Chausey Islands

⚠️ Entry rules and local regulations change without notice. Before booking, check entry requirements and local rules — visas, access, nature reserves, visitor quotas — with the official authorities.

An hour by sea from Granville, the Chausey archipelago reveals — as the saying goes — 365 islets at low tide and 52 at high tide. On the car-free Grande Île (1.5 km long), a lighthouse, a fort, sandy coves and oyster beds live to the rhythm of Europe's greatest tides (up to 14 metres of range), just 17 km off the Normandy coast.

Fifty-two islands at high tide, 365 at low

Chausey is the only Channel Islands archipelago that stayed French. It lies seventeen kilometres off Granville, and the local saying — 52 islands at high tide, 365 at low — captures what makes it extraordinary: with a tidal range of around fourteen metres, among the largest in Europe, the sea withdraws twice a day to reveal a vast landscape of sand, channels and granite that was water six hours before.

Grande Île, the only inhabited island, is a kilometre and a half long and 45 hectares at high water. Around thirty people live there all year. Its granite was quarried for centuries and went into Mont-Saint-Michel and the quays of Saint-Malo; the quarries are now silent coves. There is a fort, a lighthouse, a tiny chapel, a handful of fishermen's cottages and a single hotel.

Most of the archipelago is private and protected; visitors are confined to Grande Île, which is all they need. Seals, oystercatchers and the occasional sea eagle are the other residents. The island is part of the Natura 2000 network, and the lobster and the oysters are the local economy.

April to September, and a low spring tide

Boats run from April to September, with a reduced winter service. The moment to come is a day of big spring tides — the days around the new and full moons — when the withdrawal of the sea is at its most spectacular and the sands can be walked for hours; check the tide coefficient before you book. Summer weekends are busy on the single beach; midweek in June or September the island is almost empty.

One boat a day, and watch the tide

Boats leave Granville and take about an hour; in summer there are two to four sailings a day, in winter as few as one, and the timetable shifts with the tide — ⚠️ read it carefully, because the last boat back may leave early in the afternoon, and missing it means a night on an island with one hotel. Seasonal sailings also run from Saint-Malo and Cancale.

Grande Île is covered on foot in a couple of hours; there are no vehicles and no bikes. One hotel, the Hôtel du Fort et des Îles, and a few rentals — reserve months ahead for summer. Its restaurant and one or two others serve lobster and the archipelago's oysters. On the sands, stay aware of the returning tide: it comes in faster than a walking pace, and the channels fill first.

Essentials & your questions