), the Pointe du Souc’h necropolis and the Pors Poulhan barrow. Enough to sketch out a prehistoric timeline from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic. Follow the interpretive trail so as to better journey back in time… We promise you won’t come across any elephants!

Menez Dregan archaeological site

Where to sleep:

Naéco Baie d’Audierne Hotel & Campsite