News – April 2024
Here is the new website for the marina: www.perros-guirec.com/ville/vie-quotidie…
the door opening (marina cill): www.perros-guirec.com/ville/vie-quotidie…
The new information: in October 2024 we will have a new door (cill), automatic door (12 m length)
Perros Guirec is a difficult but interesting place to visit. Why difficult? On neap tides, the marina does not open as there is not enough water for the gate. This means limited opening even on larger tides. Then there is the gate which is one of the narrowest of all of the marinas we visit.
Once you are there, it is great. Lots of pontoons, good restaurants, lots of places to walk and visit.
Marina gate times – nautisme.perros-guirec.com/acces-direct/…
YouTube video of Echo Beach entering Perros Guirec in 2019 – youtu.be/JfiEES61rLY
Gavin May report June 2023
It has taken me many years finally to get in here. However, if the weather is fine and the sea is still, try anchoring for a few hours at Tregastel, if you are very lucky, just inside Ploumenach, while waiting for the sill times at Perros.
Access is straightforward, despite first glance at the charts. The lock/sill master will alternate red or green lights to show who has priority through the sill and point you in the direction of Visiteurs, which has a sign obvious enough to see from the next town, I think. Under/Over 10 metre sides, the fingers are a bit short, perhaps, but wide enough not to act as a diving springboard. Seemed to be plenty of berths available on our visit. No issue with electricity polarity.
Facilities are communal and somewhat dated, with lighting levels reminiscent of an edgy basement jazz club.
Helpful staff, e-bikes for hire from Capitanerie, Euro 19 p/day.
It is quiet in the marina with a few bars, small restaurants and creperies etc., on hand, two bakers 350 metres to the left, and a fish stall Tuesday to Saturday morning. A small deli to the right.
Market on Weds mornings.
Fifteen plus minutes up the hill to the village proper, which has upmarket bakers, chocolate shops, a small Carrefour and an upmarket pet accessory store should your pooch need something. After the simplicity of the marina area, this puzzled me until I saw the beaches (the far side of the top town). I can now see why some of the houses run into millions of euros.
In town, do enter the extraordinary church.
Walking eastwards, nothing to recommend, at least for the first couple of km.
The Perros marina headland is of little interest, too, so take a shortcut up the hill to the town and cut through to the beaches.
As regards walking Ploumenach, there are occasional buses, but Tregastel was good, and Ploumenach was very busy. Better to see those stones by dropping the boat in while passing, as the entrance is the most impressive. Tregastel back to the marina was about 18km, as a guide, though the galletes at the yellow canvas creperie in Ploumenach were outstanding, so..!
Thursdays, take the bus from by the lake to Lannion for the large street market. A couple of hours is enough for a stroll through the old town,the market and grab a crepe.
If the weather is fine, take the sub 2-hour busman’s holiday boat trip to the Sept Illes- it is supposed to be good, and maybe you will spot the elusive puffins. Probably not, and the guide is only in French.
You could also just relax here on your boat with a book and a glass of something chilled. It is that kind of place.
Picture by marinas.com
The entrance to the marina is very narrow and is 5.8m wide. So you have been warned! Everyone goes through the gate but may be possible for boats to go over the wall on a big spring tide, but we have never seen anyone do that. Also, you could get neaped in.
This is the view from the other end of the marina to the entrance, showing the low wall which is covered soon after the gate opens.
The visitor’s berth is called La Mutine
This is a nice marina. Like Binic, it can be very tide locked and you need to check the tide times and heights very carefully as you can get locked in. The following is a good guide and also provides gate times which can be downloaded and printed. See www.guide-du-port.com/port-perros-guirec…
The Town is very pleasant and has lots of restaurants and shops. We visited on a Wednesday and there was a nice, small market next to the marina.
The harbormaster’s office is across the road and the people are very helpful.
The showers and facilities are behind that building and a 4 digit code is used to access them. They are a shared facility for men and women with a separate area for toilets. The showers and taps use a motion sensor and so you wave your hand in front of the shower control.
There are also showers and toilets by the Yacht Club building at the top of the fuelling pontoon. This uses a different access code.
