Phare de Morgat

Phare de Morgat (also known as Phare du Kador) is a lighthouse perched on the Pointe du Kador headland above the bay of Morgat, on the Crozon peninsula in Brittany. This small, square tower has guided fishing boats and other vessels safely into Morgat harbour for over a century.

How did a lighthouse end up on this headland?

Local fishermen first pushed for a light to mark the entrance to Morgat harbour back in the late 1870s, asking the authorities to install a beacon that would help boats find their way home after dark. Plans resurfaced in 1889 and again in 1908, but it wasn't until 1911 that the municipal council finally approved a fixed light — not on the harbour mole as originally proposed, but on the Pointe du Kador, a spot from which a single beam could cover both the bay and the harbour mouth at once.

The following year, in October 1912, the French lighthouse and buoy authority (Phares et Balises) purchased a 572 m² plot for the project from a Mrs Laurent of Brest. The tower itself was built in 1914 by the contractor Alexandre Le Roux, and the light was switched on for the first time on 9 April 1914.

What will you actually see there?

The lighthouse is a modest, square-section tower — its platform sits 10.20 m above ground level, while the interior of the tower measures just 1.50 m across. Three small windows let light into the stairwell inside. It's a functional, no-frills structure typical of the harbour lights built in the early 20th century — nothing like the towering ocean beacons further along the coast, but built with the same rugged Breton stonework.

The real draw, though, is the setting. The Pointe du Kador itself rises roughly 84–90 m above the high-water mark, and combined with the tower's height this gives the light an unusually long reach out to sea. From the cliff edge you get sweeping views over the bay of Morgat, the beach, and the fishing harbour below, and on a clear day you can pick out other stretches of the Crozon peninsula's coastline as well.

How do you get to the Pointe du Kador?

The headland sits about 700 m southeast of Morgat harbour, so the easiest way there is on foot — a walk of a little over ten minutes from the town centre, following a partly clifftop path with open sea views the whole way. It's a well-trodden stretch of the coastal trail that loops around the entire Crozon peninsula. Wear sturdy shoes, since the ground is uneven and rocky in places, and the cliff can feel breezy and cool even in summer.

When is the best time to visit?

Evenings offer the best light, especially in spring and summer, when the setting sun catches the tower and the bay turns gold — and the longer days make an evening stroll out to the point especially rewarding. Outside peak season the headland is often close to empty, which makes it a quiet spot for landscape photography.

Frequently asked questions

Can you go inside the lighthouse? The lighthouse is still an active navigation aid operated by the French maritime authorities, so the interior isn't open to visitors as a rule — the appeal here is the exterior view and the panorama from the cliff.

What's the lighthouse's French name? Officially it's the Phare de Morgat, though it's just as commonly called the Phare du Kador, after the headland it stands on.

How old is the Morgat lighthouse? The tower was built in 1914, and the light was first lit on 9 April of that same year — so it has been guiding boats for well over a century.

Can you combine a visit with other sights in Morgat? Yes — the well-known sea caves of Morgat lie just along the coast of the Crozon peninsula, reachable by boat trips from the harbour, so the lighthouse pairs easily with a longer walk or excursion around the seafront.