Quiberon is a French commune, located in the Morbihan department in the Brittany region. Quiberon constitutes the southern end of the peninsula of the same name, which also includes part of the territory of the municipality of Saint-Pierre-Quiberon.
In general, Brittany is the place for seafood lovers.
On the
one hand, we recommend trying the moules frites here, i.e. mussels,
which are on the menu with different sauces, or ordering an apero breton
(three oysters and a small glass of white wine).
Mussels cost
around 12 euros, an aperitif costs around 6 euros.
If you have a
taste for it, you can try it just outside Quiberon at 'Le Vivier', right
on the Côte Sauvage. The restaurant is medium-priced and benefits from
its exceptional location without standing out in terms of quality from
the rather good average of the rest of the restaurants (early
season...).
Those who are brave should definitely try an
'Assiette de fruits de mer' (sea spiders, crabs, mussels, oysters, sea
snails). It could be the start of a wonderful friendship - but it
doesn't have to be.
Many restaurants on the beach promenade and
near the harbor offer enough variety for every taste and in all price
ranges - just try it out, sit in the sun and enjoy the ambience.
If you're more into sweet or savory, you won't be able to miss the
Breton crepes and galettes, as well as salted caramels, various Breton
pastries, Breton beers, cider (insider tip: cider from Fouesnant), apple
brandies (Lambig). If you can tolerate it, drink a 'Paix Dieu' in
'Barantyno's' - after this strong beer (>10 percent) you are assured of
divine peace.
Explorers and the curious will also find less
crowded restaurants away from the center. We recommend the 'baragwin'
(which means 'bread and wine') at Port Haliguen: a small, fine menu,
nice staff, good cuisine, reasonable prices, interesting wines and a
more familiar atmosphere in the sailing community.
1 Hotel ibis Quiberon Thalassa, Pointe du Goulvars, Rue des
Marronniers. Tel.: +33 2 97 30 47 72.
2 Résidence Azur, 6 Boulevard
Louison Bobet, 56170 Quiberon. Tel.: +33 2 97 30 21 00.
3 Flower
Camping le Bois d'Amour, Rue de Saint-Clément, 56170 Quiberon.
Practical tips
1 Office de Tourisme de Quiberon (Tourist Information
Office), 14 Rue de Verdun, 56170 Quiberon,. Tel.: +33 2 97 50 07 84.
Quiberon is located 28 km south of Auray and 507 km west of Paris,
France. The town itself is located at the southern tip of the peninsula.
It covers 883 ha. It borders Saint-Pierre-Quiberon to the north. It is
surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean.
The Teignouse lighthouse is
located in the south-east of the peninsula.
The commune of Quiberon occupies the southern part of the Quiberon
peninsula (the northern part forming the commune of
Saint-Pierre-Quiberon). It was an island until the 11th century, then
gradually transformed into a peninsula due to the contribution of large
quantities of sand (a phenomenon accentuated by intensive deforestation
in the Middle Ages) from the bay of Quiberon, thus creating a tombolo ,
the current isthmus, between the island and the continent.
The
altitudes within the municipal finage are between 33 meters (near the
old Locmaria semaphore, in the northern part of the commune) and sea
level. The narrowness of the peninsula explains the absence of a notable
hydrographic network.
The coastline presents significant
differences: its western part, called the “Wild Coast of Quiberon”,
formed of spectacular cliffs, very jagged and reaching up to twenty
meters in altitude, going from the tip of Kervihan to the north (limit
with the commune of Saint-Pierre-Quiberon within which the Wild Coast
continues) and Beg er Lan to the south; exposed to the prevailing winds
and dangerous, but very attractive for tourists (it is bordered by the
GR 34 and the departmental road D 186a), this coast is uninhabited,
except at its extreme south, in the vicinity of Château Turpault. Its
eastern part, in a sheltered climate, facing the Bay of Quiberon, is
made up of a low rocky coast in its southern part and sandy in its part
located north of Kermorvan; the port of Port Haliguen was developed
there, its surroundings are urbanized; further north on this coast are
the beaches of Kermorvan and Saint-Julien. The southern coast, which
forms the end of the peninsula, between the tip of Beg er Lan and that
of Conguel (which forms the most advanced point at sea of the peninsula
and is extended into the sea by a few rocky islets uncovering at low
tide, the one located furthest to the South-East carries the Teignouse
lighthouse) is more contrasted: from west to east follow one another the
port of Port Maria, the Grande Plage de Quiberon, the Pointe de Beg er
Vil, Goviro beach, Goulvars point, Conguel point and, beyond, Conguel
beach; this coast is very urbanized in its western part; on the other
hand the South-East end, around and on either side of the Pointe du
Conguel has remained partly in its natural state, however housing the
thalassotherapy institute near the Goviro beach and the aerodrome of
Quiberon in its north-eastern part.
On the west coast of the
Quiberon peninsula, the Côte Sauvage is owned by the Conservatoire du
Littoral. There is a particular flora there: carnations, purple heather,
broom, armory, etc. The place can be explored by car, on foot, by bike,
by kayak or on horseback.
The Météo-France weather station installed in the town and in service from 1976 to 2021 allows you to know the evolution of weather indicators. The detailed table for the period 1981-2010 is presented below.
A good half of the municipal territory is urbanized, mainly in the
part located in the south center of the peninsula; the central urban
core is in a non-coastal position, even if it is close to the Grande
Plage de Quiberon. due to tourist expansion and seaside attractiveness,
urbanization spread throughout the 20th century, mainly in the form of
suburban neighborhoods, from the surroundings of Château Turpault in the
West to Port Haliguen and the Kermorvan district to the east and to the
districts of Saint-Julien, Kerhihuel and Kergallo to the north. Only the
extreme north of the municipal finage (north of Fort Saint-Julien), the
Côte Sauvage to the West and the surroundings of Pointe du Conguel to
the South-East of the peninsula have been preserved from urbanization.
and remained essentially in their natural state.
