kwilly

Our travel group (10 of us) has a trip planned to France in September 2018. We will all be flying into and out of Paris on various days. Our main trip will be focused on seeing cities/towns along the Brittany coast. Currently we plan to spend two nights in each of these towns. Carnac, Roscoff, Paimpol, Mont St-Michel, and St. Malo. We plan to then head back to Paris to see various days of the 2018 Ryder Cup.
My questions are these: 1. Where would be the best place to pick up vehicles as we feel we'll need cars to best get around the Brittany coastline? 2. We have considered tacking on a quick trip over to the Burgundy region (Dijon and Beaune) but are now thinking this may be to far out of our way. Any other suggestions on regions/places to visit that would be more in a direct line from Paris to our first destination in Brittany of Carnac? 3. Lastly, we are an active group that enjoys hiking and sightseeing along with great food and drink! Any and all suggestions for things to add to our itinerary will be appreciated! Thanks.

stache

I would not stay In Mt St Michel for 2 days. And I would drive through and spend some time in Normandy on way back to Paris. Deauville, Honfleur, etc. Beautiful area of France.

PalenQ

Could take train to Rennes and pick up car at station there and drive right away to Mont-Saint-Michel or other Brittany place like St-Malo, etc.

Then drive around Cotentin Peninsula to Bayeux for D-Day stuff near it and to Caen, return car and take train back to Paris -or from Deauville, Honfleur.

Or drive back towards Paris via places like Les Andylys and Giverny (Monet's House) and end in Rouen and take train to Paris from there.

Book trains early for best discounts - www.voyages-sncf.com book your own; www.seat61.com - lots of advice on doing just that; general info trains check www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

I would stay one night on Mont Saint-Michel or in the gaggle of hotels on mainland just opposite it so you can experience the Mont at night when dat-tripping hoardes have gone and the place takes on a surreal mystique - also seeing all lit up from mainland at night is neat.

StCirq

How much time do you have for this trip?

I wouldn't stay in le MSM for 2 nights, either. And you've overlooked Vannes, IMO the best Brittany coastal town.

I would pick up the cars in Rennes. Obviously, Normandy is on the most direct line back to Paris, or you could go inland to the Loire and then north.

Underhill

You're right to take Burgundy off the list. It's a long drive from Brittany/Normandy and not a particularly interesting one.

PalenQ

You could easily drive from Burgundy to Loire if chateaux are a draw but otherwise not the most awesome countryside- I'd drive via Angers and Amboise - base in Amboise for easy access to Chenonceau and other popular chateauix. Take train back to Paris from St-Pierre-des-Corps (Tours mainline station with several car rental places by it). Could go into this more if interested.

kja

1. Rennes.
2. Too far!
3. Have you looked at the Côte de Granit Rose? I enjoyed my stay, and my meals, at the Hôtel des Rochers in Perros Guirec, and it still gets very good reviews.

Like others, I wouldn’t spend 2 nights on Mont St-Michel. (I’m very glad I spent one night there – but I was traveling solo, and that’s a very different thing, IMO.) I, too, enjoyed Vannes, which I though a good base for Carnac. I’ll add that I was disappointed in St. Malo, which seemed to me a bit too much like a stage set, but I know that many others enjoy it.

With 10 people, I must admit that I think it might be to your advantage to cut back on the number of stops. JMO.

Hope that helps!

Michael

The churches and cemeteries of western Brittany are worth a visit. If you have the time, I would stretch the Brittany visit instead of going to Burgundy.

To give you ideas: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...616164661/show

kwilly

Thank you for the suggestions. The one suggestion that seemed to be most prevalent was to "only spend 1 night in Mont St. Michel" there must be something to this. Our group may rethink our stay there.

kja

If the number of posts is of concern to you, then let me second Michael's recommendation of Brittany's parish closes.

FrenchMystiqueTours

I love Brittany and have responded on many threads about vacationing in that area. If you want you can have a look at a hew threads where I've responded.

Check my reply in post #5 on this thread:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...rittany.html#8

In the above thread are links to two photo reports I've written about Brittany. One covers the area near Dinan/Saint-Malo and the other covers The Gulf of Morbihan (near Vannes).

The following thread has lots of general advice about visiting Brittany:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi....html#37748007

PalenQ

Yes one night at Mont-Saint-Michel is enough - more than that would become tedious in such a small place.