Route du Rhum 2026 in Saint-Malo: the dates and where to stay

Every four years, Saint-Malo becomes the capital of offshore racing: the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe sets off from the corsair city for Pointe-à-Pitre, 3,542 miles single-handed. The 2026 edition follows the calendar confirmed by the organisers: village from 20 October to 1 November, start on Sunday 1 November at 1:02 pm. More than one million visitors are expected over the thirteen days, according to the organisers and the city of Saint-Malo. The region’s beds go accordingly.

The race, in a nutshell

Created in 1978, the Route du Rhum is raced every four years, single-handed, from Saint-Malo to Pointe-à-Pitre: 3,542 miles of Atlantic, all classes together, from the flying Ultims to production monohulls. The very first edition wrote the legend: Mike Birch won by 98 seconds after twenty-three days at sea: the narrowest margin in transatlantic racing history. Since then the race has crowned Florence Arthaud, watched the Ultims push the record under seven days, and turned every start into a national pilgrimage.

For Saint-Malo it is the event of the four-year cycle: the whole town sets itself to the village’s rhythm, and the ramparts recover their original purpose: watching the ships leave.

The village: thirteen days, two moods

The village sets up around the docks, at the foot of the ramparts: pontoons open to the public, the Ultims and other classes moored within touching distance, events, accessible skippers. On weekdays, the mood is that of a great port in quiet effervescence. This is the time for the curious and the connoisseurs. At weekends, and building to the start, the crowd becomes the event itself.

A detail that matters on a tide website: the spring tide of 27–29 October (coefficient 100) falls right in the village period. An emptied bay at low water behind the race boats, high water climbing back to the foot of the ramparts: photographers know why they come on those days.

Where to stay, and when to book

The subject deserves its own full page: where to stay for the Route du Rhum, area by area, with the alternatives twenty to forty minutes out. The essentials in two paragraphs:

Intra-Muros is the obvious choice: the village is at the foot of the walls, you walk down morning and evening and skip the saturated car parks. It is also the first area to sell out. For the start weekend, serious bookings are made a year ahead.

Saint-Servan is the best second choice: quiet, twenty minutes’ walk from the village along the coastal path, with views over the docks from the Cité d’Aleth. Paramé and Dinard round it out, with the little ferry on the Dinard side, very handy on road-blocked days.

Our selection of addresses, compared area by area, lives on the where-to-stay page. If your goal is the start on 1 November, aim for the nights of 31 October and 1 November, and don’t wait.

Start day

The skippers’ parade leaves the docks through the morning, lock by lock, before the start line off the Pointe du Grouin at 1:02 pm. The Saint-Malo viewpoints (Pointe de la Varde, Rothéneuf) and those across the water (Dinard, Cap Fréhel) fill up from early morning. Allow for everything: transport, the tide (check the official SHOM times if you go down on the foreshore) and a saturated phone network are part of the experience.