Stu-but Rennes itself for 4 days? - so many other neat places in Normandy/Brittany - now if using as base perhaps but I'd rather base in a Dinant or seaside town.

Yes,Rennes would be lovely for 4-5days. Like Toulouse or Bordeaux. If you don't know it, Pal, don't comment.

>>Stu-but Rennes itself for 4 days?<<

It depends. If you want to use it as a base - it's in a perfect location to visit both the northern coast of Brittany around St Malo, Dinan, and Dinard (don't know where Dinant is located), and the southern coast around Vannes & Auray.

- It's 1 hr to the Dinan/St Malo region and the very scenic coast.

- It's 1 1/2 hrs to Vannes (one of my "top 5" smaller cities in France). On the way to/from Vannes, a visit to the chateau in Josselin (only open in the afternoon) would be a good stop along the way. There is a very nice morning farmer's market in Vannes on Wed & Sat.

- The chateaux of Vitre and Fougeres are just east of Rennes.


If yestravel wants a "coastal vacation" - stay near Dinan.

Stu Dudley

If you don't know it, Pal, don't comment.>

Well I have been to Rennes three times but just for part of a day each time and did not see anything to make me want to stay 3-4 days though was a pleasant city. This is all very subjective. Even Toulouse where I spent three days as a base and was pleased with it as French cities go I still would not spend more than a day or so in the city itself. But as a base yeh. And Rennes could be a good base forplaces Stu outlines.

You can also head east and visit Alencon and Bagnoles-de-l'Orne and the Parc de Normandie Maine.

Thanks, everyone, for all your suggestion. They have been very helpful.

I got the days with car pick up and return straightened out -- they sure have odd hours on Sundays. We are going with the last plan I mentioned above:
Train from CDG to Rennes where we will have a car for a couple days to do day trips. Probably visit at least Dinan/St Malo region and the coast. You all have given us lots of good ideas of where to visit.
A night in MSM, then Bayeaux for the tapestry and D-Day beaches, before moving on to Honfleur for several days, followed by 2 nights in Rouen and finally Giverny for a night before taking the train to Paris. It will be alot of moving around for us in a short period of time. I thought about cutting a few days from Paris & adding them to this portion of our trip, but decided against doing that.

I'm happy to have an outline for our trip. Appreciated everyone's thoughts & help.

I am so odd. My roots are in the east of France, so I will not say that I am allergic to Brittany and Normandy, but those regions to not attract me at all. However, talk about the <i>Hauts de France</i> or <i>Grand Est</i> regions, and I am on board immediately.

However, I did visit Nantes not too long ago (https://tinyurl.com/nonsensenantes) and loved it. I also passed through Rennes on another trip and was not impressed, but that may have been mostly because of the fact that I stayed near the train station, which is undergoing total reconstruction at the moment and is a complete mess.

You have to remove that last parenthesis from my link.

Here, I did it for you.

https://tinyurl.com/nonsensenantes

If you could make a detour and go to Giverny for a day trip in September, the "mood and flowers" might be better for it. Check the weather, first, on a live streaming website.

90 days out is the rule for making train reservations. If you are flexible, see the SNCF calendar of "flexible" prices.
This website explains everything:
www.seat61.com/France-trains.htm

Rouen to Paris trains may have minor discounts but full fare is not that bad if want flexibility. Paris to Rennes TGV have major discounts.

Fuzzbucket- my p,an is to stat overnight in Giverny before we go to Paris. This will be in Sept.

Pal- I will mark my calendar in May to look at train fares.