Now famous as a seaside resort, Bénodet has long been appreciated for its particular location at the mouth of the River Odet. Indeed, its name in Breton means 'Head of the Odet'.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Bénodet served as a commercial outpost in Quimper for trading cereals, wines, canvas, wood, fish and other materials to be exported to Spain, Bordeaux, England or the Netherlands.
Bénodet's popularity as a seaside resort started in the late XNUMXs, when wealthy families discovered the joys of travelling for pleasure. Villas, castles and manor houses started to appear along the coast and the banks of the River Odet.
The construction of the first hotels: Grand Hotel, Hotel de la Plage, Hotel Ker Moor; the creation of alleys and promenades and the appearance of bathing cabins on the Trez beach are the very first tourist facilities in the South – Finistère.
The craze for 'sea bathing' and yachting meant that a rather elegant tourism industry developed here, helped by the rail connections to Quimper. Bénodet was no longer a small village of fishermen and farmers; it was blossoming into a seaside resort.
Talented writers including Émile Zola, André Suarez, Frédéric le Guyader and Guillaume Apollinaire came here to express their emotions, as did many painters such as André Dauchez, Lucien Simon and Eugène Boudin, aiming to capture Bénodet's special light and atmosphere.
Visit the seaside museum, which retraces part of the history of Bénodet.
Have you become “very curious”? For the rest it is here.
