A taste of Brittany - critique my itinerary please

Well I am planning a bit the same for over two weeks. Idea is to start somewhere between Avranches and Fougères, drive first to Dinan for a few hours visit. Further to Cap Fréhel/ Fort la Latte, Dinard, St Malo, also scenic route to Cancale and visit Le Mont-Saint-Michel in the late afternoon, early evening as hopefully the crowds are gone. Back to starting point, total distance ±230km.

This is a busy plan with quite superficial visits, but will skip places if I like, so it is a plan that I can change on the spot. I think your plan is no more busy as mine. If you have booked your hotel in Bayeux you can arrive in the evening within 2 hours drive from Le Mont-Saint-Michel, your itinerary is doable if you ask me. For smaller places I spend most of the time no more as a few hours, depending if there is a museum too or not. It makes certainly a difference that I am alone so no need to enjoy somewhere a coffee for an hour or have to deliberate the next move, so I can move on reasonably quick.

I don’t understand completely your backtrack to Le Mont-Saint-Michel after Bayeux, do you do that the same day, or the day after sleeping in Bayeux?

My preference is 2 smaller towns in the same area per day, so to me this is a bit rushed. I think you may have underestimated the time you'll spend going place to place in the car between the places you listed. Not only is there the driving time, and traffic, but figure on 20+ minutes at each stop just finding parking and walking to where you want to be.

I was in Dinan last summer and you could fill much of a day there if you wander around town, walk the ramparts, go down to the river. If you could add a day to Dinan you could see more of the town, and perhaps use it as a base in the afternoon to explore other places in the area. Dinard is nice (and across the river from St. Malo).

The scenic road to Cancale is nice. There didn't seem to be much in Cancale itself other than oysters and a stroll along the waterfront, so Cancale can take 1 hour to do get oysters at a stand and stroll, or 2+ hours if you sit down to eat.

I would not want to backtrack; staying across from the island to me was just as good as staying on the island since shuttles are frequent. But if you want to stay on the actual island then it is what it is.

After spending over a week in the Brittany/Normandy area last summer I want to go back and feel I just scratched the surface. So if you can add more time to this area I'd suggest that.

Of course it's possible to see all these places in 2 days, but you won't have time to wander around (Vannes + Carnac + Dinan in just one day is quite a long programme). There would be quite much to see in towns around and along the coast (gulf of Morbihan, Auray and St Goustan... , you can have a look at some ideas for itineraries on http://visite.bretagne.free.fr/index.php/en/itineraries.html). I would try to visit Mont Saint Michel on the way between Saint Malo and Bayeux, to avoid losing time driving (except if it's really like a dream for you to overnight on MSM island).

There is always a difference between planning and the real experience. I know (speaking for myself) that breakfast takes often way more time than planned, especially if I have a nice chat with the B&B host(s) and so break many times my own rule to leave early. Once at my holiday destination I relax and do things at a slower pace and just enjoy the time spending away from home. Meaning I can not always visit the places I want, so have to accept things to skip. What counts at the end is what I can enjoy and not what I can cramp in a day.

The pace you will like is obviously personal, you will find out once on the move and that is hard to plan. So being flexible with the things you want to see and visit is the best way to deal with it if you ask me. I think in general best is to plan two highlights a day, things you really want to see within reasonable reach of eachother, and see other things as a bonus you can skip if needed.