Brittany & Normandy

I suggest getting the Michelin Green Guides for Brittany & Normandy (2 books). They describe virtually every town a tourist might want to visit, and also have some suggested driving itineraries. Also request Stu's itinerary; see https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/normandy-and-brittany-stu-dudleys-updated-itinerary-1670294/ We used both of those planning our trip to Brittany and Normandy a few years ago.

If you want 2 locations to stay, one in Brittany and one in Normandy, I’d recommend Quimper for the former and Bayeux for the latter.

Rick Steves covers Normandy pretty well, unless you want additional out-of-the-way places. However, with maybe 2 weeks total, how many of those more obscure destinations will you be able to fit in?

We used Lonely Planet to fill in our Brittany trip a few years ago, and it was very helpful and useful

Thanks Bill & Cyn. I was thinking about the Michelin Green guides and also thinking about lonely planet and moon publications. Also was thinking about routard, although that one is in French therefore more difficult for me to read. I did not know about Quimper so I will look it up! Bill, I did request Stu's itinerary, so thanks so very much for that.

The Michelin Green Guides are very complete. That's what we use, as do French friends who live in Brittany.

Brittany is large: a single base does not work if you want a broad look at the region.
Quimper is a good base for Finistère, which has a lot to offer, but if you want to visit St Malo and Mont Saint Michel, you would need another base in that area. Dinan works but can feel a bit "disneyfied" in high season. I prefer the coast immediately west of Saint-Malo: Dinard, Saint-Lunaire, Saint-Briac.

there does not seem to be a simple way to get The train from CDG to Rouen

just noticed this part of your post. You're right, there is no simple way. You'll need to go into Paris and take the regional train (the TER) from Paris St-Lazare to Rouen. It's on the order of a 2 hour ride from St-Lazare.

If you're arriving at CDG by 2pm or so I'd consider just pushing on to Rouen since there are relatively frequent trains (hourly or so, you'll need to check the schedule) and there is no penalty for walk-up purchase unlike the TGV which is significantly cheaper advance-purchase. But getting to St-Lazare isn't straightforward since the RER from CDG does not go there directly. You'd need to change trains or to the metro or take a taxi. That's why I say if you're arriving by early afternoon just burn the rest of the afternoon getting to Rouen and wake up the next morning ready to go sightseeing.

If you are arriving later in the day I'd spend the nite in Paris and head out the next morning to Rouen,

We just returned from a trip to Brittany and Normandy. We flew to Rennes, rented a car and drove to Dinan. It was an easy, short drive. We stayed at Le 27, a delightful B & B in Dinan. We loved Dinan. We stayed one night off Mont St. Michel then spent 3 nights in Bayeaux at Tardiff Noble House. It is a block from the cathedral and a lovely guest house. We then took the train from Caen to Paris.
We were boarding a river cruise on the Seine, so we saw Rouen and beaches on the cruise. In retrospect, I wished we had seen the beaches on a private tour from Bayeaux. We used Rick Steves, Michelin Guides, Stu Dudley's advice and other traveler's experiences from this web site, Fodor's forums, and Cruise Critic boards.
Have a wonderful trip.

Thanks again, everyone! Chale: the two accommodations you mentioned both look very good. You mentioned you flew to Rennes. Do you know if this is possible to do from CDG?
Bill: good advice! As currently scheduled, we expect to arrive at CDG in the morning so we are now thinking about taking a taxi to ST-Lazare then a train to Rouen, then a taxi to wherever we will be staying. We would then pick up a rental car in Rouen for the rest of our trip.
Balso: Yep. Quite large. I will look up Dinard, Saint-Lunaire and Saint-Briac. Less Disneyfied sounds good to me!
Bets: thanks for the Michelin Green guides recommendation. Still trying to figure out exactly where to go and I'm thinking that the Michelin guide might be very helpful for that.

We were in Brittany for 8 nites in April, loved it could have spent way more time there. Beautiful villages, dramatic coastline, neolithic sites, cool cities. Loved the seafood, crepes, and galettes. We were 3 nites in Dinan and it was great, I have a VERY low Disney tolerance. I did all the planning Brittanytourism dot com is a good place to start. Dropped the car in Rennes, 2 hours to Paris. We'll be back Bon Voyage Brad

We flew out of Portland,OR. on Delta, with a connection in Amsterdam, then on to Rennes. It was great renting a car at a small airport. The cars are in a lot just outside the door.

Thanks for your input, Brad. From everything I've been able to see so far Dinan looks like the best bet for us. Glad to hear another Disney-non-lover likes Dinan. I just spent some time on the Brittany tourism site so thanks for that as well. I wish we had more time to spend in Brittany/Normandy. It also looks like the Dinan is about 45 minutes from Saint Malo/Dinard and Mont St Michelle so we could stay in one place for 3 to 6 nights and take day trips. Thanks, Chale, for the flight info. Something to definitely consider.