Pont-Aven – What to See and Do

Pont-Aven - What to See and Do

Pont-Aven is one of those super pretty little towns in France that you see on postcards, calendars and books for sale on Brittany. It's easy to see why when you stroll through the centre of town, meander along secret paths, cross the flower-covered town bridge or venture out to the port. It really is one of the prettiest towns I've visited. Following in the footsteps of painter Paul Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School painters was also a dream come true for me.

After strolling through the town, harbour and woods, dining on a galette and crêpe, wandering the pop-up antique market, visiting the museum and doing a spot of souvenir shopping, I eventually left Pont-Aven vowing to bring my family back with me for another visit. Here's what I'll be sharing with them when we visit together, and what I think are the best things to see and do in Pont-Aven.

Enchanting Pont-Aven

Nestled on the banks of the Aven River, Pont-Aven is an artistic town filled with art galleries, artisan workshops and boutiques. It's right up there on my list of the most gorgeous towns I've recently visited in France with Locronan. Pont-Aven is also officially a small town of character or Petite Cité de Caractère.

Ideally located with a river and mills for production, and estuary with port for transportation, goods were moved between sea and river. It's second period of historical importance was when a colony of painters during the second part of the 19th century made it their base for creating a new style of art. Now the town with its artistic heritage and natural beauty welcomes modern vacationers and day visitors.

"The history of the Pont-Aven is closely linked to the several generations of painters who came to capture the beauty and the charm of its streets. If the first artists who settled in Pont-Aven around 1860 were mostly academic , they were soon followed by the Impressionists and Synthetists: Paul Gauguin, Emile Bernard or Paul Sérusier were the leaders of a pictorial renewal worldwide known as “School of Pont-Aven”." - Discover Concarneau and Pont-Aven

Explore the pathways of the mills

Straddling the River Aven gives the town extra charm with its stone bridges, rocky outcrops, watermills and large open port. The town was known as "the old land of mills" because of the 15 mills distributed along only two kilometres of the river. This dense number of mills on a short span of river made Pont-Aven unique. Now there are memorial plaques that mark the places where slipways, mills and dykes used to be located around the town. Explore the history of the mills by following the mill pathway.   

Enjoy a drink in the town centre (Centre-Ville)

Boulangeries selling traditional cakes and breads, clothes stores, a book store, loads of art galleries (one even selling aboriginal art from Australia), and home decor boutiques give you lots of options for shopping. The town centre is built around the bridge that crosses the Aven River and it is especially enchanting with the sound of the running water, flower boxes filled with colour and well preserved buildings with bright shutters. 

The Tourism Centre is just off Place Gauguin where you'll find maps and information in many languages. I found the staff very helpful and most willing to explain the highlights of the town.

Parking in town is difficult in the high summer season so grab yourself a carpark as soon as you spot one, and for day-long free parking, the carparks along rue de la Belle Angéle are your best option.  

Shop the Fine Art Galleries and Antique Stores

If you are looking for some new artwork to hang in your home or office, there are lots of galleries offering paintings, sketches, and sculptures. The Galerie des Beaux-Arts on rue de Bel Air is a very pleasant gallery with three floors of fine art available for purchase. 

Antiquites Coromandel on rue des Meuniéres is not a large antique store, but they do have large and rare pieces. 

Visit Hôtel Gloanec now Maison de la Presse

Maison de la Presse stores in France sell magazines, newspapers, cigarettes, games and stamps. The Maison de la Presse in Pont-Aven is easy to find in the centre of town just down the road from the Pont-Aven Museum. The building used to be a boarding house run by hostess Marie-Jeanne Gloanec that welcomed the Impressionist painters and then later the painters who formed the Pont-Aven School. 

Eat at The Grand Poulguin Mill

The Grand Poulguin mill is now a restaurant but it used to store wine unloaded from the port because of its closeness to the port entrance. One table in the restaurant sits out on a tiny deck, and has a very good view of the running river, waterwheel and bridge.
The mill house was the setting for the famous French film "Les galettes de Pont-Aven".

