Dear sir/madam:
My wife and I are planning another trip to France this coming year. We would love to go to Dinan, but it seems as if it's difficult to get there. Can you suggest, other than renting a car, the best way to go to Dinan if we were staying in Paris or in Rouen. Thank you for your suggestions.
From Paris, train or train bus combo takes about three hours. From Rouen about 6. I went by train from Paris and it was well worth the trip.
We were in a car, and found it easy to get there. Driving in France is quite simple. THere are a ton of "rond-ponts" (round-abouts), and you need to get used to those - usually not a problem save for high-traffic ones where you just have to go for it. From Rennes, it was 1.5 hours. Rennes is 6 hours from Paris. I would not go solely to Dinan, which is charming and worth a visit but not a 6 hour drive. Stay the night, I'd suggest.
My route was train Paris to Rouen, drive to Etretat, Bayeux, MSM/Cancale, St. Malo, then Dinan. I'd suggest either an intermediate stop between Rouen and Dinan or take the train to Rennes then drive to Dinan. A direct train to Rennes gets you from Montparnasse in about 1 1/2 to 2 hours - a few minutes more than getting to Rouen from Paris.
In many cases, moving between two provincial cities in France requires you to go through Paris. I didn't intend to visit Paris on my recent trip, but I had to go there to change trains three times, and on one occasion I had to hop on the Metro to change train stations. You might face the same situation if you tried to travel direct from Rouen to Dinan. The direct shot from Paris will save a lot of train time if you can set up your itinerary that way.
Dinan is far from "unique" in Europe. Just for examples, there are dozens and dozens of beautiful half-timbered towns in Germany, Croatia, and other countries. You can even do almost as well as Dinan in England. Please think about other nearby attractions (for example, Mont St. Michel, or St. Malo) that might also be of interest to you. As another post noted, Dinan is not worth the effort to go from Paris or via Paris.
Even if any of us knew about bus routes, it would take at least three hours each way. I understand that you said other than a car, but it's just not a practical travel idea. Sorry.
