Museums &  Exhibitions
Loheac Motor Museum
About twenty minutes away the huge Manoir de l`Automobile has 15000m2 of exhibitions and over 400 cars. It`s a great visit for everybody. There are cars from every walk of life all lovingly cared for. You can see the really old stuff right up to the modern F1 cars. In fact there`s a whole Formula one starting grid of cars on display there ! There`s often racing on the circuit there. Go karting and quad bike racing are also available.

Also on display are power boats and motorbikes

Les Machines de Nantes
This is a odd place but very interesting and well worth the trip. Set in the former shipyards of Nantes you can go and discover some extraordinary machines .There's the huge mechanical elephant which is over 12metres high and can carry 49 passengers. on a tour of the Ile de antes. From the inside you'll see all the moving gears, make the elephant trumpet and even control some of it's movements. Traveling high up on its back is like being four storeys up on a moving house, The views of the River Loire are amazing.

Move on from there to the gallery of machines which is a living exhibition as artisans bring to life a whole host of machines from sea monsters to amazing flying machines.

Museum of Brittany Resistance
This museum is located about 10 minutes away on the outskirts of Malestroit. Having just opened its doors it is a modern well presented museum charting the darker days of the second world war when the Germans had a large base at Malestroit. It describes the course of events from the occupation to the formation of the Resistance and finally to the huge allied parachute drop that liberated the town and surrounding area. There's loads of exhibits from tobacco tins to full size tanks. You can take a trip in an armoured personnel carrier or if you prefer watch the old footage in one of the cinemas there (English subtitles). The whole place is very well done and interesting.

Museum of the War
If you really like finding out about the Second World War then why not try the museum `Les Sanglots Longs` (The long cry) at Reguiny. Here the events of the landing beaches are recreated together with the local history of the occupation.

Vannes Art Gallery / Museum
If you like art you'll want to take a look in here. The gallery houses a rolling program of exhibits throughout the year normally with two or three featured artists.

Museum of Modern Art
This is a large art gallery in Rennes which holds a rolling series of exhibitions as well as displaying its own large collection.

The Prehistoric Museum
This museum is handily situated in the heart of Carnac so you can visit it on a trip to the great beach there. There are 6000 artifacts specially selected for their scientific interest and beauty. Check out how ancient Bretons bravely went out hunting for ferocious wild meat (such as snails and frogs legs)

The Submarine Museum at Lorient
This is actually located at the famous second world war submarine pens where the German fleet was based. Here you will discover everything there is to know about submarine design, build and operation. You'll go inside the French navy submarine `Flore` which was decommissioned in 1989 and get to see a real 'working' sub 'in the skin'. Check out how the sailors live and work in such cramped conditions. Take a tour around the actual shipyard and learn all about the role of submarines in both world wars.

Accompanied by a guide, you are taken to the shipyard by bus. The 6 km-long itinerary takes you safely and comfortably around the shipyard and allows you to discover all the facets of its activity and the whole process of shipbuilding, from the steel plate storage area to the outfitting basin.

Halfway through the visit, you will leave the coach for a pedestrian gallery, 400 metres long, that overlooks the huge dry dock where the ships are assembled. From this privileged observation point, the construction of a ship is fascinating to watch. The vast flat panel workshop, which you discover from a visitors’ balcony, is another interesting stop. The bus also takes visitors near the outfitting basin. Of course, as this is not a museum but a working company, views can change radically from one week to another, according to the company’s activity.

The Marine Farm
Go to La Ferme Marine at Cancale and discover the history, and magic of the sea. Cancale is famous for its coastline due to its oyster breeding grounds.

There are loads of things to see and learn about what goes on under the waves and a large seashell exhibition with amazing colours and shapes from all over the world to complete your trip.

There`s also a maritime museum at the Parc du Golfe, Vannes.

La Maison des Paludiers- The salt workers
Now I know that this sounds a bit dull but really it`s not !!! The town of Geurande is internationally famous for it`s hand harvested salt It's`s an industry dating back over a millennia.

The area surrounding the town is covered in manmade salt marshes that are flooded once a month by the high tide. The Paludiers (salt workers) then harvest the salt by hand. This may sound simple but the whole process of building and maintaining the special salt marshes/ and lagoons right through to the actual harvesting` of the salt is a long, complicated and highly skilled job. The resulting salt is like none other on earth and is used in the top restaurants of the world.

The Maison des Paludiers takes you through this whole process (in English) with a series of films and demonstrations. It is very interesting and fascinating to see. You can also visit on of the working lagoons and see the salt being harvested. It is well worth a visit.

The Dolls Museum
Near Josselin, this museum has an exceptional collection of over 600 dolls.

Embarking aboard the "liner"Escal’Atlantic means reliving the emotions of a transatlantic crossing! Visitors become passengers who discover cabins and staterooms, feel the wind of the open sea on the promenade deck, experience the noise and heat of the engine room and maybe enjoy a leisurely drink in the liner's bar... But beware, the end of the voyage might not be as relaxed as you would expect !

The Museum of the Forest
La Maison de la Foret situated near Josselin presents the cycle of the living forest. The interactive displays start with the birth and growth of the forest, its seasons and the life and death of its trees. It tells of the history of forests, why they exist and what they do. This rather bizarre sounding concept is actually pretty good. If you like ecology, why not try it ?

