Carnac: Three Thousand Standing Stones
Brittany, France
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Carnac Stone Walker
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250
XP
+100 France
= 350 total
1 day
Carnac: Three Thousand Standing Stones
250 + 100 XP
The alignments of Carnac are four groups of standing stones — the Ménec, Kermario, Kerlescan and the Petit Ménec — running for more than four kilometres across Carnac and La Trinité-sur-Mer: nearly 3,000 stones raised around 4500 BC, the most famous megalithic site in France, and in the Neolithic every group could be seen from the next. In the 18th century they were taken for the remains of a Roman camp. They have been protected as historic monuments since 1889 and restored, sometimes too freely: when the stones were counted before restoration, nearly two thirds of the 1,771 recorded were lying down, and at Kermario only 164 of 678 still stood. In July 2025 they were inscribed as a World Heritage Site with the other megaliths of Carnac and the shores of the Morbihan, among them the Tumulus Saint-Michel, a Neolithic burial mound whose central vault was dug into in 1862; its galleries were later closed for safety, and only the outside can be visited. The Musée de Préhistoire in Carnac, founded on the collection of the archaeologist James Miln, holds one of the most important prehistoric collections in Europe — about 350,000 objects from two hundred sites.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Start at the Maison des mégalithes at Le Ménec and walk the Ménec alignment — inside the rows on a booked commented visit in summer, when the fenced sites are open to 400 people a day, or on your own out of season when access is free — and follow the files far enough to see that they converge rather than run parallel
2
of 4
Walk the Kermario alignment, where Félix Gaillard counted only 164 menhirs still upright out of 678 before the restorers started, and look along the files for the ones that were re-erected: the site's own record admits there are now rows of stones where the old photographs show none. Look out too for the Lande de Bretagne sheep that have grazed the alignments since 1995 to keep the scrub down.
3
of 4
Walk the full 125 m length of the Tumulus Saint-Michel, the largest prehistoric mound known in France — 65 m across at the base, 12 m high — climb to the chapel on top, and work out from up there where Le Rouzic's tunnels went in between 1900 and 1906 to find the dolmen chamber, five side cists and fourteen more small ones. The galleries were open to visitors once and are now shut for safety; only the outside can be walked.
4
of 4
Go through the Musée James Miln - Zacharie Le Rouzic in Carnac's old presbytery — 350,000 objects from two hundred sites, a hundred and twenty of them megalithic — and find the material from the two places you have just walked, the Tumulus Saint-Michel and the alignments; Le Rouzic, who dug both, started here as the museum's keeper and left it his own 3,000 objects in 1926
Start at the Maison des mégalithes at Le Ménec and walk the Ménec alignment — inside the rows on a booked commented visit in summer, when the fenced sites are open to 400 people a day, or on your own out of season when access is free — and follow the files far enough to see that they converge rather than run parallel
Walk the Kermario alignment, where Félix Gaillard counted only 164 menhirs still upright out of 678 before the restorers started, and look along the files for the ones that were re-erected: the site's own record admits there are now rows of stones where the old photographs show none. Look out too for the Lande de Bretagne sheep that have grazed the alignments since 1995 to keep the scrub down.
Walk the full 125 m length of the Tumulus Saint-Michel, the largest prehistoric mound known in France — 65 m across at the base, 12 m high — climb to the chapel on top, and work out from up there where Le Rouzic's tunnels went in between 1900 and 1906 to find the dolmen chamber, five side cists and fourteen more small ones. The galleries were open to visitors once and are now shut for safety; only the outside can be walked.
Go through the Musée James Miln - Zacharie Le Rouzic in Carnac's old presbytery — 350,000 objects from two hundred sites, a hundred and twenty of them megalithic — and find the material from the two places you have just walked, the Tumulus Saint-Michel and the alignments; Le Rouzic, who dug both, started here as the museum's keeper and left it his own 3,000 objects in 1926
Before you go
In the summer season you cannot walk inside the alignments on your own: entry is by commented visit only, booked through the Maison des mégalithes at Le Ménec, on a rotation between sites and capped at 400 people a day, so book ahead. Out of season the fenced sites are open to walk in freely. A pedestrian route outside the rows is open all year either way. The inside of the Tumulus Saint-Michel is permanently closed for safety; only the mound itself can be walked. Sheep graze the alignments: keep dogs on a lead.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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