The major city on the Côte d'Émeraude, ST-BRIEUC is far too busy being the industrial centre of the north to concern itself with entertaining tourists. It's an odd-looking city, with two very deep wooded valleys spanned by viaducts at its core, and it's almost impossible to bypass. The streets are hectic, with the town centre cut in two by a virtual motorway and unrelieved by any public parks. Motorists and cyclists, unfortunately, have little choice but to plough straight through rather than attempting to negotiate the backroads and steep hills around. Apart from the sturdy-looking cathedral of St Stephen, the fine views of the valley from Tertre Aubé and a handful of half-timbered houses in the streets around place au Lin, there's nothing to keep you here.Trains between Paris, Dol and Brest stop at the gare SNCF, around 1km south of the centre of St-Brieuc, and regular buses run to the nearby resorts. If you decide to use the city as a base, the best place to stay is the central Champ-de-Mars, 13 rue du Général-Leclerc (tel 02.96.33.60.99, [email protected]; €40–55), which offers mussels or fish soup for €8 in the old-fashioned, green-painted brasserie downstairs. St-Brieuc also has a hostel, two kilometres out, in the magnificent fifteenth-century Manoir de la Ville-Guyomard (tel 02.96.78.70.70, [email protected]; €11), on bus route #1 from the station. Some of the nicest eating options in town are in the old quarter, behind the cathedral. The traditional French cooking at Le Madure, 14 rue Quinquaine (tel 02.96.61.21.07; closed Sat lunch, Sun & Mon), is served à la carte, with steaks around €14 and salads half that; the fondues at Le Chaudron, 19 rue Fardel (tel 02.96.33.01.72; closed Sun), start at €12 per person.
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