Free Walking Tour Saint-Malo: Walls, Château and Tidal Fort

The Five Stops of Your Saint-Malo Walking Tour

1. 1

   Porte Saint-Vincent

   

   Start under the arch. The Porte Saint-Vincent is a working gate in Saint-Malo's town wall: no booth, no queue, no ceremony. Cars, delivery vans and walkers pass through it all day, and that is part of its charm. It is one of nine gates cut into the ramparts, and for most visitors it is the first.

   Come through it and the château is there to greet you. That is your first lesson in scale. The fortress at the corner and the gate you are standing in belong to one enclosed world, and everything on this walk happens inside the walls or in sight of them.

   The gate is the natural starting point for practical reasons, too. The wall attaches to it, and if the lanes inside tangle later, the wall is the simplest handrail in town: meet it anywhere and you know the shape you are standing in.

   Right at the gate you'll also find the Musée d’Histoire de la Ville et du Pays Malouin. For now, walk through: the Ramparts of Saint-Malo are 130 m and about 2 minutes away.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Porte Saint-Vincent on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Ramparts of Saint-Malo

   

   Up on the Ramparts of Saint-Malo you are walking the town's armour. The walls run for 1,754 m, reach 16 m in places and are pierced by nine gates. Walking them is free, and it is the one thing on this route nobody should skip.

   The story starts in the middle of the 12th century. Bishop Jean de Châtillon moved his see from Alet to the rock of Saint-Malo and began enclosing it. Later kings modernised the defences: under Charles VI the Château-Gaillard and the small keep were built. Keep that bishop's name in mind; you'll meet him again at the cathedral.

   The walls you see today are largely the work of one man. Siméon Garangeau became director of fortifications in 1691, and Vauban gave him the task of turning Saint-Malo into a citadel of the sea. Medieval towers and turrets could not withstand cast-iron cannonballs, so Garangeau replaced most of them with bastions, Saint-Louis, Saint-Philippe, Fort à la Reine and Hollande among them, linked by straight curtain walls. The guns stood in the open on top. Between 1708 and 1742 he rebuilt three quarters of the circuit and pushed the walls outwards in the south and east, so the town inside grew from 16 hectares to 24. Several older towers and posterns disappeared in the process.

   Look down at the foot of the wall. Originally it went straight onto bare rock and into the sea; the quays you see leaning against it only began to appear from 1582. From here the château is right at hand: the next stop is about a minute along.

   Local name

   Remparts de Saint-Malo

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Website

   saint-malo-tourisme.co.uk ↗

   Location

   Ramparts of Saint-Malo on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Château de Saint-Malo

   

   The Château de Saint-Malo, also called the Château de la Duchesse Anne, holds the north-east corner of the walled town. Its origins are blunt: John V, Duke of Brittany, commissioned it to keep his own people in check, not to fend off foreign fleets.

   Read it tower by tower. The oldest part is the horseshoe-shaped Grand Donjon, finished in 1424. In 1475 Duke Francis II added the large tower called La Générale at the south-west corner. His daughter Anne followed in 1498 with the Tour Quic-en-Groigne in the north-west corner, a name that translates roughly as "Who's Grumbling Tower", a duchess's answer to the town's complaints. The Tour des Dames and the Tour des Moulins completed the other two corners soon after.

   The Malouins were not easily cowed. In 1590 they stormed the castle to stop its governor from swearing allegiance to the Protestant Henry IV; the matter settled itself four years later when the king converted to Catholicism. During the Revolution they stormed it again. In between, a triangular bastion went up, Vauban had the walls strengthened and barrack blocks were added around the courtyard. The town council bought the whole complex in 1921 and used the barracks for administration, and in the Second World War the château took two days of American bombardment during the Battle of Saint-Malo. It has been a historic monument since 1886.

   Going inside costs admission, and what you can see changes, so ask at the entrance. If your time or budget is tight, the outside tells most of the story. Then head out towards the sea: Fort National is 380 m and about 5 minutes away, but only if the tide is out.

   Location

   Château de Saint-Malo on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Fort National

   

   Fort National sits on a tidal island a few hundred metres off the walled town, and you can walk to it only at low tide. Tide times change daily, so this stop sets the rhythm of the whole route. Vauban had the fort built in 1689 to protect Saint-Malo's port, and Garangeau, the same engineer behind the ramparts, built it to his plans on Louis XIV's orders, probably finishing in 1693.

   The rock it stands on, l'Îlette, has a darker past. A beacon once burned here at night as a lighthouse, but the island was also where the lords of Saint-Malo executed criminals by burning, and later a gallows stood here. The fort's name followed French politics: Fort Royal, then Fort d'Îlette or Républicain after 1789, Fort Impérial, and finally Fort National after 1870.

