DH and I will be taking a long trip to France in May 2012. We have rented an apartment in Paris and I have done research about visiting the Alsace area. The final planning has to
do with Brittany, the last portion of the trip.

Our plan is to take the train to Normandy from Paris on Friday. We have confirmed reservations for an all day trip to the D-Day beaches the next day (Saturday). On Sunday,
we will probably see the tapestry and then take a train to Caen, pick up a rental car,
visit the museum and then head out to Brittany for 5 days. Can anyone offer itinerary
suggestions for Brittany?

I do have guidebooks out from the library but they give little on Brittany except tp suggest staying in Dinan and seeing Mt. St. Michel and St. Malo. Can anyone give further suggestions? I would like to return the car to Rennes if possible and take the TGV
directly to CDG from there at end of trip. Is it possible to rent a car in Caen and return to
Rennes? What car company do you recommend. Any hotel suggestions?

We've returned several cars in Rennes that we've picked up elsewhere - and then taken the TGV to CDG.

Here is a part of my Normandy & Brittany that will "fill in" 5 days in Brittany. I would stay 4 nights near Dinan & 1 night in Rennes.

The stars (*,**,***) are the rating given to the site in the Michelin Green Guide (GG). If I think it is better, I'll add a + and if I think it is a tad over-rated a -.

Mont St Michel*** listed in both the Normandy & Brittany Michelin guides
GET THERE EARLY. It becomes a zoo after around 10:30. It is the most visited site in France. The Mont consists of a Abbey Church and a town below the cathedral. The cathedral opens at 9:00 and they have headsets you can rent (in English) that takes you through the interior. The best thing to do is to get to the town at 8:00 & tour the town before the hoards of tourists arrive. At 10:00, the shop keepers haul out the postcard stands & the toothbrush displays & the streets are shoulder to shoulder people. Some friends of ours got there late, saw the crowds, & left before even going in the village or visiting the cathedral. They drove hours to visit the site.

Brittany

In June ‘01, we spent 2 weeks in a Gite near Plancoet in Northern Brittany, and 1 week in a Gite near Pont Aven in Southern Brittany. We thought Northern Brittany was prettier and more interesting than Southern Brittany.

We stayed in a Gite/house for 2 weeks near Dinan, so we don’t have any hotel recommendations. The best location would be near Dinan (near St Malo or Dinard is too crowded & too much sprawl). Dinan has more quaint countryside around it and some nice restaurants and Crepe places. Some hotel options are:
Manoir de la Rance on the Rance estuary in la Jouvente between Dinard & Dinan
L’Hotel D’Avaugor in Dinan

Things to do & see:

Dinan** See DINAN in Michelin Green Guide.
Follow the itinerary marked in green in the GG
This is perhaps our favorite “smaller” town in Brittany/Normandy
Market day is Thursday

Valle de la Rance** See RANCE in GG
If you need to see some countryside instead of “City” today, then follow the itinerary in the guide (skipping St Malo , Dinan, & Dinard)

Cote d’Emeraude See COTE D’EMERAUDE in GG
Bypass St Malo & Dinard, which isn’t easy but should be less hectic on a Sunday
Cancale*
Pointe du Grouin**
St Lunaire (villas) See LUNAIRE in GG
Pointe du Decolle**
Forte la Latte** See LATTE in GG
Cap Frehel*** See FREHEL in GG

If it’s rainy or overcast & not good coast viewing weather, here are some interesting chateaux:
Vitre** See VITRE Must See
Fougeres ** See FOUGERES in GG Must See
Bourbansais* see BOURBANSAIS

If you want to get some exercise, there is a beautiful walk along the shore in Dinard. See DINARD in GG. The walk starts to the left of the beach. There are cliffs above the shore with Gothic/Victorian houses. The Jardin du Port Riou on top of the cliffs (access from below on the shore walk) is quite nice with a good view.

St Malo ***- See ST MALO in GG. Get there at 9:00 & walk along the ramparts first so that you will be finished with them by the time the shops open.
The museum is only OK

Three-Quarter Day trip from Dinan to the Pink Granite Coast.
Take the fast N176 west to the E50 freeway, and take the E50 past St Brieuc and then to Guigamp. After Guigamp, take the D767 to Lannion

Visit Lannion* See LANNION in GG

Ploumanach** See PLOUMANACH in GG. This is the heart of the Pink Granite Coast. Park in the lot marked “P” (in the GG) close to the tourist office. Pick up a map at the tourist office (we did not do this) and walk to the beach. Follow the walking trails through the rocks – it is very interesting. We got a little lost here, but hopefully if you have a map, you won’t.