Visit the Musée de Pont Aven (Pont-Aven Museum)

You'll find the new modern Musée de Pont Aven (Pont-Aven Museum) in the centre of town. It is in the remodelled Hôtel Julia and is split into ten sections. Airy and with the gallery rooms painted in hues from the palette of the painting The Talisman by Sérusier (exhibited at Musée d'Orsay), it's an easy museum to navigate. 

To read more on artist Paul Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School of painters, and for detailed information on visiting the Pont-Aven Museum, see our post In the Footsteps of Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School of painters.

Chill in the sun at Square Théodore Botrel

This green square or little park called Square Théodore Botrel has a playground for children, toilettes and is the venue used for brocantes and town markets. It was where the large brocante was held on the day I visited. Depending on the tide, you may see yachts navigating off their moorings and heading off for a sail. 

Explore Le Port (the Port)

Pont-Aven's prosperity was due to its harbour and mills long before painters made it famous and now it's a stunning place to walk along the quays, exercise and watch yachts heading out the river.  

Le Port is also where markets and brocantes are held, so check the internet or ask at the tourist office about any events that might be happening.

La Promenade Xavier Grill

The Xavier Grall Promenade is a very pretty walk beside and over the Aven River via footbridges and paths. Named after poet and journalist Xavier Grall, who lived in the Pont-Aven countryside, it's a great way to photograph the enormous granite blocks that form the natural dams along the river. You can access these rocks via rue du Général de Gaulle.

This beautifully flowered pedestrian route (no cars or bikes allowed) takes you behind the homes and buildings that face the town square and rue du Général de Gaulle. The ancient homes still have their lavoirs (outdoor washing areas) and you can see these as you meander along the walkway. At night some of them are lit up and I've been told by my friends that it's like a fairyland at night. 

Made famous by painter Paul Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School of painters, its beautiful with plants and flowers everywhere.

Le Bois d'Amour (the Love Wood)

If you park in one of the two parking lots available to cars and camper trailers on rue de la Belle Angèle, you can enter the woods just beside these lots and take the short stroll into town alongside the bubbling brook. I walked in the other direction from town to the carpark.

Paul Gauguin was inspired by these dense tree filled woods and created his painting "Bathing at the Bois 'Amour mill" in 1886 and "the Bathers" in 1888.

At this point in the Aven, the water is clear, shallow and easy to access. The flowing water makes a delightful bubbling sound as it works its way around rocks and tree trunks. I loved walking along the narrow path in the cool shade of the trees and taking a film for you all.

La Chapelle de Trémalo (the Trémalo Chapel)

Made famous by Gauguin in his painting "The Yellow Christ", this chapel is just a little way out of the main town area. It's only a five minute drive and is open every day from 10am to 7pm. 

It was the polychrome wooden crucifix in the chapel that inspired Gauguin to paint the cross and interior.

Buy Traditional 'Traou Mad' Breton Biscuits

Traou Mad means “good things” in Breton and is the name of a biscuit invented by Alexis Le Vilain, a baker from Pont-Aven, in 1920. Decades later his daughter Marguerite transformed the business with manufacturing processes and packing, while keeping the recipe and ingredients artisanal and authentic. In 1980 Traou Mad started marketing their biscuits in tins with artwork from Paul Gauguin and a new logo. Still made using simple ingredients: eggs from free-range hens in Finistère, fresh Breton butter and flour made in Brittany, these traditional biscuits are a great souvenir idea. If you resist eating them yourself!

The Biscuiterie Traou Mad has three shops in Pont-Aven so you'll easily find yourself some biscuits or other tasty treats.

Fête des Fleurs d'Ajonc (Gorse Flower Festival)

If you're visiting in the summer, the village truly comes alive on 1 August when the Fête des Fleurs d'Ajonc (gorse flower festival) is celebrated. Villagers come out in traditional costumes, widely regarded as the most attractive traditional dress in Brittany, with local food specialities served and Breton music played in the streets.

Spoilt with so much choice of what to see and do in Pont-Aven, your visit will be filled with history, art, delicious food, stunning views, and unique shopping.  

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