Photo spot in Saint-Malo
Plage du Sillon and the breakwater posts
Ranks of weathered oak posts standing in the sand as a wave break, with the town along one side and three kilometres of beach beyond.
About Plage du Sillon and the breakwater posts
Get directionsAlong the Plage du Sillon, hundreds of oak trunks are driven into the sand in long ranks, set there to break the force of the waves before they reach the sea wall. Grey, split and salt-worn, they line up into perspective in a way that does most of the composition for you: walk out among them at low water and you have foreground, repetition and depth in a single frame, with the town on one side and open sand on the other.
The tide runs this location. At low water you can walk out well beyond the posts onto ribbed wet sand that mirrors the sky; as the water comes in the posts stand in the surf and the beach shrinks to a strip. Read the tide table for the day and build the session around it — a local photographer will pick the hour before proposing a time.
Dawn and dusk are both good: the beach faces roughly north, so it takes low warm light from either end of the day along its length. On a big spring tide with wind behind it, waves break clean over the sea wall here and the town closes the promenade; that is a real photograph and one to take from well back, not from the wall.
Best time to shoot
A falling tide at dawn or dusk, with the wet sand still mirroring
Tips
Read the day's tide table before fixing the hour — the posts are ankle-deep or waist-deep depending on it. In a big spring tide with wind, stay well back from the sea wall.
Other spots in Saint-Malo
The ramparts circuit
Two kilometres of granite wall you can walk right around, sea on one side, four centuries of slate roofs and chimneys on the other.
Fort National at low tide
A Vauban fort on its own rock, reached on foot across the sand for a few hours either side of low water — and cut off the rest of the time.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know Plage du Sillon and the breakwater posts — free of charge.