Are These Stones All That?

July 29, 2013 11:52 AM

Are the Stones of Carnac worth asking my hosts to spend a bit over an hour driving us there?

We are going to be in Brittany for three or so days in early October. We are lucky enough to be able to stay with one of my wife's old college friends from Germany, who lives in a little village there now. GMaps says that it is a little over an hour from her village to Carnac.

This seems like an exciting site. . .every bit as much as Stonehenge, but with more stones. I am really interested in seeing it.

Has anyone been there, and able to share their experience? If it is a dud, I do not want to drag our hosts and my wife there. But it just seems like a really groovy experience. Anyone got any feedback for me?

posted by Danf to Travel & Transportation around France (7 answers total)

I've been there and it is absolutely not a dud. Lines after line of huge stones that go on for ever. It's really hard to understand how impressive the place is without going there. And the effort needed to build it without any advanced machinery. Of course YMMV :)
posted by dudleian at 11:56 AM on July 29, 2013 [3 favorites]

I have no experience with the Stones of Carnac, but I do have plenty of experience with road trips, both bad and good, and I will point out that any road trip can be fun, regardless of where you're going. One of my best memories from my first marriage was when we jumped in the car for a three-hour round trip to buy Powerball tickets. We didn't end up winning enough to pay for the gas, but we had so much fun that we never cared.

Hell, even if the Stones don't live up to your expectations, that can be part of the magic of the trip: "Hey, remember that time Danf got us to drive a fucking hour to see some rocks?" "Oh, but we had that great ice cream on the way..." "I still piss myself laughing when I remember the look on your face. 'That's it?' Bahaha..."

So go.
posted by Etrigan at 12:15 PM on July 29, 2013 [7 favorites]

Yes. This is a don't miss. We spent most of a day there.
posted by bearwife at 12:20 PM on July 29, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yes, I've been there and it is definitely worth a visit! The stones are very impressive in terms of their size and precise placement, and the sheer number of them is just mind-boggling. We drove over an hour each way to get there and didn't regret it for a minute (it didn't hurt that driving through the countryside is beautiful).

I've been to both Stonehenge and Carnac, and although I liked Stonehenge, I think I liked Carnac more.

As for your hosts...lots of times people don't go to local sites of interest unless they're taking visitors--you and your wife may be just the reason they need to finally visit Carnac.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:48 PM on July 29, 2013 [2 favorites]

I was just there last month. The areas with the stones were fenced off and we weren't allowed to walk amongst them. That might be a temporary or seasonal thing though. It was cool and interesting and all and I don't regret going a bit out of our ways to see it, but it didn't really stand out as a can't miss kind of thing.

I enjoyed hiking around in the woods by Huelgoat more.
posted by aubilenon at 1:00 PM on July 29, 2013

I saw them when I was 18 and had to fake a lot of enthusiasm for the benefit of the very proud folks who had taken me there. On the other hand, I fully endorse Etrigan's attitude toward road trips, so if there are fun things to do on the way and your hosts are up for it, it could still be a great time.
posted by looli at 1:07 PM on July 29, 2013

Ertrigan: I will point out that any road trip can be fun, regardless of where you're going.

Yes. Yes. Yes.
posted by Mister Bijou at 6:47 AM on July 30, 2013