The Silk Museum
Near Campel about 30 minutes away is the silk museum where nature and Haute Couture meet. The living silkworms and mulberry bushes reveal the secrets of silk in an amazing setting.

The Paper Museum
Have a look at the paper museum near Muzzilac. The history and evolution of paper is here to be discovered and you can actually see it being hand made. All the machines and presses are on display and as it is often said that paper is mans most important invention, it's worth a look. There are a couple of very enthusiastic workers who take you around and even speak a bit of English.

Tour Airbus's factory at St Nazaire
See the huge hangers where the worlds biggest plane is made, Here you are taken by coach to the factory in Gron just outside Saint-Nazaire and then walk through two groups of impressively bright and silent workshops, called Polaris and Comete. Purpose built visitors’ balconies allow for spectacular views over the fuselage sections of the different Airbus planes and the gigantic sections of the A380.

You can see the double range of aircraft lined up on both sides of the vast hall This is where these plane sections are delivered from with final assembly taking place in Toulouse, France, or Hamburg and Germany. The cargo plane Beluga, nicknamed the « flying whale », comes to Saint-Nazaire on a daily basis to pick up these fuselage sections. But the A380 sections are too big, even for this outsized cargo plane : they leave Saint-Nazaire on a special ship.

The Waterways Museum
This museum in Redon retraces the daily life of canal barges at a time when Redon held a crucial position at the meeting of two great rivers.

Tour of the Port at St Nazaire
The Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port is France’s 4th most important port, and number one on the Atlantic coast. Visitors discover a series of impressive terminals (containers, LNG, agri-bulk, coal…) along the Loire river, several kilometres upstream until the oil refinery of Donges. Linked to 400 ports all over the world, these terminals are important platforms for the regional economy, and for everyday life: for example, the thousands of containers which transit here transport just about everything from household appliances to all kinds of groceries…

The Medieval Village
This recreated medieval village in Melrand shows you the way it was around 1000AD. There are demonstrations, tours and workshops as well.

The Arthurian Centre (Knights of the Round Table)
At the Chateau de Comper in Concoret you can re-live the legends of the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur. There are shows, exhibitions and guided tours.

Poul-Fetan Traditional Breton Farm
You can visit this real farm and see the way things were done a couple of hundred years ago. There's demonstrations, recreations and even tasting's of traditional dishes. Well worth a visit.

The Postcard Palace– Baud
If postcards interest you then this is the place to go. There are over 40,000 postcards to see. The collection illustrates the history and tradition of Brittany. It's set in a replica turn of the century Breton village and with the slide shows, jigsaws, multimedia and interactive PC panels, it's actually a surprisingly fun place to be. You can buy reproductions of the cards and there are even guided tours in English.

The Eco-Museum
Near Auray, this museum shows you the way it was done `in the old days`. From threshing and wool spinning to wine and butter making. Go to one of the musical soirees and either sit and watch or join in with the traditional French dancing (this can seem quite easy after you have sampled some of the home made wine on sale). There`s also a similar ecomusuem at Lizio which exhibits over 70,000 tools and objects from Brittany`s past.

The Vegitarium
This `museum` is only about 10 minutes away near La Gacilly. It`s dedicated to plants. It's extremely well done, very modern and has great displays. It's been put together by Jacques Rocher– the perfume company. While you are there, you can go up the road a couple of miles and visit their perfume factory, see how it's made, tour the factory and visit their discount shop. Their mascot is below and no I don't know what it is either !

The Fur Museum
This museum near Redon is about one thing only– FUR. I won't linger on it, as it's not to some people`s taste. Needless to say, there are lots of animal skins, beasties and stuff there. Mind you if you fancy an old boars head to put in the hall and at home, there`s plenty for sale all around Brittany.

The Grand Blockhaus
This museum in Batz-Sur-Mer has been created in an authentic German command post. It is one of the biggest ever built and when you arrive you can feel straight away what it must have been like during the war. You can visit five levels including the dormitories, the radio command post, weaponry and the machine rooms. Not only that, but you can discover the story of the St Nazaire German occupation which was the last region to be liberated in Europe on 11th May 1945.

The Military Museum
The Musee du Souvenir is about 10 minutes away and through its collection of over 5000 items you can retrace the glorious and often tragic past of the French army. The museum is based at St Cyr, which is the French equivalent of Sandhurst.

The Museum of Ancient Workers
Between Josselin and Ploermel at Lizio this fascinating museum shows the way things used to be made here in France. There are reconstructions of old shops, farm houses, craftsman's workshops, even a 1900 schoolroom. There’s a unique collection of 60,000 tools, furnishings and clothing all displayed in a typical setting. Over 60 crafts, which no longer exist in the modern day are on show. There is a similar museum in Largueven as well.

The Communications City
This centre near Lannion charts man's endeavors to communicate. From the first pioneering days right up to the current problems involved with talking to astronauts.

The Belle-Iloise Preserving Plant
This is a bit of an odd attraction. Basically it`s a food preservation plant. Tins, cans, pickles etc. You can go to the visitors centre in Quiberon and see how it is done. Buy a tin of pilchards !!