Aire de pique-nique et de stationnement de Lermot

03 · The write-up

What it is like to arrive here.

A free parking and picnic area above the beach at Lermot, where you may stay day and night, up to 48 hours.

The name is accurate and worth reading carefully: aire de pique-nique et de stationnement is a picnic and parking area, not an aire de services. It is a place to stop, with a couple of useful facilities attached, rather than a motorhome site. Cotes d’Armor Destination, the departmental tourist board, publishes the listing, calls it free, and states that you may park there day and night with a 48 hour maximum.

What is actually here

Public toilets, a motorhome waste dump point, and picnic tables. The 48 hour limit is recorded in both the tourist board listing and the OSM data, so treat it as real rather than advisory.

Neither drinking water nor an electric hook-up is listed either way, so arrive with a full tank and charged batteries. Do not plan a water fill here.

Where it sits

Hillion occupies the headland between the Gouessant and Urne estuaries at the head of the Baie de Saint-Brieuc, and the site looks out over the bay. This is one of the most striking pieces of coast in the Cotes-d’Armor, and also one of the least conventional.

The bay has an enormous tidal range. At low water the sea retreats a long way across sand and mudflat, and it returns quickly. Much of the shoreline here is inside the Reserve naturelle de la baie de Saint-Brieuc, which exists for the migratory birds that feed on those flats, so access is managed in places and signposted. Read the boards before you walk out, and check a tide table. This is not a coast to improvise on.

The GR34 coastal path runs along this stretch, which is the best way to use a stop here. The nearest town of any size is Saint-Brieuc, a short drive west.

Being a beach car park on an exposed bay, expect wind and expect daytime visitors. This is not a quiet private corner and it is not meant to be one.

The rule that applies

France leaves overnight motorhome parking to the commune. See our France bivouac and overnight parking rules and what an aire actually is. The mairie of Hillion sets the rules on this site, including the 48 hours, and the posted sign at the entrance is the authority over anything written here.

Before you rely on this

Check the tourist board listing linked below. Coastal parking areas near a nature reserve are the ones most likely to gain restrictions, seasonal closures or a height barrier, and a beach car park can be reallocated for the summer without warning.