White sand beaches and a turquoise sea attracts visitors to the Glénan Islands. A cluster of nine low islands and many rocky outcrops surrounds a central lagoon of protected waters. All the islands are tiny, with a total area of only 5000 hectares (12,000 acres). The islands are all visible at once from a high vantage such as a ship. The stunning white sands are produced from the break-up of Maërl, a calcareous marine alga, which makes the beaches look like a tropical coral shoreline. The islands are treeless, so there is little shade, but there are brightly coloured flowers such as the blue Borage and the rare Narcissus of Glénan. The Narcissus is a beautiful white flower related to daffodils. It produces a stunning mass display in spring, with a few flowers persisting to summer. As it is only found naturally on the Glénan islands, parts of the islands are a Nature Reserve to protect it. So please don’t pick the flowers! Day trippers reach the main island of Saint Nicolas from the mainland of western Brittany 16 kilometres (10 miles) away by ferry or yacht. There are few facilities on the islands and visitors only flock to the island in summer weather.
Visible from all points of Glénan is a lighthouse on Ile de Penfret, and Cigogne, a fort built on an isle by the French in 1756. The fort could hold 80 troops and was installed to protect the region from English pirates and prevent them using the lagoon as shelter. From our point of view today, it does not look like a hardship posting.
tour Botanical Walk on St. Nicolas Island
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Join your local guides and Expedition experts on a botany walk and spend some free time on St Nicholas Island. Discover the natural reserve of Saint Nicolas, enstablished in 1974 to protect the Glénan narcissus. This plant, considered as an endemic subspecies of the archipelago, constitutes in this respect the rarest plant of the Armorican massif and one of the rarest in Europe. It grows only in the archipelago and can be seen blooming in the nature reserve only for a few weeks in April! But a myriad of other species awaits you, from the tiny borage flower which grows in the dunes, to the magnificent sea holly which blooms with colour through the summer, you won't know which way to look! After your walk, spend some time at leisure on this paradise island, before returning onboard by Zodiac.