Megaliths at Carnac

The world''s greatest concentration of megalithic sites, erected between 5000 BC and 3500 BC. Megaliths (big stones) are ubiquitous in Brittany, although by no means unique to the region. There are many in the north and west, but the main concentration is on the Gulf of Morbihan in the southeast. Carnac Stones is a system of more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones

The Carnac Megalith

Megaliths at Carnac mini guide

Guide point	Details
Department:	North West France > Brittany > Morbihan >
Location:	Megaliths at Carnac are 11 km south of the Vannes/Lorient road. Carnac's megalithic sites stretch 13km north from Carnac-Ville and east as far as the village of Locmariaquer.
Address::	Maison des Megaliths, The Ménec,56340 Carnac
Switch board number:	+33 (0)2 97 52 89 99
Visit owner's personal website:	http://carnac.monuments-nationaux.fr/en/bdd/page/infospratiques
Public Transport:	From Auray: secondary roads D 768 and D 781 towards Carnac (D 196 is forbidden to coaches going west)
Facilities for the disabled:	Disabled visitors: Information about accessibility by phone : +33 (0)2 97 52 89 99 or +33 (0)2 97 52 77 97
Quick links to accommodation:	Accommodation near Megaliths at Carnac - Hotels in Megaliths at Carnac Show accommodation in Morbihan - Self catering in Morbihan - Bed and Breakfast in Morbihan properties with pools in Morbihan -

Unless you go to see the Megaliths at Carnac, you can have no idea just how impressive they actually are. They seem to stretch on for miles, in their long silent rows, testament to the hundreds of years of work put into them by our ancestors. They leave you wondering why people who only had stone tools, and who must have lived a hand to mouth precarious existence, found the time and the energy to erect so many stones! They are known as the alignments, and you can see from their layout, and the way they are interspersed with big gaps and occasional houses, that they obviously used to be more impressive than ever.

Sadly, they are now closed to the public, so you have to look without touching, as at Stonehenge, but there is an old windmill that has been equipped with a viewing platform which although it is a bit wobbly, seems safe enough and gives a good view of some of the stones.

You can also go and see the Tumulus de St Michel, so named because the prehistoric mound was later topped by a Christian church, as was early Christian practice. There is a tunnel that runs right through this mound, remnant of when it was excavated, but sadly in recent years this has become unsafe, and is now shut. There is a good crèperie right next to the Tumulus.

Carnac has a very good museum of Antiquities, well worth a visit if you are interested by the stones and local history.