Hi all
We will be driving from Le Mans and have at least 17 days in Brittany from 6 April. I have roughly divided a map of Brittany in halves, and are thinking of 7 days in Quimper, 3 days Dinan, and 7 days Rennes. We prefer bigger towns as a base and then take day trips.I realise that we will only see a small part. Dinan will be our down time. We haven’t finalised accommodation yet. We do not like packing and un packing all the time which is why we stay for seven days. I would be grateful for your thoughts.

I would choose Vannes over Rennes as it is closer to the pre-historic sites. Make a stop in Fougères on your way from le Mans to Dinan.

https://flic.kr/p/8sWsjC https://flic.kr/p/8sTryD

Rennes is going through a lot of construction now (we were there in July), and many of the streets, squares, and areas were blocked. Several storefronts were boarded up too - waiting for restoration. The proprietor of our gite where we stayed near Dinan told us that Rennes is trying to attract many people from Paris, and the new higher-speed TGV that is essentially complete is going to bring them to Rennes. They also hope that Rennes may become a bedroom community for Paris.

I agree with Michael that Vannes might be a better base than Rennes. Over the past 2 years, we have based for 2 weeks near Dinan, Vannes, and Concarneau. We've also spent 2 weeks near the Pink Rocks area. Attached is my itinerary for Brittany & Normandy.

Stu Dudley

Moderator or OP - tag this thread for "France".

Stu Dudley

I agree that Vannes is a great location for south east Brittany. We used Stu Dudley's inf ot plan our trip. See my trip report:
The Peabody Papers 2019, Paris and Brittany, Unmapped

Thank you all. I forgot to hit the France button so would appreciate if the moderator could move to the France forum. Now for some reading....

Vannes would be my choice as well. And yes, be sure to visit Fougères, and Vitré too.

There is no "France forum." All the European threads are on the Europe board; the tagging is just to allow expedited searches.

I preferred Rennes to Vannes, but I liked them both, and Rennes wasn't undergoing a massive construction effort at the time. I'd want more time in the central portion of Brittany than you're thinking of giving it, but it really depends on what you want to see and experience.

17 days in Brittany sounds like a delight!

If you don't already have it, get the Michelin Green Guide.

Cheska, I'm not much help on Vannes vs Rennes. We liked Dinan quite a lot. Walking along the Rance is a real pleasure, and nearby Lehon is worth a visit.

In a way it’s too bad about your timing because Brittany has lots of wonderful villages that qualify as 4-flower villages in the Villes/Villages Fleuri scheme, but the flowers won't be up to much till late spring, early summer. However, even without flowers Brittany is pretty wonderful.

I'm glad you're going to (or through, or by) Le Mans. It has amazing brick walls built by the Romans, maybe 30' high, and its historic center is well-preserved enough that historic TV and movies are filmed here. Lots of half-timbered houses in the old city. The Cathedral has a chapel whose ceiling is painted with angels playing musical instruments.

Sainte-Suzanne is not far off the route from Le Mans to Laval and is one of France's Plus Beaux Villages, well worth a detour. It's an architectural gem.

We also really like Laval, which on our first few visits we did not like at all, but now we are such fans that we stay nearby on every trip. One of our favorite B&Bs in France is in the countryside north of Laval. We like walking along the Mayenne river towpath.

I second Fougeres.

So many people like St Malo that you'll probably go there at some point. The best thing for us about St Malo is a restaurant, ApparAnce, not far from the walled part of the city, close to the Tour Solidor. It's excellent and affordable.

If you’re using the Michelin green guides you’re probably on top of all this, but I thought I’d throw in my 2 cents. I’ll look forward to reading all about it.

I wish I were a bigger fan of Brittany, but alas, that is not the case. I find the architecture to be "hostile mineral." Normandy is softer and more welcoming, but actually I prefer areas even farther north in the Hauts de France and Picardy.

