Student life in Brest

Brest is ranked as the 5th most liveable city in France. With an ideal living environment, it has numerous higher education establishments that welcome many students, making it the second largest student city in Brittany. Despite the recent changes due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Brest remains a lively city with many activities to offer.

Discover the city

Brest is a historic city located near the sea. Many water activities are proposed offered: you can rent or take lessons in kayaking, catamaran, windsurfing… you will not be bored! If you like diving, there are several diving clubs where you can take lessons and pass levels. You can also visit Océanopolis, which is not to be missed a must-see if you like to observe marine ecosystems and marine species.

Bars and restaurants

Normally, there are many bars and restaurants in the city center where students can come to relax after a hard day’s study. If you are hungry, you will find restaurants offering the famous “crêpes bretonnes” on every corner, but not only that. You will also find good seafood restaurants, Asian food, or fast/junk food if you prefer!

Where to stay?

The city of Brest is perfect for students: rents are among the lowest of all other university cities in France. You will easily find accomodations between 150 and 450€, even less if you find a shared flat/apartment.

Flat-/apartment-sharing is easily done in this city, even if you do not have contacts here. A lot of real estate agencies provide flat-/apartment-share offers.

There are three CROUS residences (Kergoat, Lanrédec, Bougen) were students can live. To access, you have to make a request at the CROUS (CROUS site).

It is important to note that the IUEM campus is not directly in Brest but in the neighboring city of Plouzané. While transportation exists and it is easy to navigate between the two cities, and you might be searching for apartments closest to campus as possible, apartments in Plouzané and other small towns nearby are more scarce. There is therefore less to choose from and they are harder to find.

My mind was filled with vague ideas about society, about its goods and its evils. I don’t know what sadness overcame me; I left the mast on which I was sitting; I went up the Penfeld, which flows into the port; I arrived at a bend where this port disappeared. There, seeing nothing but a peaty valley, but still hearing the confused murmur of the sea and the voice of men, I lay down on the edge of the small river.

Chateaubriand

Sports and activities

The SUAPS, sports department of UBO, offers a large variety of sports, and especially nautical sports such as surfing, sailing, kayaking. [link to the SUAPS page]

They also propose to pass offer the possibility to take the test for your first level of diving.

Other convivial places to do some sports activities in the city like include climbing in Climb’Up in the Capucin or the Roof, diving with a club (Dellec club, GMAP), sailing… but also surfing in the different surf spots in the region.