   Look at the shape: a granite rectangle with two half bastions at the south guarding the gate, once reached by a drawbridge over a dry moat. Inside stands a long building that held quarters for officers and troops and the equipment rooms, and underground lies a cistern holding 50,000 litres, fed by gutters and reached through a trapdoor and a well. The fort was one link in a chain of defences running from Fort-la-Latte to the Pointe de la Varde.

   Its test came in November 1693, when 30 English and Dutch ships appeared off Cap Fréhel. They shelled the coast, took Fort de la Conchée and Cézembre island, then sent a ship packed with gunpowder as a floating mine against the town. It ran aground short of its target and exploded harmlessly. At the time the fort carried 14 guns and three mortars, though some accounts speak of 23 guns.

   The fort charges admission. If you like military architecture or are walking with children, going in is worth it; otherwise the walk out and the view of the walls from the island are reward enough. From here it is 450 m and about 6 minutes to the cathedral.

   Hours

   Tide-dependent, times change daily (reachable on foot at low tide only); open during the Easter and All Saints school holidays, long weekends in May and daily from 1 Jun to 30 Sep

   Price

   5 EUR adults, 3 EUR children 6-16 years, under 6 free; group rate (from 10 pers.) 4 EUR/person

   Website

   fortnational.com ↗

   Location

   Fort National on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Cathédrale Saint-Vincent

   

   The Cathédrale Saint-Vincent closes the route, and entry is free. It mixes Romanesque and Gothic and was built under Bishop Jean de Châtillon, the same man who began the ramparts. Around 1152 he rebuilt the church completely, made it a cathedral and moved the bishop's seat from Aleth to Saint-Malo-de-l'Isle, the rock of Aaron you have been walking on.

   That name goes back to the 6th century, when a hermit called Aaron settled on the rock. A Welsh monk named Malo joined him, preached and became Bishop of Aleth, and the town carries his name. His successor Gurval built a church in his honour. Charlemagne's men burned it in 811; Bishop Hélocar rebuilt it in 816 and dedicated it to Saint Vincent, the Spanish deacon martyred in 304. Norman raids in the 10th century left it in ruins, and from 1108 it was a priory of the Benedictine abbey of Marmoutier until Jean de Châtillon won it back after a long struggle.

   The 20th century nearly finished what the Normans started. In the Second World War the steeple toppled onto the Sacred Heart Chapel, and the organ built by Louis Debierre in 1893 was destroyed. Restoration took 28 years and was celebrated on 21 May 1972. Keep that in mind as you look around: much of what you see is a careful rebuilding.

   The cathedral is also a stop on the Tro Breizh, the pilgrimage linking the towns of Brittany's seven founding saints. Step inside even if you only have a few minutes. When you are done, the GPS navigation in your browser can lead you back to the Porte Saint-Vincent.

   Hours

   Mon: 09:30–19:00 | Tue–Thu: 09:30–18:30 | Fri: 09:30–18:00 | Sat: 09:30–18:30 | Sun: 10:00–19:00

   Price

   Free

   Website

   cathedralesaintmalo.fr ↗

   Location

   Cathédrale Saint-Vincent on Google Maps ↗

Three Ways to Walk Saint-Malo

The tide decides a lot here. Pick the version that fits the water level and the time you have.

The full low-tide route

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

For anyone who arrives while the sea is out. All five stops, 13 minutes of pure walking; the château and Fort National charge admission, everything else is free.

High tide: walls, château and cathedral

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 5

For when the causeway to Fort National is under water. You skip the walk out to the island, so you walk less than the full 13 minutes, and the only admission left is the château if you go inside.

Walls and château only

Stops: 1, 2, 3

For a short first look on arrival. Gate, wall walk and the château from outside take 3 minutes of walking and cost nothing; add time on the ramparts as you like.

How Long This Saint-Malo Tour Takes, Tide Included

The pure walking time is 13 minutes: 130 m from the gate to the ramparts, then straight on to the château, 380 m out to Fort National and 450 m back to the cathedral. The legs are short because the old town is compact; the time goes into looking, not walking.

With time on the walls, the château seen from outside, a visit inside Fort National and a look into the cathedral, plan about two hours. Going inside the château as well brings you closer to three. The high-tide version without the fort fits into about an hour, the walls-and-château taster into half an hour.

Before You Walk Through the Gate

• Start and finish: The recommended start is the Porte Saint-Vincent, the finish is the Cathédrale Saint-Vincent. You can join at any stop, and the GPS navigation in your browser can lead you from the cathedral back to the gate.
• Time of day: Plan around low tide: Fort National is reachable on foot only then, and the tide times change daily. Check them before you set off and the fort's opening dates too, since it doesn't open year-round.
• Admission: The gate, the ramparts and the cathedral are free. The château and Fort National charge admission; you pay on site.

Common Questions About Saint-Malo