Coverage France
Audio Guide Belle-Île-en-Mer
app, one-time €4.99
Belle-Île-en-Mer is the largest of Brittany's islands, a place where Atlantic cliffs drop sharply into the sea, Neolithic stones stand in fields, and a famous 19th-century actress once summered in a converted military fort. The island separated from the French mainland around 7000 BCE and has been fought over, painted by Monet, and fortified by Vauban ever since.
14+ researched places in the app
Yes. Parroo is a self-guided audio guide for Belle-Île-en-Mer: 14 researched places, from Citadelle Vauban, Le Palais to Needles of Port-Coton and Pointe des Poulains, each with a short summary, a full article, and a roughly three-minute audio story in German, English, and French. Buy once, no subscription, no booking. Start whenever you like.
Audio sample: Citadelle Vauban, Le Palais
Belle-Île-en-Mer
Places researched in this city
A selection of the 14 places we've researched in this city. The full set is in the Parroo app.
- Atlantic coastline
- Coastal fortresses
- Neolithic stones
- Lighthouses
- Historic beaches
-
01
Citadelle Vauban, Le Palais
Originally ordered by King Henry II in 1549 and later expanded by Albert de Gondi, this 10-hectare fortress with 4 km of ramparts served as Belle-Île's main defensive stronghold for centuries. It remains a classified Historic Monument and the island's most striking piece of military architecture.
-
02
Needles of Port-Coton
Claude Monet painted these jagged volcanic rock stacks in 1886, drawn by the cotton-like foam that waves whip around them during storms, which is exactly where the name comes from. The formations are made from Ordovician tuff roughly 485 million years old, sculpted entirely by Atlantic erosion.
-
03
Pointe des Poulains
This rocky northwestern promontory has been fortified since the 18th century and drew over 175,000 visitors last year, largely because actress Sarah Bernhardt turned its decommissioned fort into her summer retreat in 1894. She returned every summer until 1922.
-
04
Grand Phare de Goulphar
Designed by physicist Augustin Fresnel and built between 1826 and 1835, this 52-metre granite tower nearly never reached its full height: engineer Luzcot considered the design too slender, triggering soil-stability investigations before construction could continue. Climb its 247 steps for views stretching 27 nautical miles out to sea.
-
05
Wild Coast
The western shoreline of Bangor is a long succession of schist cliffs and wind-carved plateaus that Monet captured on canvas in 1886. The entire stretch is protected under the Natura 2000 network, keeping the Atlantic-facing landscape much as the painter saw it.
-
06
Menhirs Jean and Jeanne
The two standing stones known as Jean and Jeanne were originally destroyed around 1830 to 1840, partly by the English in 1760 to build a watchtower. The current stones are re-erected replacements: Jean stands 4.70 metres in local red schist, while Jeanne, at 4.05 metres, is made from granite sourced elsewhere on the island.
-
07
Apothecary's Cave
The cave got its name from the seabird nests that once lined its walls in neat rows, reminding visitors of an apothecary's shelves stacked with jars. Those colonies were wiped out in the late 19th century by tourist boat excursions that came specifically to shoot the birds.
-
08
7 more places to discover
In the Parroo app
Good to know
14 researched places, from the Citadelle Vauban and the Needles of Port-Coton to lesser-known spots like the Apothecary's Cave. Each one has a short summary, a full article, and a ~3-minute audio story.
Yes. Every place has a ~3-minute audio story, written from the perspective of a guide standing next to you and produced with premium narration, not the article read aloud.
German, English, and French. Pick whichever you'd rather read or listen in.
No booking, no signup. It's a self-guided walk you start whenever you like. You do need a connection for now to stream the audio and load articles; offline support is something we're still building.
A one-time €4.99 for the whole city, no subscription and no recurring cost. You buy Belle-Île-en-Mer once and keep access to all 14 places with text and audio.
Open this city in Parroo
Get the full articles, audio stories, and map for this city in the Parroo app. One payment per geography. Yours to keep.
Updated: 2026-09-25