Possible trip to Brittany

For somewhere in the west, it’s Quimper (aka Kemper).

I've taken the TGV to Rennes a couple of times from Gare Montparnasse to rent a car. Relatively close to Mont Saint-Michel, Saint Malo and Dinan.

We did the same thing as PharmerPhil in February: train from Gare Montparnasse to Rennes, picking up a rental car right at the train station. We based ourselves in Dinan and really enjoyed it, taking day trips to MSM, Saint-Malo (of which I was not a fan), Josselin, Vannes, etc. We intended to drive to Quimper for a day (which would have been a pretty long day, for sure, and started to make me think we should have split up our accommodations between east and west but I was so in love with our Dinan Airbnb that I didn't want to stay anywhere else) but we'd had such heavy rain the previous afternoon in Vannes (we could not even get out of the car it was raining so hard) that we decided to skip another long drive that might end up the same way.

Picking up the car at the Rennes train station was easy, with the biggest (but totally doable) challenge being the VERY tight parking garage.

Eef, I cannot advise regarding car rentals. But our recentish, loooooong and photo-dense TR below probably has some useful info.
Over on Fodors I go by 'zebec'.
I am done. The end.
https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/lappel-de-mer-a-southern-brittany-tr-also-paris-1723447/

Dinan is a good spot, we had three nights there a couple of years ago in our trips. Other options in close proximity would be St Malo or Dinard - all can be done as a day trip easily from the others, depending on where you decide to stay. Only 20 km max…

Quimper in the west has been mentioned, with a possible alternative in Concarneau, or somewhere nearby in a village.

Closish to Carnac is Vannes, lying at the gulf of Morbihan.

I would actually somewhat recommend to do a fourth stop somewhere along or close to the cote de granite rose, so in the north west of Brittany, since at least we felt it was the nicest part, and going from Dinan directly to Quimper will cost you the day, and you would miss out.

All places come with the side note that it could be better to take a place a bit more rural, since you have a car.

I think you can get a car at St Malo, which has a TGV stop, but will have to drop it off in Nantes or maybe Vannes then.

10-12 days is a good length, with my leanings going for 12. We had 10 nights, with four stays of 2 or 3 nights, and felt the „twos“ a bit rushed in hindsight…

Hi Quimper is a very beautiful historic city, which has the advantage of being lively in all seasons, and it is a very good base for very varied visits... Pointe du Raz, Pointe de la Torche (surfing in all seasons), Crozon Peninsula, fishing ports (Le Guilvinec, Audierne, Douarnenez, and other historic towns or villages, such as Concarneau, Locronan, Pont Aven etc.

Including my summer 2025 trip report here https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/brittany-trip

I’ve not been to Quimper but did spend 3 nights near Carnac in a 2017 trip.

If I were you I would train to Rennes then spend 3 nights each in Dinan, the rose granite coast, finistere and then the south (vannes, Carnac, Auray) area around the gulf.

Then drop off the car in the most convenient spot to get a train back to Paris.

If you have only 9-10 nights, which spot to drop would depend on your interests. Here’s my take.

Dinan is a must. Keep that. Please find a link to a really great oyster and mussels shack on the coast in my trip report. I’ve been there 4 times between 3 trips. It is about 25 minutes from Dinan They are so casual that they encourage you to order fries from the next door establishment to complement your shellfish meal at their place.

RGC has the most natural beauty. The RGC walk is one of my favorite things I’ve done on vacation. The seafood is great and I’ve included a link in my trip report to an outstanding market selling local produce and artisan products. We cooked some of our best meals there.

Finistere has wonderful beaches, lighthouses, beautiful coastal walks and ww2 history focused on the battle for Brest. Brest itself is not worth your time but it is a great place to drop off the car and train back to Paris. I’ve linked to an outstanding museum about the battle for Brest in my trip report.

The gulf area is best for pre history sites. Carnac is cool but Gavrinis was my favorite. I’ve not been to Vannes but people seem to like it. I found this area less beautiful than RGC and Finistere but I may be splitting hairs here.

Please note that I likely spelled place names incorrectly but came close enough. The linked trip report contains more of the tricky to write place names spelled correctly.

on a recent trip, we took the train from Gare Montparnasse to Le Mans.
It's a short train ride from Paris, and the drive to Dinan is easy and not much farther than from Nantes.

Le Mans is an interesting town that has gotten overlooked by Rick Steves (and others). It's worth a full day and night to see the Old Town, with cathedral, excellent restaurants and large farmer's market. The 24 Hours of Le Mans Museum and racetrack is a worthy visit for car buffs.

we stayed at the Ibis Hotel on the river just across from the Old Town. The tram, or a quick taxi ride, takes you right there.

I then rented a car from the Avis desk next door to the train station and drove to Dinan.

For our trip, it was a Brittany and Normandy loop: We stayed a few nights in Dinan, then dropped the car off at Gare Montparnasse, after visiting Mont Saint-Michel, Bayeux and Honfleur and Versailles.

Small addendum: If you are looking for corners to cut because of time, Concarneau and St Malo are very similar, so you do not miss too much by just doing one. Since Dinan is a gem, and so is Dinard close to St Malo, my most time efficient recommendation would be this triplet. Stay were you like - we had Dinan old town, which was super nice, but you have to park outside the walls (which I would assume also to be true in St Malo, or Concarneau). Just in case you have issues dragging your luggage 5-10 minutes.

