Soft mobility
03 September 2021
Organized every year, Mobility Week aims to inform and encourage citizens to change their transport habits in favor of more environmentally friendly alternatives.
What is soft mobility ?
It simply refers to alternatives to motorized transport. Bicycles, scooters, rollerblades, and walking are considered alternative modes of travel. They have the advantage of being less polluting and sometimes even faster on major traffic routes.
Soft mobility is much more developed on the islands. Alternative transport allows access to parts of the islands that are not accessible to motorized vehicles. Since environmental preservation is a major concern, car traffic is limited or even prohibited. This is especially true on Houat and Hoëdic: cars are not allowed. The vessel serving these islands, the Melvan, is the smallest in the fleet — a passenger boat that does not carry motor vehicles.
At Belle-Île-en-Mer and Groix, where motorized vehicles are allowed, we recommend using soft mobility for day trips instead. Thanks to the Mobility Week offers — whether for touring Groix by mountain bike or discovering Belle-Île’s main sights on an electric bike — we encourage you to take advantage of the quietness of the off-season to disconnect and enjoy a getaway less than an hour from the mainland.
Practical info:
On the islands, wayfinding and route signs have been developed to promote cycling:
On Belle-Île, to discover the four main towns, follow the directional signs with the town name in green letters on a white background. To follow a loop route starting from one of the four towns, follow the signs with a colored dot corresponding to the current circuit (blue, purple, orange, red or yellow). The tourist map is available at the Tourist Office.
On Groix, new signage has been recently installed. Each route is composed of several numbers, which are marked on signs placed at each intersection on the island. Four routes are available; just follow the numbers using the map provided by the Tourist Office.
Let’s support sustainable mobility together!