Car Free Brittany - Best Towns to Use as Base for Exploring?

Great choice, really loved Brittany! We had a car in Brittany so I'm not going to be a great help. When you look at St. Malo, also check out Dinard just across the river. When we went, I had my heart set on St. Malo but couldn't get a room (probably thanks to the book, "All the Light you cannot sea", which I'd recommend) so I booked across the river at Dinard. We ended up very happy in that cute, retro feeling resort town. We walked along the river and then the ocean for lovely views and people watching. I would have to think that there'd be transportation between St. Malo and Dinard. Also in that area is Dinan, a medieval timbered town. We also went to Quimper, which was a pretty city and probably well connected to transportation options. Its bigger than I typically like, but without a car, I think you do need a town that big. Check out Quimper's lovely pottery that they are famous for. Close to Quimper if you can get there is Locronan, probably my favorite little town in France. It has been used for movie settings. It is just beautiful. Also close to Quimper and Locronan is the town of Douarnenez with a beautiful beach, often photographed.

We spent 4 nights in St. Malo and one in Auray last May. St. Malo is a good base without a car. It would be best to have a car for Brittany but my husband can no longer see well enough to drive and I don't want to drive in a foreign country so we are finished with that. We had a wonderful little apartment in St. Malo near the sea wall and away from the tourist trappy shops on the landside wall. The town has many just excellent tiny restaurants and we had our best meals in our 6 weeks in France here. From St. Malo it is easy to walk to St. Servan and along the coast a bit. It is also fairly easy to get a bus to Mont St. Michel, to Dinan and to Cancale and the coastal path in that area. There is a boat to Dinard and you can ferry to the Channel Islands. St. Malo itself is beautiful and you can walk out to the islands off the beach at low tide.

We trained to Auray to see the Neolithic sites there near Carnac. We hired a guide for a 6 hour tour of these sites the next day and he took us to the train for our return to Paris. There are a lot of interesting things to see in this general area and we could easily have spent a day or two more in St. Malo and a day or two more in the Carnac region. The guide we had organizes longer trips as well. Not cheap to have a guide, but he was really good and solved our car problem in a very rural area.

I don't drive in Europe. I saw a bit of eastern Brittany in 2017. My bases were St. Malo (which I found too touristy for my taste, and from which I visited Dinard) and Rennes. From Rennes I visited Dinan, Fougeres and Vitre, all of which I liked, but that was three separate days. I hope to have time next year to see the rest of Brittany.

It depends on the list of places you want to visit, but I suspect you'd do better with three bases--or even four--rather than two. Most likely some of your side-trips will be by bus, and bus trips are usually longer than train trips. You won't want to spend too many hours a day sitting on buses, riding back and forth.

I stayed in St Malo inside the wall and loved it,many quality small restaurants and another good base would be Dinar,we really liked it and we had a car which made getting around much easier,also liked Cancale and the drive on the Emerald Coast.
Mike

Thanks everyone for your ideas/feedback.

After a little more thought, I'm leaning towards staying around Perros-Guirec/Ploumanac'h for the first few days and then heading over to Dinan (instead of St Malo). There are so many walking routes around Perros-Guirec that look wonderful and focusing on them would allow me to stay put and not need transit while I'm there. Dinan, being inland, looks like a nice change and its transportation links seem excellent.

Still lots of planning to do but I really appreciate all of your help!

FWIW. While St. Malo is touristy, it is also on the sea and beautiful. IMHO Dinan is classic tourist trap quaint and not on the sea. In summer though you can take a boat to St. Malo from there. But having been both places I would never stay in Dinan.

If your main choice is Perros Guirec / Ploumanach, and if you are not going to rent a car, then the advantage of Dinan vs. St Malo is to have an easier train connection with Lannion (close to Perros). Other places to stay around Dinan and St Malo, could be Cancale or Dinard, depending on your personal interests.

Dinan appeals because it is not by the sea - I thought it would be nice to have some variety. Also, I'll be travelling with my mother and she's very intrigued by the town and the area.

If we do stay in Dinan, we'd been looking at staying down in the port rather than the old town. For those who have visited, does that help get away from some of the touristy-madness (keeping in mind that a complete escape is probably impossible in such a popular town)?

Claire, I didn't find Dinan obnoxiously touristy. We were there at the end of September. I could see the port area from a view point in the old town. We didn't go down because we didn't have time. It looked lovely. I recall some bridges that were quite picturesque.

I found Dinan a pleasant day-trip from St-Malo--considerably less tourist-packed, but still touristy. And the tourists definitely made it down to water level. I don't remember how much, if any, better it was down there. One thing to be aware of is that the walk down (and up!) is extremely steep. I don't remember whether there was some sort of shuttle bus available; there may have been. I took the walk along the river to the neighboring town--recommended by Rick, I believe. Most of the people heading that way seemed to be biking. There must be a bike-rental place down by the water.

I've just booked and the final verdict was 4 days in Perros-Guirec and 4 in Saint-Malo. We'll definitely do a day trip to Dinan but, in the end, I think St-Malo just offers more to interest us and more flexibility if we decide we want to do different things. I'll have easy access to the GR34 walking paths and my mother, if she wants a break for a day, can always go to the spa. A happy compromise.

Thank you everyone for your advice and encouragement!