We were there in July on a day trip from Dol De Bretagne and walked round the walls of the old town. At the time our girls were 3 and 6 so our trip was very much geared at them. The old town was full of creperies and restaurants serving pizza, seafood etc. We also had a day at the aquarium which hubby and I both enjoyed (we have been to many aquaria and it was one of the best) and the girls loved.
Just across the Rance Barrage is Dinard which is a quaint seaside town and is worth a visit. Dinan is also worth a visit.

Thank you..sounds like I might enjoy a weekend exploring there....

A lovely port, with a small walled section ('intra muros') (note that parking and driving can be horrendous, even in February!!) with the island containing the tomb of Chateaubriand just offshore and walkable at low tide!

The following websites:

http://www.saint-malo-tourisme.com
http://www.ville-saint-malo.fr

should prove helpful and are also available in English - click on the flag.

It might be worth driving from where you live to Portsmouth and travel overnight to St. Malo with Brittany Ferries without your car (leave it at Portsmouth docks) and be car-free for your weekend. Public transport operates to Dinard. It used to be possible to take a Friday sailing from Portsmouth off season, spend the Saturday in St Malo and return on the Saturday night sailing arriving Portsmouth on the Sunday morning.

Do try to have a seafood platter (shellfish) whilst you are there!

Places to visit include Dinard, Cancale (for its oysters) and the Mont St Michel if you have time. Local cider is pleasant, plus the pancakes (sweet and savoury) from Brittany.

The weather can be very cold and windy in February, so wrap up warm, take comfy shoes - hard pavements! - and a waterproof outer layer.

If you plan to be there before 16 February, the sales should be still on - though they are not the bargains that you would expect if you are used to UK sales, and it's the government that sets the dates. St Malo does not, as far as I remember, have any department stores, though there are supermarkets, especially outside the old town.

The local schools will be on their two week winter break starting 13 February.

Thank you for such a detailed response.

Alsacienne

I am having a problem with your second link. Can you check the url please? I got an internal error message, took out the http and got it to work, but I've tried it twice since and it's not working.

luci

http://www.ville-saint-malo.fr

seems to do the trick better. THANKS Luci for your work on this ... can you perhaps substitute this link for the one that didn't work in my original post?

Have substituted Alsacienne

Kath x

Thanks Kath and Alsacienne.

luci

Thank you for all the information. i have had further info from a friend of mine who has a customer based in St Malo..she says I will love it.
We are planning...for the whole experience..and coz Rob is a lorry driver and used to driving abroad etc..in driving down on the Friday, going from Dover to Calais on the Tunnel train, then driving from Calais to St. Malo for the views and basically to explore wherever takes our fancy on the way..then have 3 nights/2 days in St. Malo before doing it all in reverse on the Monday..

Ooh that sounds nice Val . Quite fancy that myself

We are both quite looking forward to it..just need to pick what weekend we are going..timing is everything..

He HE He He Val

Loads of nice shops good restaurants AND decent campsites not far from the docks
WE did a foot passenger many years ago to here and apart from the time of year (about now -- so it was freezing) we had a good time.

Still haven't been yet..we took everyones advice and decided not to go in February...March is also out and it looks like our next opportunity will towards the end of April....