Tradition and cultures.

The town of Saint-Malo will for a few days allow you to discover a particular traditional culture. Artwork and traditional objects from American-Indian cultures will be on display at the Chapelle Saint-Sauveur. Take the opportunity to let your mind wander and learn about these cultures.

Rennes houses one of the most interesting rock scenes in France.

The place is Rennes, the year is 1980. The city is home to one of the most lively and innovative rock scenes in France.

New movements appear and spread like an epidemic; punk music spawns alternative and independent rock. At the same time, independent radios take off with new stations sprouting across Rennes like mushrooms on steroids.

Franck Roland, a star host for Radio Savane, launched the Rock Tympans association in 1986 to back the rising new wave scene. As a result, in 1991, the first edition of the Route du Rock Festival invaded the city's bars, association headquarters and concert halls.

Roland's association launched a parallel festival, Ici Londres, which brought the hottest UK bands across the channel (Therapy?, Neds Atomic Dustbin and Mega City Four) for a series of sell-out concerts. The festival bug was seeded, took root and now the "Road of Rock" has become a cultural institution.

The festival organisers pride themselves on a daring musical program; they are not afraid to put promising new bands in the spotlight amidst modern rock, pop and electro stars (think The Do, The Breeders, Tindersticks, The Notwist, Foals, The Ting Tings, Why?, Adam Kesher, Poni Hoax, Pivot, etc, etc.).

Don't miss out on this exceptional event, the hottest summer festival in Rennes only a stone's throw from the fine sandy beaches of the "Emerald Coast"…

Let the race begin!

On July 1st 1903, Géo Lefèvre and Henri Desgrange, a journalist and director of L'Auto, decided to organise the first ever Tour de France. Starting in the town of Montgeron, 60 cyclists took to the streets for a 2 500km circuit travelling the entire country and broken into six stages. The first celebrities appeared thereafter: Pélissier, Pottier, Vietto, Magne, Petit-Breton, Leducq; followed in later years by the greats, the heros who went down in history: Poulidor, Anquetil, Bobet and Coppi. The Tour is the country's emblematic major summer sporting event, a scenic race passing through the country's many tourist hotspots. The Tour de France is back once again!

The Tour de France is the subject of huge, riotous and highly popular festivities in every town left in its wake, offering fun and excitement for all the family as these athletes rush through beautiful scenic areas, driven by the will to win at least one stage… Step by step, the scores begin adding up.

After almost a month of hard riding on the French roads, the traditional arrival on the Champs-Elysées is the final flourish of the competition.

Whether watching television at home or lined up along the roads, Tour supporters are there to cheer and give courage to these exceptional athletes..

Fire and thunder in the night sky.

Your local commune is organising a fantastic fireworks display to celebrate Bastille Day! This shower of colour and thunder will be an amazing experience and will literally light up your night. Young and old will be in awe of the technical abilities of these pyrotechnic artists. Expect a thrilling show.

An unforgettable plunge into the world's oceans.

The fantastic journey provided by the Grand Aquarium is an attraction not to be missed in Saint-Malo. With its spectacular tanks and cutting-edge displays, the aquarium offers a captivating insight into the rich worlds to be found under the sea. Discover an astonishing 600 species!
Follow the direction of the visit, from the cold oceans of the north to tropical seas, via sharks in the 360° tank, to the mysterious denizens of the sunken galleon and brightly-coloured tropical species.
Enjoy the unique experience of undersea exploring in the Nautilus submarine.

Attacking the Tour Solidor!

The Solidor Tower at Saint-Servan houses the Saint-Malo Museum's collection on this theme.
Numerous models, ship's instruments and objects, made by mariners during their long voyages or brought back as souvenirs of distant shores, fire the imagination with images of extraordinary voyages on the great sailing ships of the late 19th and early 20th century that carried cargoes of nitrates from Chile, wood and grain from California or Australia, nickel from New Caledonia, etc.

The "Solidor Tower" is in fact a fortified structure that originally consisted of a small guard-tower, the existing bastion which incorporates sections of Gallo-Roman masonry, and the three towers connected by curtain walls to the main body of the fortress.
Work on building the fortified keep began between 1369 and 1382, on the orders of Duke Jean IV of Brittany as a means of controlling the town of Saint-Malo, recalcitrant to his authority.

Explore Saint-Malo's rich and varied past.

Since 1927, the main castle keep has housed the collections of the Municipal Museum that became the city's Museum of History after renovation by the French Historic Monuments department in 1950.

This massive horseshoe-shaped tower was built from 1424 onwards on the orders of Duke Jean V of Brittany.
It rises to a total height of 35 metres.
The Museum was extended in 1988 by a further three exhibition rooms created in the Tour Générale and is scheduled for yet another extension into the Quic-en-Groigne tower and the Petit Donjon.
The history of Saint-Malo and its maritime tradition begins with shipbuilding and the opening up of the Newfoundland fishing grounds, the region's two main activities in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Follow in the footsteps of a great explorer.

The museum, dedicated to Jacques Cartier, retraces the life and times of its former owner: his everyday life and his great expeditions.
It is housed in the Manoir de Limoëlou, in the Rothéneuf quarter, a building considered to be the ancestor of the malouinières, the mansions built by the shipping magnates of Saint-Malo.