The Best Walks in Pont Aven

The Best Walks in Pont Aven

Pont Aven is a walkers dream. The area is surrounded by well marked footpaths. Depending on your ability, it is entirely feasible to spend a week here without the need for getting in a car. For guests in our Kermaria holiday apartments you can walk from the door, and it makes the ideal base for a walking holiday.

There are some excellent walking apps to help guide you, namely MaRando, and AllTrails. It is also very handy to have an IGN map with the trails marked in red.  Here are some of our favourite walks in Pont Aven to get you started.

The Bois d’Amour and Haut Bois walk in Pont Aven

One of our favourite daily walks is to follow the River Aven in the Bois d’Amour.

A Short Walk of approximately 2 km.

Follow the signs from the Place Emile Cueff to the Bois d’Amour.  Now take the small footpath on the right down to the river Aven. Follow the river footpath until the second bridge. From here, take the path to the left which goes uphill through the woods, and back towards Pont Aven. At the end of the path, turn left, and then left again, follow the lane downhill back to the car park.

A 7km. Walk

For a longer walk, ignore the turn at the second bridge, and keep going along the river to follow the trail of Haut Bois. Here you will find a lovely section of green woodland in the Bois d’Amour. At the end of the river, follow the marked yellow signs up hill through a sunken lane. Keep going until you reach the village of Haut Bois. At Haut Bois (a few stone houses) turn right, and walk along the tarmac road. Turn left when you reach the intersection, and walk along this road for maybe 1km. When you reach Saint Maude (another hamlet of stone houses) after the last house take the left turn along a small footpath. Follow this path through sunken lanes and the woods. You will arrive at the tunnel of trees that lead you to the Chapel de Tremalo. From here follow the road back to Pont Aven, cutting down through the woods, at the sign, at the bottom of the hill.

Chapel of Tremalo Pont Aven

A 3km. Walk

From Place Emile Cueff and the Kermaria Apartments, it is a nice walk early in the morning, or at the end of the day to go up to the chapel of Tremalo. Follow the signs from the car park. Climb the hill to the left into the woods. At the top turn right and follow the small road and the signs to the chapel. To return, turn around and follow the direction of Chateau de Plessis. At the chateau’s white gates turn right, go down the tree lined path, at the end turning to the left and arriving at the river, and turn right to come back to the start. Or, turn left here and follow the path down to the river. Here turn right and head back along the River Aven through the Bois d’Amour to Pont Aven.

The River Aven Coastal Path

A 6km. Walk

On the right hand side of the river Aven, walk down through the town and pass by the the port. Where the road and tarmac ends, there is a very beautiful walk along the coastal path, which follows the right bank of the river.

The GR34 hugs the river and meanders all the way to beach of Port Manec’h. This is a beautiful walk but 12km one way, so unless you are a keen walker you might want to do it in sections.

The first section leaves from Pont Aven, and as you get to the first signposted intersection on the footpath, keep left. Here the footpath follows a sinuous route past some of the giant boulders that inspired the School of Pont Aven paintings. When you get to the next intersection you can choose to take a right and head back to Pont Aven. For this, follow the path through the houses, after the last property bear right for 50m, and then take the small path left, this will lead you in a circle back to where you started, and makes a walk of about 6km from Pont Aven.

Or, at the intersection you can take a left and continue to Le Henan. Here you might be lucky enough to snack on oysters at the Oyster Bar at the Moulin a Maree. Or find your way to the springs of Les Trois Fontaines, a great picnic spot. Again, from here you can follow the instructions above, to circle back to Pont Aven by picking up at the intersection above.

The footpath on this side winds its’ way to Port Manech, and some of the sections are absolutely stunning, so you can park further downstream and do it in sections.

From Pont Aven to Rosbras

A new section of the GR34 has opened up on the left bank of the river. You can now walk from the centre of Pont Aven to Rosbras. Follow the left hand bank of the river past the port. There are a still few small sections of road, but follow the signs and wind your way through the tall trees, and past the Chapel de Tremor, and discover this newly opened beautiful section of the GR34 coastal footpath.

From The River Belon to the Aven

There is a nice loop walk from along the coast from the port of Belon to L’Embauche de L’Aven. Park at the port of Belon, and pick up the footpath that heads downstream, and towards the sea. When you hit the coast you have beautiful views across to Kerfany les Pins, and round the corner to the port of Port Manec’h. Follow the path until you get to Goulet Riec. Here, it is handy to get out your map and take the small roads back via the covered alley of Keriantec, to reach the port of Belon.

The GR34 follows the entire coastline and the walks are magnificent. The coastal path is very pretty between Rospico and Port Manech or on the other side of Kerfany Les Pins or around Doelan.

There are also very beautiful walks to do in the Rias de Brigneau, Doelan and Merrien… to be continued…