In 2020, 66.2%
of housing in Quiberon was, according to INSEE, second homes.
Quiberon is served by the D 768 (former national road 168) coming
from Auray via Plouharnel; another departmental road, the D 186a, runs
along the Côte Sauvage.
Quiberon station is the terminus of the
line from Auray to Quiberon.
From July 1 to August 31, the
Quiberon peninsula has been served since 1980 by a TER, called
“Tire-Bouchon”, which connects Auray and Quiberon, passing through the
villages of the peninsula (Les Sables Blancs, Penthièvre,
Saint-Pierre-Quiberon...). It also runs on certain weekends in June and
September.
Coaches from the BreizhGo regional network offer
connections between Quiberon (maritime terminal and SNCF station),
Auray, Vannes via Carnac and La Trinité-sur-Mer. The city offers the
QUIB’BUS service in July and August.
The city has two ports:
Port-Maria has a ferry terminal providing connections between the
islands of Belle-Île-en-Mer, Hoëdic and Houat; the other port, located
on the east coast, is Port-Haliguen.
Quiberon is an urban municipality, because it is part of dense or
intermediate density municipalities, within the meaning of the INSEE
municipal density grid. It belongs to the urban unit of Quiberon, a
monocommunal urban unit of 4,741 inhabitants in 2017, constituting an
isolated town.
Furthermore, the commune is part of the Quiberon
catchment area, of which it is the central commune. This area, which
brings together two municipalities, is categorized as areas with less
than 50,000 inhabitants.
The municipality, bordered by the
Atlantic Ocean, is also a coastal municipality within the meaning of the
law of January 3, 1986, known as the coastal law. Specific town planning
provisions therefore apply in order to preserve natural spaces, sites,
landscapes and the ecological balance of the coastline, such as the
principle of non-construction, outside urbanized areas, on the coastal
strip of hundred meters, or more if the local urban plan provides for
it.
Land use
The table below presents the land use of the
municipality in 2018, as shown in the European biophysical land use
database Corine Land Cover (CLC).
The etymology of the toponym Quiberon is discussed (grammatici
certant).
It is attested under the forms Insula quae vocatur
Keberoën (“the island called Keberoën”) and In praefata insula Keberoën
(in the so-called Keberoën island) in 1037, Keperoen in 1069, Kemberoen
in 1072, Keberoen in 1073, Keberoen in 1146, Keberoen in 1208, in the
14th and 15th centuries, the name underwent francization, Queberon in
1304, Queberoën in 1438, Lisle de Cabarain in 1520, Queberon in 1575,
Kiberon in the 17th century, Quibéron in 1804 and Quiberon in 1942.
Abbot Le Cam brings Quiberon closer to the name of Beg Ruberon (beg
designating a "cape" in Breton, ru being able to mean "red, hill, mound,
tomb" and beron "owner"), a rocky point on which the Fort is built. New
in Port-Haliguen.
According to Hervé Abalain, it comes from the
old Breton Keberoen, from [berv(enn)], “boiling, bubbling (with foam)”,
which [kib] qualifies, “basin, sources, fountains”.
Jean-Yves Le
Moing brings Keberoen closer to probably kib and erv. Erf designates the
tongue of land connecting the ancient island giving a cup shape (kib in
old Breton) to the cove forming the bay of Plouharnel.
The Breton
name of the commune is Kiberen.
Around the 5th century B.C. The Celtic Veneti settled the island and
maintained trade relations, among others with the British. The land was
cleared and iron tools and weapons were made. 56 BC BC the Romans under
Julius Caesar defeated the Veneti in a naval battle off the Rhuys
peninsula and conquered Brittany (Celtic name Armorica).
During
the Seven Years' War, the British destroyed six French ships ("Bataille
des Cardinaux") on November 20, 1759 in the naval battle in the Bay of
Quiberon, losing two (stranded) ships.
In the summer of 1795,
Quiberon Bay was the scene of the Battle of Quiberon between troops of
the first French Republic and an invading army of around 2,000 noble
refugees from the Revolution and former soldiers of Louis XVI's army
transported on English ships. (Army of Emigrants), accompanied by many
family members. Together with around 5,000 rebellious Bretons, the
Chouans, a new attempt at a royalist counter-revolution was to begin
from Brittany. On July 17, on the eastern shore of the peninsula, the
troops of the Republican General Lazare Hoche, after taking Fort de
Penthièvre, forced the main body of the Royalists to flee by sea or
surrender. In battles in the hinterland, other units of the émigré army
and the Chouans were defeated and scattered. Insurgents who were
captured armed were promptly executed on government orders. The field of
martyrs (champ des martyrs) at Auray commemorates the mass execution of
952 émigrés and Chouans.
The Auray–Quiberon railway line was
completed in 1882. Now came the first celebrities like the writers
Gustave Flaubert and Anatole France, as well as the actress Sarah
Bernhardt. In 1924 Quiberon was appointed a climatic health resort.
In 1944, the Anglo-American landing forces planned to set up a
supply port in Quiberon Bay. However, the idea was scrapped.
The
massive German fortifications of the Atlantic Wall and the continuing
resistance of the German soldiers (mission: unconditional security of
the submarine port of Lorient) led to the curiosity that the remaining
German troops (10,000 men) in the area from Lorient to Quiberon only two
days after surrendered to the Wehrmacht on May 10, 1945 (Battle of
Brittany).
Quiberon was one of the filming locations for the
adventure four-part film Treasure Island and the feature film 3 Days in
Quiberon. The actress Romy Schneider was in Quiberon for several spa
treatments in the 1970s and 1980s.