France / Brittany
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo is a coastal resort area in Brittany, France. Its longest mapped beach (Plage Malo) stretches about 593 m and has a sand surface. The sea averages 18.1 °C in August, its warmest month, and 8.5 °C in February; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
The sea peaks at 18.1 °C in August. Most swimmers find water below 20 °C cold; a wetsuit is common here.
Average wind speed at 10 m reaches 7.6 m/s in January, the windiest month.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Services in the resort
- 193Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 10Public toilets
- –Showers
- 67Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 33Hotels & guesthouses
- 18Grocery shops
- 2Water-sports spots
- 39Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 2Pharmacies & clinics
- 5Cash machines
- 4Viewpoints
- 7Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 152 restaurants, 13 cafés, 25 bars and 3 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 33 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “L'eventail”, 310 m from the beach centre, was rated Good for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 7 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Good
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Good
- 2024Good
- 2025Good
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
Month by month
October at Saint-Malo
Beach-day index 2.5/10 · France median 4.9
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 9.4 °C | 8.5 °C | 8.7 °C | 10.2 °C | 12.2 °C | 14.7 °C | 16.8 °C | 18.1 °C | 17.7 °C | 15.9 °C | 13.3 °C | 11.0 °C |
| High °C | 9° | 9° | 10° | 12° | 15° | 18° | 19° | 20° | 19° | 16° | 12° | 10° |
| Low °C | 6° | 5° | 6° | 8° | 11° | 14° | 15° | 16° | 15° | 13° | 10° | 7° |
| Rain mm | 80 | 67 | 59 | 44 | 53 | 47 | 51 | 54 | 47 | 82 | 94 | 95 |
| Cloud % | 73 | 71 | 68 | 61 | 64 | 63 | 60 | 60 | 56 | 65 | 69 | 71 |
| Wind m/s | 7.6 | 7.3 | 6.6 | 5.7 | 5.5 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.7 | 6.6 | 7.3 | 7.6 |
| Daylight h | 8.7 | 10.2 | 11.8 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 16.1 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 12.7 | 10.9 | 9.3 | 8.3 |
| Record high/low | 14°/-1° | 15°/-2° | 17°/-1° | 20°/2° | 24°/7° | 28°/10° | 30°/12° | 32°/13° | 26°/10° | 23°/5° | 18°/1° | 15°/0° |
| Beach index | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 3.1 | 4.4 | 4.9 | 4.3 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 1.9 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
No month reaches 5.5 on the beach-day index; the best is August at 4.9/10, held back mainly by cool air (highs of 20 °C) and cold water (18.1 °C).
At its warmest the water here is 4.0 °C cooler than the France median for August (22.1 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 13.0 °C, cooler than 80% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
December is the wettest month (95 mm) and April the driest (44 mm); the yearly total is about 770 mm.
Daylight runs from 8.3 hours in December to 16.1 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 07:00 and sets at 21:25 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north-west (320°). Open water fills about 64% of the horizon close by, which makes it an exposed spot with water on most sides.
The sun sets over the sea in every month; in mid-June it goes down at 22:11 local time on a bearing of 308°.
Sunrise is over the sea in May–August.
Straight out to the north-west about 500 km of open sea lies before the next coast, enough for large swells to build.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 3 m deep and 5 m at 3 km, a shallow, gently shelving sea floor. Behind the beach the ground is about 9 m above sea level 500 m inland and 9 m at 1.5 km, a flat coastal plain.
Within 1 km, the land is 82% built-up land, 8% bare ground, sand or rock and 6% grassland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 78% of that circle.
- Built 82%
- Bare 8%
- Grass 6%
- Wetland 3%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jersey Airport St. Peter | JER | 62.9 km | north |
| Rennes-Saint-Jacques Airport Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande, Ille-et-Vilaine | RNS | 68.4 km | south |
| Guernsey Airport Saint Peter Port | GCI | 96.6 km | north-west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 39 bus stops within 1.5 km, rail station Saint-Malo (1.7 km), ferry terminal Cale de Dinan (450 m), ferry terminal Gare Maritime de la Bourse (560 m) and 67 mapped car parks within 1 km.
10 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 84K residents); within 30 km there are 53 (about 180.8K).
Around the beach
Attractions & museums
- Aquarium Geant de Saint Malo attraction 220 m NE
- Micro Zoo attraction 280 m NE
- Fort National museum 280 m NE
- Carrousel Porte Saint Vincent attraction 300 m NE
- SNBSM - Société Nautique de la Baie de Saint-Malo attraction 370 m E
- L'Étoile du Roy museum 420 m E
Historic sites
- Remparts monument 140 m NW
- ST MALO monument 180 m SW
- Hôtel André Desilles monument 200 m S
- Place Brevet monument 240 m S
- Cour de la Galère monument 370 m NE
- Esplanade Saint-Vincent monument 380 m NE
Nature
- souterrain d'Aleth WW2 cave entrance 1.3 km S
Islands in view
- Le Grand Bé 620 m NW
- Le Petit Bé 970 m W
Lighthouses & piers
- Ponton de la Bourse pier 470 m S
Diving & boat hire
- Association Cotre Corsaire 180 m SE
- Gyro Malo | Location vélos & visite en gyropode 360 m E
Map
Loading map…
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 7.9 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w96923335; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2A_30UWU_20250402_1_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRH0335288M035515).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 4.4K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.