There are over 70 visitor spaces for boats and are all of a good size. The ones on the right of the Mutine pontoon as you access the marina has more area to manoeuvre, but the length of the fingers and the distance between the fingers (over 8m) appears to be the same for all the visitor’s moorings. There is also the hammerhead for bigger boats. Some moorings have limited cleats but you are able to loop a rope at the end of the fingers.
If you stay for more than 2 nights, you get your 3rd night free. This applies all year round.
Electric and WiFi are good and the water is a good pressure but a push on connection so make sure you have the right fitting.
Some books say that the visitors’ pontoon is “the northernmost”. It used to be, but there is now another pontoon (containing fuel berth) which has been installed at the north end, so the visitors is second from the north end and is clearly marked.
Taken from the visitors’ pontoon looking north towards the fueling pontoon
There are good restaurants, shops, chandlery, chemist etc all within five mins walk of the marina. There are Perros port and Perros town–a good 15 to 20-minute walk up the hill where there are more restaurants and very good shops. There is also a fine beach on the other side of the Town which is around 30mins walk. Most shops are closed on Sundays and Mondays.
The Ti Bus is no more and it is now called “Tilt”. Unfortunately, it only runs 3 times a day outside of July and August and this makes it difficult to get around. We used the taxi once but on the next day, none were available. www.mobibreizh.bzh/en
The best option is to hire an electric bike and they have 6 available to hire from the marina office ar Euro 10 a day.
There is a small fish market next to the Restaurant du Quai. Also, a local bus service to go to the town and on to the excellent beaches which overlook the Sept Iles. This bus service only runs during school holidays which are from late June to the end of August.
It is a shame that the lack of buses, taxis and other forms of transport does make it difficult to travel unless you arrive during peak season.
So the best time to visit is probably in July and August, and if you want to see the market and have the shops open, arrive mid week.
Beware of the polarity of the electrics. Some show up as reverse polarity.
www.perros-guirec.com/ville/vie-quotidie…
Pilot Guide
Beware of strong tides through the marina gates when they first open or just before they close. Suggest you wait until the wall is covered and then all the water does not flow so fast through the marina gates. Probably 20mins, after the gate opens, is sufficient. The water also swirls around inside the marina for the initial period after opening, so again, be careful.
Contact Information
E-mail portdeplaisance@perros-guirec.com
They are good at responding
Marina opening and closing times
www.perros-guirec.com/ville/vie-quotidie…
Market Day
Wednesday – by the Port
Tourist Information
There is a ferry called Armor Navigation which provides a very interesting 1hr 45min trip to the Sept Iles. In 2019 it was Euro18 a person. If the tide is right they will also pop into Ploumanach. When the birds are not breeding, you can pay more and have a longer trip which goes ashore on one the islands. They also advertise a trip to Ile de Brehats. The boats go from the pier at the Plage du Trestraou which is the other side of the town and around 30mins walk. www.armor-navigation.com/
There is a good walk from the Plage du Trestraou to Ploumanach along the GR34 (Customs trail). It takes over an hour and if you time it right, you can get the bus back from the bus stop near the sculpture park.
At Pleumeur-Bodou there is a triple exhibition site. The Brittany planetarium, with English commentary on one day of the week, a telecommunications museum with up to date GPS etc and lots of English explanations and the Gaulois village.
Weather
www.windfinder.com/forecast/ploumanach_p…
WiFi
August 2018 – excellent WiFi throughout Marina. Fill in your e-mail address and it will send you an e-mail and then you will have WiFi throughout your stay.
Restaurants
www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g207340-…
LE BLEU MARINE restaurant (Tel 02 96 23 11 86). Turn right when leaving the visitors’ pontoon and its about two hundred metres on left near the Linkin bus shelter, opposite the boating pond.
There are lots of Pizzerias and creperies near the marina.
Le Flots is the new no 1 creperie and is right by the visitors’ fingers. It is quite upmarket, great views and lovely food. Fast, efficient service but felt a bit rushed. Tel 02 96 23 04 83
The boulangerie is about 5 mins walk. Turn left as you come up the ramp and when you reach the fish market take a right fork.
There is a small corner shop about 5 mins walk from the marina. Turn right as you go up the ramp and it is before you reach the Blue Marin, opposite the boating pond.