I don't think you can say that St. Malo and Concarneau are similar. St. Malo is larger and busy year-round. The walled city in Concarneau is very small. You can walk there and back in 30 minutes. Out of season, it's empty. St. Malo is a weekend getaway for Parisians, Concarneau isn't. As for the beaches, Concarneau's are better. The tidal range is small in southern Brittany, and you can swim without any problem at low tide... The water is generally warmer there, especially at the beginning of the season.

We loved Dinan and second everyone’s enthusiasm for staying there. We were less enthusiastic about St Malo and spent only a hour or two there. To each his own, right?

Can’t help with most of Brittany; we had time enough only for several days in the northeastern corner after visiting Normandy and a stop at Mont St Michel. But I can offer some ideas for places to visit in that part of the region.

One fun outing near Dinan is a visit to the village of Cancale, up on the coast. It’s a picturesque fishing village known especially for its oysters. Needless to say, the food is fantastic, rivaled only by the views along the coast. The Pointe de Grouin, a short drive from town, has phenomenal views of the rocky coastline.

If you’re into books, the village of Becherel is known for its bookstores. It’s also a really pretty village (where we stayed during our visit). Also Dol de Bretagne has some interesting medieval buildings along its Main Street. Neither of these is a must-see, but they are attractive and have very few tourists.

I think it makes sense to take the train to Rennes if you’re coming directly from Paris. Who needs the hassle of a long car trip?

Most of my thoughts already are reflected in prior comments, so I won't repeat. I will say Vannes and Quimper both were quite pleasant to visit; so much so several years ago we looked for a house in Vannes before ending up buying one near the coast on the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandie.

Pointe de Raz is mentioned above. If you're able, visit it on a windy day. It's an experience. It can be hard to stand up without holding fast to a fixed object.

Wife and I spent Feb-March in Bretagne. Our rental house was WEST of Quimper, about 1 K from the ocean.

Dinan - 3 nights - seems a lot. Not that much going on to warrant 3 nights. While in that area, go to Fort La Latte, La Roche Goyon. Great castle, used in a number of movies.

One of the key unique features of Bretagne is the "enclose parishes", old churches with walled enclosures, ossuaries, and calvaires. A calvaire is an outdoor statue-based story of the life of Jesus. There are 7 "monumental calvaires" and probably 50 smaller ones. There is a "calvaire circuit" based around Morlaix to Landernaux. This is explained in the Guide Michelan Verte. We visited probably 15. Fascinating history.

The "Grail church" Eglise Sainte-Onenne (also called Église Saint-Eutrope) in Tréhorenteuc is also a great stop. Very small church. It celebrates the Arthurian connection to Bretagne (Lesser Britain, as opposed to Great Britain). It was set up in the 1930s by the pastor to celebrate the mixture of pagan, Christian, and Arthurian. It was among my favorite stops in our stay in Bretagne.

Small point: Nantes is not in Bretagne, but was in the past.

Thank you all for your valuable advice! I am so sorry for being so slow to respond. I am now sitting down to figure this trip out and your advice is so helpful!

Two years ago, we took the Paris train (from Montparnasse) to Rennes to pick up our rental car. Super easy and convenient. Bigger train station than I expected. They have all the usual rental agencies there. What I will highly suggest is do not pick up or plan to return your car on Sunday. Or at least confirm their minimal hours. That's the only snafu about renting cars in France other than CDG or Orly. Driving was so easy to navigate. Enjoy your travels!

We just spent a week in Brittany and second the recommendations for Dinan, we also felt St. Malo was not compelling. We did love Mont St Michel even though it was crowded. We especially loved the Pink Granite Coast, staying at Castel Beau Site in Perros-Guirec which seemed to be mostly a French tourist location. The bay in front of the hotel was stunning with huge rock outcroppings revealed and concealed by the tide, and a wonderful hiking trail running along the coast.

We returned our Avis rental car at the Rennes airport last June. It was very quiet there and quite easy for a return. Even if you are getting to Rennes by train ( avoid at all costs unreliable Ouigo who cancelled our train with two hours notice!) , IMHO it's worth the 20 euro cab ride to the airport for a no-hassle pick -up and easy access to highways.

About towns / villages in Brittany and MSM:

We enjoyed Dinan once we found a parking spot but the town is small and easily explored in a few hours. Lots of tourists there.

MSM we stayed overnight at Hotel Mercure right next to the bridge and a shuttle stop. We enjoyed looking at MSM from the path alongside the river. We took the first morning shuttle to MSM and explored a bit, left by 10 A.M. before the hordes arrived. We felt that was enough time although many others would disagree.

We really enjoyed our two nights in Saint Malo, even though we had lots of rain that day. The town oozes history. Do either read "All the Light We Cannot See" or watch the mini-series before your visit. When we return to Brittany, Saint Malo is the only one of the three locations we would re-visit. So, as you can see, lots of different opinions on northern Brittany.

Are you also visiting the south coast? The area between Pont Aven / Carnac / Auray is very interesting and quite different from the north coast.