St. Malo and Carnac without a car

I'm sure you can, but Brittany is much less served by public transit that other parts of France. Getting around in Brittany with a car is easy, and gives you much more flexibility than without. We rented from Enterprise, and had no problems, except for some annoying speeding citations.

We spent 6 days between MSM and Auray (Carnac) in April, 2017 and can not imagine doing it without a car. We loved Carnac and Quiberon. If you are interested in my blog PM me.

We have rented cars for travel in France in the past but my husband is now visually impaired and I am of an age that surcharges apply and don't like to drive in Europe. . We really dislike tours so this leaves us Paris or public transport. We may just take the train to St. Malo and visit Dinan and call it a day. I might try to rent for a couple of days in the region but was hoping to find that we might manage this by train/bus.

I've only visited the Alignments of Carnac on a tour (Road Scholar) but the nights we were in that area we stayed in Vannes which is very easy to get to from Paris via train and much closer to Carnac than St-Malo. You might also want to see the neolithic stones at neaby Locmariaquer. Perhaps the Vannes tourist office would know of someone you could hire for a private day tour?

BTW, depending on when exactly you are going, the stones at Carnac are not accessible with out an approved guide. The area is closed around May 1 (not 100% sure of the date) as there is so much traffic in summer that the vegetation is severely trampled down. You can view them from outside the fence but it is fun to walk thru them. When I was there in May there was an English tour in the afternoon provided by the Visitor Center there at the stones.

I did really enjoy St-Malo.

www.trainline.eu/train-times/st-malo-to-carnac

Fastest time is 3h25 minutes from Point A to B. But otherwise, you can spend all day, there - from 5h13 minutes train time.

There are 2 changes involved in getting from Saint-Malo to Carnac, but 6 trains.

Pam thanks. It is helpful to know that you can't actually visit the neolithic stones after May 1. Not much point making the effort then as we will be there in May. We are doing all this as a side trip from a month in Paris. It was part of our itinerary last fall, but got derailed because I was hospitalized and Brittany is what we dropped. I guess we will have to content ourself with a couple/three nights in St. Malo.

When our Road Scholar group was entering the gate to the stones led by our archeologist, our RS guide was the last thru, closing and locking the gate. He said they have to be careful about people attaching themselves to the tour (pretty funny since we were only about 20 and clearly he knew everyone!) and that one time a lady was so upset she couldn't enter the Alignments she nearly threw herself on the ground. She had either missed the English tour or it was sold out - don't remember the details.

I don't think the Locmariaquer had the same rules as they have either gravel or paved paths to the 3 sights there from the VC.

I could easily spend 2 full days in St-Malo as I was completely fascinated with the tide changes and the other things that are there. I know you are from a large metro area so you may not look for ethnic food when you travel, but if you like Indian food, I enjoyed a very nice dinner at Le Penjab which is within the walls at St-Malo.

Actually it looks like they've changed to the dates when you can visit freely - it's now only October through March. April through September you can only go in with a guided tour and there is a fee for the guided tours.

I can't imagine the area without a car. St. Malo is likely reachable by bus and you can walk everywhere once you're there. Carnac, however, is a large area with sights spread out over miles - not one compact area. While the one area of alignments you see many pictures of are behind gates during the most popular part of the year, there are plenty of megoliths and dolmen that are open year round. Even if buses exist to get you there, however, they wouldn't be convenient to get to the various sights. There may be bus tours that would serve the purpose. My personal favorite is Cairn Gavrinis but you have to first get to Larmor-Baden and get a ticket for the ferry/tour. I showed up late morning (about the third week of September) and got a ticket for mid-afternoon. Tickets are limited and I hadn't even considered that it might be sold out. In high season, you're probably better off getting tickets ahead of time (If that's possible? I didn't try). May could be fine for getting there in the morning and buying a same day ticket.

Brittany is not less served with public transport than other regions in France (of course, except Ile de France around Paris, and very touristic areas like the French riviera). But it is true that it is difficult to go from the north to the south coast of Brittany with train or buses (it is often necessary to transit through Rennes train station). Only over one day, with public transport, it is too short to go from St Malo to Carnac. I would advise to stay at least one night near Carnac. Or hire a private guide to get there over the day (for example http://visite.bretagne.free.fr/index.php/en/nature/carnac.html).

The previously mentioned dates for free entrance in Carnac megalithic site (from November to March) only mean that from April to October, you have to pay the fee for a local guide tour (in English only in July and August). But the site even without entering the fenced perimeter is actually worth seeing. And for quite many megalithic sites nearby, also well worth seeing and less touristic, there is no fence around.

Obviously you shouldn't do something you're not comfortable with, but I'm 73 and have not had surcharges on my car rental from auto europe. I got a car in Rouen and drove alone all over Normandy and Brittany in june. I have a gps on my phone, which I could'n do without. I know you've traveled quite a bit, as I've seen your posts. Good luck and continuing happy travels. sue