Thank you all. Coquelicot we are having two nights at Le Mans for a bit of a breather. The reason that we are taking this at a leisurely pace is my husband is the only driver, and I would like for him to feel relaxed. Although having me as a passenger, that might not be possible.
I’m thinking of adding on some time spent in Brittany. I’m reading as many trips reports as possible, and probably will combine some of what others have done and what we want to do. We are obliged to be in Strasbourg by May 23rd. We were hoping to include Normandy as we thought from 6 April until 23 May would give us time to do both. However looking at my original research and itinerary I now realise I’m trying to cram too much in. So much to see so little time.
I will come back in a few days for your views. I really appreciate the that people give their time in helping us.

Firstly my apologies for my above post. I should have put the post into paragraphs. I didn’t realise until this morning. That’s what happens when you have a headache and trying to work on an iPad.

Thanks to StuDudley and AJ Peabody as your trip reports were very helpful. The possible revised itinerary is as follows
6 days Vannes
6 Days Quimper
6 Days St Brieuc This includes day trips to Dinan, and St Malo
4 days Rennes. Including time for Fougeres and Vitre.

This extends the time to 22 days. I want to allow one day in each town for a long leisurely lunch and have these as non driving days. Even taking our time with day trips from each base does this seem to be too much time.Happy to hear your thoughts.

St Brieuc isn't that exciting. My wife lived with a French family there while attending summer school many moons ago. We've visited it a couple of times. I would find something closer to Dinan. The place where we stayed on the Rance near Dinan was nice - and they accept stays for less than 1 week. They also speak English. Details in my itinerary.

IMO, the area around Pont Aven (especially the coast) is much nicer than the area around Quimper. If this was my trip, I would stay in/near Pont Aven and do a day trip to Quimper - instead of the other way around. But staying in Quimper makes ventures to the Crozon Peninsula and Locronan less time consuming..

Stu Dudley

Stu Dudley.

Probably a good choice to split your time between Vannes and Rennes (which also has much to offer, not so many works left, and a convenient base for many day trips, even with public transport if your husband is sometimes tired with the drive).
About St Brieuc, I would probably not choose as a base for 6 days (maybe 2 days only), since it is quite far away for day trips to St Malo, Dinan... (or do these day trips from Rennes). Maybe more pleasant to split into 3 nights in St Brieuc (or Lannion / Morlaix) and 3 nights in St Malo.

I enjoyed St-Brieuc, but 6 days there would be 4 too many for me. I'm also not a fan of St-Malo, though I suppose anyone who ends up close by has to go see it. Check out Paimpont, Auray, and Locronan...

fyi - in case this helps, I received a ton of useful input on our Brittany trip (last May), and also added a summary TR at the end of this thread Visiting Brittany

ANUJ Thanks. After reading these trip reports it is now becoming clearer.

I agree that I wouldn't spend so many days in St-Brieuc. You might consider a "suburb" of Dinard called St Enogat if you want to stay in places that still have kind of a village feel. The advantage there is that you walk or bike down to the Dinard market which is really a nice one. But in April you could also stay in Dinard itself and not have issues with parking or the big summer crowds. There is a nice Novotel Spa property in St Enogat just to give you an idea of where it is:

https://all.accor.com/hotel/1114/ind...ce=google+Maps

Hi All
After days of researching ( I had thought I had before we left) we have finalised our itinerary. I have taken on board some of the suggestions and the itinerary is as follows
Vannes 7 days. One of these will be a complete rest day from driving.
Quimper 5 days
Perros-Guirec 3 days
Dinan 5 days.
Rennes 6 days Time for visit to Fourgeres and Vitre.

My least favourite part is booking the accommodation, and have booked the accommodation with free cancellation.
We have taken the liberty of copying some of the itineraries of StuDudley, AJ Peabody,and jpie.

Thank you all for your time and for writing trip reports in the first instance. I have read many over the last few days as what else do you do on very cold, windy and rainy days.