St Malo

St Malo is my favourite town in the region of Brittany (Northern France) where I live. I first went there a few years ago when we were thinking about buying a house in the area, and I fell in love with the little walled town. I’m leaving for France again this morning, so enjoy the last of the photos from my trip last month, and I’m sure that there will be many more for you all to enjoy when I get back!

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Outside of the main city in the area, Rennes, I think St Malo has the best shops and restaurants in the area, with everything from designer stores to independent boutiques, Italian bistros to places that serve the local sea food from along the coast at Cancal (another of my favourite places to eat – I love sea food!)

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I took this photo of St Malo from across the coast on the beach at Dinard, so you can see how the old town is walled in with little sandy beaches around the ramparts.

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As I have said, I love the food there because my ideal lunch is a big bowl of mussels and a glass of rose – regardless of whatever else is on the menu, there is not a restaurant in the town (I don’t think!) that does not serve it!

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Quite a boring picture actually, but I love all of the cobbles streets in St Malo, common across the rest of Europe but not really this part of France.

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I will also remember St Malo as the first place in the region I had proper macaroons and patisserie cakes – these mousses looked incredible!

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On the main shopping street there is an amazing set of candy stores, the nougat lumps looked good, but I loved all these different hard candies – you could stand there and watch them being made behind the counter!

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When I shop in St Malo the first place I head to is Le Petit Bateau, the classic French store to buy your basics.

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I also love Kookai for their knitwear, print tee shirts and soft beret hats.

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It was the first time I’d gone into any of the many bookshops in St Malo, and I really wish this store was back in England than in France!

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I also love Comptoir des Cotonniers for their basics – I think because of the clean aesthetic of French and Parisian style, the French do do much, much better basics than we do in England.

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I’ve always wanted to go for a drink in this Irish pub, but have not had a chance to yet. I think it is because of the incredible window display of vintage suitcases and old books.

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One of the main reasons I love to visit St Malo is for the ice cream, and the incredible flavours they have in the ice cream parlour at the top of the main street. The pink one you can see is Haribo Tagada flavour – the next one I think I’m going to have to try!

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Last time I visited I had the most incredible and creamy rose ice cream, but this time I went for Kinder Egg flavour. It was so sweet and creamy, had little pieces of Kinder chocolate in it, and tasted exactly like a Kinder Egg – if you visit St Malo I really recommend it! My nail polish is ‘Nice is Nice’ from the Essie French Affair collection.

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I don’t really like either flavour, but I was told that the pistachio and coffee flavours were also fantastic.

Has anyone been to St Malo before?

Rachel Phipps

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