Where we are
Gouarec is absolutely smack-bang in the centre of Brittany. An easy drive from Roscoff or St Malo (and under 3 hours from Cherbourg and Caen) it is perfectly placed as a base to explore the entire peninsula with all coasts, the moors, lakes, forests etc within a 90 minute drive.
Please click here to view Brittany in Google maps which will allow you to see photos and even follow routes via street view.
Gouarec Village
Gouarec is a very special village. It was a thriving linen centre since the middle-ages and then benefited from both the railway and the canal. In fact it is one of the very few villages in Brittany that is built on the banks of the Nantes-Brest Canal. This most beautiful of France's canals teems with fish and wildlife and has a cyclepath running 172 miles along its length and easy canoeing. The legacy of the railway is that it now forms the V6 cyclepath - this 'crossing' of cyclepaths is unique and means Gouarec is the perfect centre of safe off-road cycling. 4 years ago the village was bypassed leaving a beautifully quiet centre but it is only 1 km from the main N164.
View Gouarec in a larger map on Google Map's website where you can see photographs, and 'walk' the streets using 'street view'
View Gouarec in a larger map
Its history and comparative wealth gave lovely stone buildings in the centre and last year the old covered marketplace was finally rebuilt to make a gorgeous centrepiece to the square. The final piece in the jigsaw of recent changes is the building of a new 25m indoor swimming pool - Gouarec is on the up!
All this means that Gouarec has every amenity you could want. A medium sized and a small supermarket, a baker, a lunchtime restaurant (4 courses for 12€/$ (£9) including wine), a superb pizzaria, an excellent creperie/restaurant (my favourite), four bars and of course the three bars and three restaurants at Bon Repos are just a 20 minute cycleride away along the canal towpath ... The village, our gite and the campsite are far from any busy roads. The centre is Napoleonic and in parts much older and a real picture with several magnificent houses, the arched marketplace of 'Les Halles' and the actual square is the sort of place a dog can sleep in the road... Late night activities are limited to bars, the pizzaria and creperie and in the week most will shut after 10-11 pm leaving it the sleepy little village that it is. If you are looking for wild nightlife this isn't the place for you:-)