After Ploumanach, head west & follow the CORNICHE BRETONNE** Visit a menhir if you like

Return to Dinan. If there is time left in the day, stop in Lamballe (see LAMBALLE) for a visit. It’s east of St Brieuc just off the E50 If you still have time available, head southwest from Lamballe on the D768 to MONCONTOUR for a visit.

Our Favorite restaurants in the Dinan region:
Maison Tirel-Guerin Michelin 1 star in La Gouesniere
La Voile d’Or Michelin 1 star in Sables d’Or Les Pins
Les Chalut Michelin 1 star in St Malo
Mere Pourcel in Dinan – very warm/comfortable interior
De La Gare in Ploubalay
Aux Pesked in St Brieuc Michelin 1 star, but it was not a 1 star when we dined there.

Rennes**+ See RENNES
Follow the itinerary in the guide. Rennes is one of our favorite towns in France

Hotel – choose a hotel near the train station. Use the red guide to choose the hotel. The car rental agencies have desks at the train station (at least Europecar does) where you can return the car. Stay overnight in Rennes

Take the TGV from Rennes to the Paris CDG Airport terminal 2. If you take United, you will have to take the shuttle from terminal 2 to terminal 1. Most other airlines depart from terminal 2 & it’s only a short walk from the TGV train station to the airline gates, or take the shuttle. It’s a small TGV station – you won’t have any trouble making the connection.

Stu Dudley

we have spent some very nice times in northern Brittany in the stretch between Dinan and Roscoff. this last summer, we stayed at the Hotel Ker-Moor in a little place called St. Quay Portieux south of Paimpol - it made a lovely base for touring the area, as well as for swimming from the beaches of the town.

another area you could look at is the granite-rose coast, near Perros-Guirec; the rocks are a particularly pretty colour and the beaches very popular.

and yes of course you can rent in one place and return to another within the same country; you just have to make sure that you pick a company with depots/offices in both places.

a very good guide book for this area is the Cadogan guide to Brittany, or the Michelin green guide, though i think that the latter has gone off somewhat since they started putting in hotel and restaurant recommendations. it does have suggested driving routes that you may find useful, but really it's difficult to go wrong in this area if you just drive along the coast, and stop every now and then when you see something you like the look of!

You might want to take a look at my trip report http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ummer-2009.cfm which deals with our travels in eastern Brittany, and the one starting in Ghent which deals with our travels in Normandy and going to the western end of Brittany. Click on my name to find it. If flying home from Paris, you can get good train connections from Quimper, Rennes or Nantes.

You should be bale to pick up a car in Bayeux rather than going to Caen after visiting the tapestry.

bale = able

What marvelous detailed advice! Thank you both so much.
I shall get a detailed map and start studying it right away.
I do most of my planning from this Board and the "regulars" never let me down. I try to give helpful hints to others when I have good information, too.

Pat

For good maps I recommend the Michelin maps. The Michelin maps have icons for all kinds of historically/touristically interesting things such as châteaux, ruins, churches, abbeys, scenic view points, caves, Roman sites, megaliths, designated scenic roads and many other things. You want the ones with the scale of 1:200,000 or 1:150,000. The latter cover less area but are more detailed and they mark the starred attractions on the map that you also find in the guidebooks.

If you are exploring the Corniche Brettonne and are interested in ancient sites then you might visit a couple of the megaliths in that area, which are marked on the Michelin maps. There are some impressive dolmens there. The best one is just off the D788 on a little country road that leads to the island Île Grande. It's on your left just after you turn off the D788.

If you can't find the Michelin maps in a store near you then you can buy them from their website.

http://tinyurl.com/4bt96ev

Thank you French Mystic. I will purchase the Michelin maps and
put them with the printouts of this entire thread.

Pat

Very good advice above and agree with Stu's list of towns, to which you could add Vitré or Fougères near Rennes. I prefer Dinan over Dinard and St. Malo, just a personal preference

I definitely would consider it backtracking to pick up the car in Caen which is northeast of the beaches then heading back south/southwest to Brittany.

I'm a Brittany fan. Kenavo!