Customs Officers' Path from Trestraou to Ploumanac'h

What it is

The customs officers' path is the stretch of the GR 34 that links Trestraou beach, in Perros-Guirec, with the port of Ploumanac'h. It was opened by the customs officers who watched the coast against smuggling, and today it passes through Brittany's best-known pink granite chaos: blocks some 300 million years old that wind and sea have rounded into the shapes of animals and objects. The path belongs to the Conservatoire du littoral and the site of Ploumanac'h is protected.

The Perros-Guirec tourist office rates it as easy: 9 km there and back, about 2 h 30 walking. If you go at a good pace, two hours; if you stop for every photo, allow four.

The route step by step

1. Start at Trestraou. Follow the beach promenade and climb the rue de la Clarté, behind the water-sports centre and the maritime station for the Sept-Îles boats. On the left the waymarked path begins.
2. Heights of La Clarté. You pass the semaphore, with views of the Sept-Îles archipelago.
3. Granite chaos. The rocky stretch begins. You can leave the main path among the blocks, always by the marked routes.
4. Anse de Pors Kamor. The sea rescue hut and its slipway, usable at any tide.
5. Mean Ruz lighthouse. The Ploumanac'h lighthouse, of pink granite, rebuilt after the Second World War. Next to it, the Maison du Littoral, where the wardens of the natural area answer questions.
6. Saint-Guirec beach. Gustave Eiffel's old house, with the Napoleon's Hat rock in its garden, and the oratory on the sand. More detail in the entry for Saint-Guirec beach.
7. Arrival at the port. Follow the GR 34 past the plage de la Bastille to the port of Ploumanac'h.

Waymarking is that of the GR: white and red marks. You return the same way, or by shuttle in summer.

Where to park and how to return

At Trestraou, the car park at the place Adolphine et Jean Siffre (135 spaces) and the Rohellou one (64) are paid from 4 July to 30 August. The Kerabram one, free and with 239 spaces, has from 6 July to 31 August a free shuttle to Trestraou beach every 15 minutes, from 8:00 to 0:15.

At Ploumanac'h, the free Ploumanac'h car park (172 spaces and 49 for motorhomes) has another free shuttle to the heart of the village, Saint-Guirec beach and the port, every half hour from 9:00 to 23:00 on the same dates. The Pors Kamor and Sémaphore ones are paid from 28 March to 1 November.

To return without retracing your steps, the Le Macareux shuttle runs along the coast from Louannec to Trégastel in July and August, every half hour, for €1.50 a trip.

When to go

Very early or at the end of the afternoon: there is better light on the granite, which turns orange, and fewer people. In July and August, at midday, queues form at the narrow stretches. In spring and September the path is quiet.

There is no shade on almost the whole route. Bring water: there are no fountains on the path, although at the end, at the port, you have bars and crêperies like Les Vieux Gréements.

With children, with a dog and in bad weather

With children from about age 6 it is a comfortable walk, and the rocks are a game. A pushchair does not get through well: there are stretches of rock, sand and steps; better a baby carrier. Dogs can go, on a lead. Bikes are not allowed, and walking poles must have rubber tips.

In rain and wind the rock is slippery and on the headlands it blows hard. If the weather turns nasty, cut it short: from the lighthouse you go down to Ploumanac'h in a few minutes and there you have the shuttle.

To sleep by the path, the Domaine de Trestraou is at the start and the Castel Beau Site above Saint-Guirec beach.